APPLICANT RESOURCES

Have an iPhone or iPod Touch? Research schools on the go and keep your applications organized with Clear Admit's new MBA Planner App! Now available in a free 'Lite' version too!

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.

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

• Admissions Director Q&A
• Admissions Tips
• Campus Chronicles
• Career Guides
• Deadlines
• EMBA
• Essay Topic Analysis
• Essay Topics
• Events
• Facebook
• Financial Aid
• Fridays from the Frontline
• General
• GMAT – AWA
• GMAT – Quantitative
• GMAT – Verbal
• GMAT News
• GMAT Practice Problem
• GMAT Test Prep Company Series
• GMAT Tips
• Interview Guides
• Interview Tips
• MBA News
• MBA Planner App
• Part-Time MBA
• Part-Time/Executive MBA
• Poll
• Pre-Matriculation Tips
• Rankings
• Reapplicants
• School Guides
• School: Babson
• 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
• Twitter
• Twitter Thursdays
• Uncategorized
• Waitlist Advice
• Which School Wednesdays
• Wiki Wednesdays
• Workbook Wednesdays

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

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

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.

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

Blog Archive

• March 2010
• February 2010
• January 2010
• December 2009
• November 2009
• October 2009
• September 2009
• August 2009
• July 2009
• June 2009
• May 2009
• April 2009
• March 2009
• February 2009
• 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

Get a $10 Amazon.com Gift Card! Contribute your MBA interview reports to the Clear Admit Wiki.

Taking the GMAT? Download our free, independent guide to the leading test prep companies - includes coupons for savings at 10 leading test prep firms!

ARCHIVE FOR NOVEMBER 2008

Friday, November 28, 2008

Stanford Graduate School of Business Launches New Social Innovation Fellowship for MBA Grads

A post on the Stanford Graduate School of Business (GSB) Admissions blog earlier this week provided information about a new fellowship for social entrepreneurs created by the GSB’s Center for Social Innovation. Called the Social Innovation Fellowship Pilot Program, it is designed for graduating Stanford MBAs who demonstrate a well-defined vision for a new social venture they intend to dedicate the year after graduation toward launching.

The blog post recapped a conversation between Rita Winkler in the GSB Admissions Office and Janet Abrams, director of Stanford GSB’s Public Management Program.

According to Abrams, the Center for Social Innovation is piloting the new fellowship program over the next three years. Beginning next spring, a limited number of second-year students will receive a stipend for the following year along with access to additional resources at the center, including information, professional networks, etc.

“Many students come to the GSB with great motivation to make a difference in the world,” Abrams told Winkler. “While at Stanford, some develop specific ideas for how they might apply the knowledge and skills they’re gaining here to solving serious social problems.”

The fellowship, Abrams continued, will allow MBAs who are starting a new nonprofit venture upon graduation to focus all of their energies on securing funding, personnel, partners, and other assets crucial to success.

According to Abrams, second-year Stanford MBA students in good academic standing – both individuals and teams of two – are eligible for the new fellowship. Interested applicants must submit a detailed proposal for their social venture in April. Those whose applications show real promise will be invited to present their ideas to the fellowship selection committee in May.

The fellowship selection committee – made up of GSB faculty and staff, experienced social entrepreneurs and philanthropy professionals – will consider each candidate’s degree of commitment to social entrepreneurship, the thoroughness of his or her plan and the likelihood that the envisioned nonprofit will make a significant impact.

The Center for Social Innovation will announce the new fellows in mid- to late-May. To learn more about the Social Innovation Fellowship Pilot Program at Stanford GSB, click here.

0 Comments »

# posted by Clear Admit @ 11:44 am in MBA News, School: Stanford

Fridays From the Frontline

The day after Thanksgiving, for those who celebrate the holiday now better known for its foodstuffs than its history, is generally a time to recuperate from the previous day’s feasting. That, and a day to scrub that roasting pan, put away all those dishes, make nine million turkey sandwiches (or a big vat of curry) and surreptitiously eat just one more piece of that delicious pumpkin pie. We, at Clear Admit, in addition to many of these activities, have not ceased paying attention to the b-school blogosphere. This week continued the mixed trend of disappointment (in the form of ‘zaps’) and thankfulness (for those receiving interview invitations or even acceptances) that makes up the application season. As November wraps up,  current students voiced their relief at the brief respite the holiday presents them.

Darden ‘10 Oren survived ‘Black November’, went to his first UVA basketball game and planned to have his third Thanksgiving dinner with family in Manhattan. Fellow Darden classmate, JulyDream, also attended multiple Thanksgiving dinners, including one hosted by second year students, she also participated in Darden’s annual Finance Conference and discussed the recruiting season. BSchool Diva, after a lengthy absence, returned to share the news of her impending motherhood and plans to join Chicago Booth’s class of 2011.

It was a mixed bag for aspirants this week, some sharing their interview experiences, others their heartache over never having the chance to dazzle a school’s adcom. In terms of interviews, Samantha shared her Tuck interview experience, and seemed to be a little more enthusiastic about the school than in past posts. Soni gave a very detailed account of his Chicago Booth campus visit/interview experience, while MissionMBA was happy to receive invitations to interview from Emory and Fuqua. On the flip side, there was a slew of sadness emanating from many who had applied to ISB. Ahembeea received a zap from ISB, but had an interview with Emory to soften the blow. Maverick also got the zap news and couldn’t help but acknowledge the sting before moving on. MBADreamer, too, was zapped and began to feel the pressure. ISB wasn’t the only school sending its decisions out, Charu received an unanticipated zap from Vanderbilt. 

In other news, MBAMonk was back with his GMAT prep news and decision to apply this year and plans to see a rose colored city. D.G. went to a Chicago Booth event focused on entrepreneurial ventures and was very impressed. On the far side of this process, Maxwriter tried to figure out how to handle Columbia’s verification process and loan applications, while hanging back on letting his employer know of his eventual departure.

Those in their second, and final, years were a mix of professionalism and fun this week. Darden ‘09 Mandy attended a bike prom and shared her Twilight watching experience. McDonough ‘09 HairTwirler attended a Corporate Responsibility Symposium. And Ross ‘09 M@ shared a Ross Follies video.

And that is the long and short of the blogosphere news for the week. Hopefully, if you celebrate Thanksgiving, you’re getting over your food comas, and if you’re abroad perhaps you have exciting plans for the weekend. Regardless of your location, we hope the next week goes by swiftly and that you’ll come back to catch up with the brave stories of and amazing feats of those with their eyes on the MBA prize.

0 Comments »

# posted by Clear Admit @ 3:00 am in Fridays from the Frontline

Thursday, November 27, 2008

Campus Chronicles: Wharton’s Journal

Happy Thanksgiving!  There is more to be excited about than just turkey, cranberry sauce, and mashed potatoes on this special day: it is time for another edition of Campus Chronicles!  Today we turn our attention back to the Wharton campus, checking out the latest through the student publication, The Wharton Journal.

The African American MBA Association hosted the 35th Annual Whitney M. Young Memorial Conference (WMY) at Wharton this past weekend, drawing hundreds of students, alumni, scholars, and business leaders to reflect and discourse on the theme “Charting your course: Navigating through the Winds of Change.”  Celebrating the life of the late statesman and educator Whitney M. Young Jr., the three-day event generated thought leadership around the economic development of the Black community.  Valerie Mosley, Partner at Wellington Management; Raymond J. McGuire, Global Co-Head of Investment Banking at Citi; and James H. Lowry, Senior Advisor at The Boston Consulting Group graced the event as keynote speakers.  More than sixteen panels complemented the keynote lectures, delving into topics such as philanthropy, real estate, and the business surrounding sports.  A great number of alums participated in the event due to the Conference Planning Committee’s effort to engage alumni through an energetic outreach program which included programming, networking functions, and social events.

Due to the current economic situation, the WMY focused on providing new ideas and means of approaching the crisis as well as illuminating opportunities for advancement – a focus that allowed for meaningful interactive discussion.  The Conference’s innovative outlook was further augmented by the new role that employers played in the conference: the traditional Career Fair was replaced by the Dedicated Educational Event in which the recruiter-job seeker relationship transcended a simply conversational form to become educational in an interactive module.  Such a shift reflected the Conference Planning Committee’s “newly revived dedication to career education.”   The WMY was a great success, for as the Wharton Journal staff writers concluded, “Attendees left facing the ‘winds of change’ with unified insight, hope, and fortitude.”

On the social side of things, The Wharton Journal reports the excitement that surrounded the Wharton Wharthogs (the “Hogs”) participation in the 12th Annual Thunderbird Rugby Invitational in early November.  As two-time defending champions, the Hogs had to preserve their strong reputation, and they went at it with great energy, literally barreling down any team that crossed their path.  The Invitational began with a great success for the Hogs, as they solidly defeated Columbia, not letting injuries hinder their game.  However, Kellogg narrowly beat the Wharton B team, yet the Wharton A team reclaimed victory in a game against Northern Arizona.  Nevertheless, the dedicated Hogs found a win slip away from their fingertips when Stanford beat them on the second day of the Invitational, making it so that the Hogs finished in a respectable third place for the tournament.  Though the Hogs did not finish as high as they would have hoped, they look forward to the spring season and a potential World Championship at Duke in April.  We wish them all the best.

Stay tuned next week for another edition of Campus Chronicles!

0 Comments »

# posted by Clear Admit @ 3:30 am in Campus Chronicles, General

Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Wiki Wednesdays: iTunes Gift Certificates for Wiki Contributors!

Welcome to another installment of Wiki Wednesdays, reporting the latest goings on with the Clear Admit Wiki. Firstly, we’d like to say thanks to all the applicants who’ve been submitting interview reports lately! Recent additions include an account of an Early Decision interview at Columbia, a Wharton applicant’s interview with a second-year student, a report on a relaxed UCLA / Anderson interview and blogger Hakuna Matata’s Michigan / Ross interview experience!

As we’ve stressed in this blog, and as anyone who’s used the site to prepare for their interviews will attest, having access to firsthand accounts of the interview process at a given program can be invaluable in understanding what a program is looking for and arriving at a feeling of readiness. To build this resource and encourage applicants who’ve already interviewed this season to post their interview reports, campus visit accounts and school decisions, we’ll be offering an added incentive over the next few weeks.

Between now and December 19th, we’ll be awarding a $10 iTunes gift certificate to every fifth applicant who contributes content to the Wiki. For those wondering what sort of details to include in their Wiki entries, we find that the most helpful and informative reports include the following information:

1. Date/Admissions Round
2. Description of visit and/or interview atmosphere
3. Type of interview (alum vs. adcom, blind vs. application-based)
4. List of interview questions
5. Commentary (What did you think of the interview? What surprised you? What didn’t surprise you? What might you conclude about the school based on this experience?)

Beyond interview information, we’d also love to see some more detailed accounts of visits to campus and decisions about where to apply.

To be eligible for the prize, simply send your contribution to wiki@clearadmit.com; we’ll post it to the Wiki and notify the winners by e-mail. Thanks in advance for your reports and don’t forget to check out the Clear Admit Interview Guides for extra interview tips!

0 Comments »

# posted by Clear Admit @ 2:22 pm in Interview Tips, Wiki Wednesdays

What Do You Consider To Be The ‘Upside’?

For those of us located in the United States, tomorrow is the annual turkey, mashed potato and pie festival that many know as Thanksgiving. In honor of the holiday, we thought we would ask MBA aspirants for a positive perspective on the whole application process.

 Loading ...

0 Comments »

# posted by Clear Admit @ 3:14 am in Poll

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Johnson School MBA-Managed Hedge Fund Outpaces the Market

At Cornell’s Johnson School of Business, MBA students put theory into practice in a very real way – managing $14 million of other people’s money. And according to a recent article in the Cornell Chronicle, the student-managed Cayuga Fund consistently beats the market, returning 5.95 percent to investors in 2007.

The hedge fund counts between 40 and 50 investors, primarily Cornell alumni, who have entrusted their money to students to manage as part of a year-long course called Applied Portfolio Management. Sanjeev Bhojraj, Johnson associate professor of accounting, teaches the course.

With 32 students, this year’s class is the largest yet. And for the first time, first-year students are working as analysts to assist the second-year portfolio managers.

The Cayuga Fund is a market-neutral equity hedge fund, which means it is shielded from market volatility and the dramatic swings of an index-tracking fund.

“If the market goes up 30 percent, we might be up only 10 or 15 percent,” Bhojraj told the Chronicle. “But if it’s down 30 percent, we still want to be up, but maybe only 5 or 10 percent,” he continued. “We want to generate steady returns.”

From 1998 to 2002, the Cayuga Fund was an index-tracking fund, tracking closely with the S&P 500. But after the burst of the dotcom bubble and the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the school decided to go market neutral.

The fund’s 2007 returns were down from previous years – 14.2 percent in 2006 and 10.4 percent in 2005 – but its fourth-quarter recovery still placed is ahead of major market indices, according to the Chronicle article. Performance is measured against the Hedge Fund Research Equity Hedge and Equity Market Neutral indices.

So, just how does it work? Basically, students in the Applied Portfolio Management class are divided into teams, each of which is responsible for managing the stocks of an individual sector, such as energy, semiconductors or retail.

An initial 3,000 or so stocks are run through a computer program that screens them quantitatively to determine those that might be over- or under-valued, narrowing the list to about 500.

These 500 or so stocks are then divvyed up by sector. Each week, the student groups responsible for each sector must then propose a list of about four stocks they feel might be worth buying or selling.

“Essentially the idea is that you have stocks in the fund, and you buy them and sell them based on what you think is going to happen to the price,” Sasha Kaganas ‘09, co-portfolio manager of the healthcare group, told the Chronicle. Kaganas and her group handle about 15 healthcare stocks while keeping abreast of overall healthcares stock performances.

But the students’ work does not stop there. Class meets each Monday and Wednesday, at which point students pitch their chosen stocks to their classmates, who vote as a group on whether to buy or sell. A two-thirds majority must vote in favor of any given move the fund makes.

“Half the battle is communicating well,” Bhojraj noted about the students in his class. “They stand up and learn how to present, and how to hone down their idea to key details.”

Even if a particular action wins the class vote, the potential transaction must still survive a thorough risk management process led by a specialized student trader and supervised by Bhojraj.

With these appropriate safeguards and oversight in place, Johnson students get to enjoy a significant degree of decision-making responsibility while learning in the best way possible – by doing.

To learn more about the Cayuga Fund, click here. For more on Johnson’s Applied Portfolio Management course, click here.

0 Comments »

# posted by Clear Admit @ 6:07 pm in General, MBA News, School: Cornell / Johnson

Admissions Director Q&A: Columbia Business School Assistant Dean Linda Meehan

Before joining Columbia University in 1989, Linda Meehan’s pursuits included teaching and running a home business, among others. She moved to Columbia Business School (CBS) in 1993, where she serves as Assistant Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid.

Dean Meehan recently took time out of her busy schedule amid CBS’s rolling admissions process to answer a few of our questions. Read on to learn about some of the interesting new elective courses the school will offer this spring, as well as just how the admissions process unfolds for CBS applicants.

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

Linda Meehan: Columbia Business School is leading the charge in this new era of business school education, starting with some of our natural advantages: our cutting-edge faculty research and a focus on experiential learning, a powerful alumni network and our location in the city of New York.

Our rigorous core curriculum provides not only the business essentials, but also the leadership skills and networking opportunities that last a lifetime. The following are two elective courses, available to students in spring 2009, which exemplify the innovative offerings of our robust curriculum:

“The Future of Retirement Wealth”
Retirement wealth, including 401(k) and IRA balances and assets in corporate and state and local pension plans, represents a significant fraction of global financial wealth. The United States and many other countries around the world have been undergoing fundamental change in this arena. In addition, the economic crisis of 2008 is introducing a new set of challenges for the retirement wealth system. This course will use the tools of economics and finance to analyze important questions about the future of retirement wealth.

“The Marketing of a Nation: Israel”
In this hands-on, project-based course, students will be given the frameworks and tools necessary to create a marketing campaign to increase American audiences’ awareness of all that Israel has to offer. The course will present a variety of conceptual frameworks from marketing, branding and strategy; offer relevant case studies and background research; and cover relevant industries such as hi-tech, tourism and lobbying. Class time will be divided between lectures, industry guest speakers and intensive group work. Teams of three to five students each will work throughout the week to develop the goals, strategy and implementation for their marketing campaigns. In the final class session, students will present their campaigns to members of the Israeli consulate.

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.)?

LM: An individual application may be reviewed independently by two to three individual members of the admissions committee before the application is presented to the larger admissions committee for a final decision to be rendered.

At any given point during the reading process, the first reader, the second reader or the third reader may request for an interview invitation to be extended, but the application also may make its way to the final admissions committee before an interview invitation is extended. Interviews are generally conducted by alumni in the applicant’s local area. Interviews are blind so the only information an interviewer has about the applicant is that which is shared by the applicant. Generally, an applicant will send a resume to the interviewer.

Once the application has been reviewed, the larger admissions committee, which I chair, will render a final decision on an application.

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?

LM: Essays are one portion of the application over which the applicant has complete control. It is important that the essays are constructed carefully and thoughtfully. Be sure to answer the question we have asked. There is no magic formula that, if you plug in the answers, will provide you with the perfect essay. Tell your story. Be genuine and be passionate. If you are excited and genuinely enthusiastic about what you are writing, your story may inspire the reader of your application. Remember what you choose to write about tells us as much or more about you as your answer itself does.

A pitfall applicants may encounter is trying to look for that magic formula mentioned above. Be true to yourself and your story. Our students don’t come from a cookie cutter. Each one is unique, and so are you.

0 Comments »

# posted by Clear Admit @ 11:30 am in Admissions Director Q&A, School: Columbia

Trivia Tuesday: Chicago Booth’s International MBA

It’s time once again for Trivia Tuesday, our weekly examination of the programs, policies and possibilities at the leading business schools.

As business goes global, business leaders are increasingly expected to understand the nuances of doing business on the international stage. For prospective students interested in a career in international business, Chicago Booth’s IMBA offers an intriguing option. Chicago Booth is one of the few leading MBA programs to offer students an opportunity to pursue a specialized International MBA (IMBA) degree. To receive the IMBA, full-time MBA students must study abroad for one academic term, demonstrate proficiency in a non-native language and complete a concentration in international business.

The concentration in international business consists of at least five courses in international business, at least three of which must be from Chicago Booth. While students must demonstrate non-native language proficiency, they do not need to do so in the language spoken while studying abroad. For instance, international students may fulfill the program’s language requirement through demonstrating proficiency in English and their native language.

In keeping with Chicago Booth’s reputation for academic flexibility, students do not need to apply to the IMBA program until the first quarter of the MBA. In contrast, candidates for specialized degree and certificate programs at many other business schools must declare this during the general admissions process.

For more information on Chicago Booth’s International MBA option or the international offerings at other leading business schools, be sure to visit the schools’ websites or check out the International Programs/Special Programs sections of the Clear Admit School Guides!

0 Comments »

# posted by Clear Admit @ 3:00 am in School: Chicago, Trivia Tuesday

Monday, November 24, 2008

Darden Teams Clean Up at 2008 Innovation Challenge

The sixth annual Innovation Challenge, billed as the world’s largest business innovation competition for MBA students, took place this past weekend in Charlottesville, and hometown teams from the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business beat out international competitors to win each of the three prizes in the event’s final round.

Darden teams took three of the ten spots in the final competition, out of an initial field that included more than 260 entering teams representing 55 schools and 48 countries. Competing teams have nine days to write a concept plan to address one of five real-world challenges facing the competition’s corporate sponsors. Twenty-five teams advance to the semi-final round to pitch sponsors directly with their plans, and ten teams meet face to face for the final round. 

Examples of the types of challenges MBA teams are invited to respond to as part of the competition include the following:
• How might Hilton foster a thriving service culture among employees?
• How might IBM market itself to businesses in China and India as the leader in creating value in business process innovation?
• How might Sprint create an innovative product or service, greatly increasing the subscriber’s quality of life, using Wide Area Wireless High Speed technologies?

Darden’s clean sweep included the “Most Innovative MBA Team in the World” title, which went to Team Wildhoos. Wildhoos also won the American Express OPEN Award and the $20,000 competition overall prize. Another Darden team, Team Alchemy, won the Hilton Award, the challenge’s third prize.

Other schools that made it to the final round this year included Manchester Business School, with two teams; Australian School of Business; Chinese University of Hong Kong; University of California-Davis Graduate School of Management; University of Washington Business School; and Virginia Commonwealth University’s Brand Center.

The Innovation Challenge was launched in 2002 by Idea Crossing, a Los Angeles start-up built around the idea that organizations can capture the collective ideas of crowds to help solve crucial strategic challenges. This year’s corporate sponsors were American Express OPEN, Hilton Hotels, the Navy Federal Credit Union, RBC Bank and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

To learn more, visit the Innovation Challenge website or watch competition-related videos on YouTube.

0 Comments »

# posted by Clear Admit @ 4:54 pm in General, MBA News, School: Virginia / Darden

Admissions Tip: The Long Essay

Essay content you’ve polished for one school often serves as a great starting point for the next application, but as we’ve often said, customizing this text for the school in question is key. One particular challenge we see applicants struggle with each year is effectively expanding a short essay they’ve written for one program (such as Harvard’s 400 word “career vision” document or Kellogg’s two-page, double-spaced essay about one’s career to date, goals and interest in their MBA) in responding to a question on the same topic but with a longer limit. With this in mind, we’d like to offer some pointers on converting condensed comments to more extensive remarks.

1) Expand in proportion. When taking an existing response as a starting point for crafting a longer document, one good rule of thumb is to build upon each subject to more or less the same extent. While elaborating on your work to date might involve less time and work than the more research-intensive ‘why School X’ discussion, it’s generally prudent to maintain balance among subjects and provide all of the major pieces information a school requests in equal measure.

2) Maintain focus. One frequent issue with long essays is that they sometimes lack a clear sense of direction. To ensure that the reader is able to understand the relevance of your remarks and follow the connections among the various ideas, it’s a good idea to include transition sentences at the beginning of each paragraph that tie the subsequent remarks and examples to the topic of the essay and clearly state how certain statements relate to the question. This exercise also serves as a check for the applicant in making sure that all of the details in the essay are related to the subject.

3) Finish when you’re finished. While it’s important to take advantage of the opportunity that each essay presents to share information about your candidacy, you shouldn’t feel obligated to reach the upper end of a suggested page limit if you feel that you’ve already addressed the question and presented a full picture of your interests and background.

Good luck to everyone composing essays with an eye to R2 submission! For more tailored guidance on essays in particular or the application process in general, feel free to contact us at info@clearadmit.com.

0 Comments »

# posted by Clear Admit @ 3:00 am in Admissions Tips, General

Friday, November 21, 2008

Oxford’s Saïd Business School Hosts Annual Entrepreneurship Forum

In a post earlier this week, we looked at the ways in which administrators and alumni at top schools are encouraging business students to channel their entrepreneurial energies amid the current financial crisis. Entrepreneurship is in the headlines at Oxford University’s Saïd Business School this week as well, as the school prepares to host its 8th annual Silicon Valley Comes to Oxford conference.

This year’s forum, “A 360-Degree View of the Valley,” is designed to offer students just that. Luminaries from across Silicon Valley will join leading European entrepreneurs and Oxford faculty and MBA students for an array of masterclasses and panel debates focused on the big issues and future directions of innovation. The conference will take place on Monday, November 24th.

Smart search engines, intelligent databases, open source software, social networking and web TV will be among the various technologies and trends explored by the forum and its participants. Meanwhile, a keynote panel entitled “The Universe, the Brain and Second  Life” will attempt to contrast these trends against longer term, more visionary elements of technology. The global recession and its impact on entrepreneurship, too, will be a subject of discussion as part of a welcome plenary.

Speakers and panelists at this year’s Silicon Valley Comes to Oxford will include Reid Hoffman, founder of LinkedIn; Elon Musk, co-founder of Space X and PayPal; Chris Sacca, former head of special initiatives at Google and adviser to Skype; Philip Rosedale, founder of Second Life; and Biz Stone, founder of Twitter, among others.

The forum is hosted by the Oxford Centre of Entrepreneurship and Innovation, which provides a range of programming and resources to MBA and undergraduate entrepreneurs. To date, more than 100 MBA entrepreneurship projects have evolved into successful new ventures and collectively raised more than $1 billion in venture finance.

To learn more about the Silicon Valley Comes to Oxford conference, click here. For more on entrepreneurship at Saïd Business School, click here.

0 Comments »

# posted by Clear Admit @ 11:29 am in Events, General, MBA News, School: Oxford

Fridays From The Frontline

And welcome back to Fridays From the Frontline, Clear Admit’s ongoing dive into the depths of the deliriously detailed lives of MBA aspirants and current students. Seven days never goes by quite as fast as in the b-school blogosphere. Each week, additional applications are submitted or worked upon, recruiting schedules wax and wane and interviews, for jobs or admission, are replayed over and over in each candidates’ head. This week was no exception, aspirants continue to deal with the stress of hearing (or not hearing) from their round one schools while current b-schoolers continued to do their best to manage their time efficiently.

An unavoidable part of the business school application process, for most, is a ‘zap’ here or there (Note: we’re tired of the word ‘ding’, so we’ve opted to go with ‘zap’ from now on). This year has been no exception for blogging hopefuls. Wharton, Harvard and Columbia have already made many of their choices known, leaving some extremely happy, while others must regroup. Ahembeea, zapped by Wharton, reflected on the remaining application roads on which he could travel, and hoped that he was going to get on the right one. Samantha also got bad news from Wharton, but began working hard on her Columbia application. D.G. had his own gruesome analogy for the slew of rejections disbursed over the last few weeks. MBAdreamer might appreciate that analogy, having received less than positive news from ISB.

Not all news was bad news, MyNameisNeo received his acceptance letter from Indian Institute of Management Calcutta and will start taking classes in March. Soni submitted his NYU applications and wasn’t looking forward to a specific Duke essay. After a while with no posts, MissionMBA returned with a question about his chances at Fuqua. The.Grey.One shared an interesting perspective on Harvard. Omne, having submitted his applications, asked ‘what’s next?’, wished fellow applicants good luck and summed up the overall feelings of many applicants: waiting stinks! The Teacher considered the importance of soft skills in professional life, and assessed a few schools’ programs in relation to that area of expertise.

First year b-schoolers have certainly adjusted to their respective school routines, though that doesn’t mean that it’s always easy. Darden ‘10 JulyDream had a lot of traveling logistics, academic and personal, to work out before December. She also shared her 15 hour StratSim experience and proudly said that all members on her team were still breathing. LBS ‘10 N.A.S. recounted his team trip to Dusseldorf, complete with Jack Daniels, hot showers, unnecessary fire alarms and the Indo-German Business Conference…and horses. Lastly, McCombs ‘10 Metal returned from a consulting trek to Dallas and translated one of his fave ghazals into English.

‘09ers covered a wide variety of topics this week. Darden ‘09 Anand discussed game theory as it applies to video games…and the larger world. Fellow Darden classmate, Mandy, celebrated the powers of Exedrin and linked to a very extreme video. McDonough ‘09 Hairtwirler, in an effort of procrastination, posted on potentially “exciting news on the job front”. And finally, Chicago ‘09 MaybeMBA didn’t enjoy the Chicago Booth bidding system for classes.

Those of us in the Northeast of the United States are certainly feeling a chill in the air and can only expect snow flurries in the coming weeks. Hopefully aspirants will experience at least one positive flurry, of the heart, after receiving positive b-school news. Clear Admit will continue to follow all those in the b-school blogosphere, as they strive to accomplish great things!  Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

0 Comments »

# posted by Clear Admit @ 1:34 am in Fridays from the Frontline

Thursday, November 20, 2008

Admissions Director Q&A: Liz Riley Hargrove of Duke’s Fuqua School of Business

As part of our continuing series of discussions with admissions directors at top business schools around the world, we are pleased to offer this recent interview with Liz Riley Hargrove, Associate Dean of Admissions at the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University. Hargrove has spent almost her entire professional career at Duke. After starting in undergraduate admissions at North Carolina State University, she joined the staff at Duke in 1993 and has been there ever since.

In the interview that follows, Hargrove shares her excitement about Fuqua’s plans for global expansion, describes the school’s philosophy of collaborative leadership and provides an important tip for applicants to help ensure that you’ve adequately answered your essay questions. So read on!

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

Liz Riley Hargrove: Fuqua has just announced a plan to expand our campus to become the first globally embedded business school in five countries simultaneously. We will have a physical presence in India, Russia, China, the United Kingdom (probably London) and Dubai. We just announced it at the end of September.

For prospective applicants it means that Duke will be one of the first business schools to actually be on the ground in all of those locations. We have revamped one of our EMBA programs – our cross-continent program – and students in that program will be able to take classes in those regions of the world. We also will have career services and other resources on the ground in those regions. So it will definitely benefit our full-time MBA students in terms of curriculum, faculty and career services options.

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

LRH: I would say that a lot of people, just from reading our website, aren’t really familiar with the kind of culture that our students experience here. We are of the philosophy that Duke is a collaborative leadership culture. In other words, we believe students can be both collaborators and leaders, as opposed to having the philosophy that those two things are in opposition.

Everything at Fuqua is designed to give students the opportunity to work in teams but also to define and refine their leadership skills. I think students are closer as a result. They challenge each other to be better and to improve and to continue to get better.

We have lots of ways for students to practice what they are learning in a low-risk environment. Our students are not passive participants in their business school education. They are actually encouraged to be a really great part of helping to Fuqua to be a really first-rate school. For example, our Career Fellows help their fellow students in the job search process, and our Leadership Fellows help peers work on leadership skills. Students here have the opportunity to really get involved with the running of the school.

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.). 

LRH: Once an applicant hits the submit button our operations team takes over. They download all the applications and print them, and then they are put into folders with labels and divided up for reading among the Admissions Committee, which is approximately 20 people. Each application is read at least twice and most often three times before the Admissions Committee meets to discuss it. It takes 45 minutes to an hour to read one application.

The first reader uses an evaluation criteria we have established. As part of that criteria, an applicant’s undergrad record, GMAT scores, essays, recommendations, interview, community involvement, leadership – all are assigned equal weight in the process. I really like that because an applicant can have a blemish on his or her application but still be a great fit, and if we’re looking at the applicant as a whole being instead of just one component it really allows us to create the diversity that we want here. It’s like creating a mosaic.

Once each file is read, we have an Admissions Committee meeting where each file is discussed and a vote is taken. In the case of a tie, I break it.

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?

LRH: There are a couple of things in the application process that applicants control and then there are things they can’t do anything about. Their undergrad record, GMAT scores – those things are what they are. But everything else they can control. The essays and the interview really give the applicant a chance to differentiate themselves. So they are a key part in terms of us getting to know why they want to come and their potential fit.

We want students who really want to come to Duke, so we are looking for evidence of why they chose Duke and why they think it’s a good fit for them as individuals.

In terms of the most common mistake we see, that would have to be applicants who don’t answer the essay question. We see that a lot. For instance, in answer to a question about how an MBA fits into short- and long-term goals, many candidates will tell us what they want to do right after they graduate, but not tell us anything about their longer-range plans.

My one piece of advice to applicants as they sit down to write their essays is this: Have someone read your essays without giving them the questions. If they can tell you what the questions were after reading your answers, then you have answered the questions.

Again, while the essays are only one component of the application process, they are a really important component.

0 Comments »

# posted by Clear Admit @ 10:51 am in Admissions Director Q&A, School: Duke / Fuqua

Campus Chronicles: Harvard’s Harbus

This week we return to Harvard’s Harbus to discover the latest events and initiatives on the HBS campus.

Harbus reports the launch of a student blog titled “Economic Policy Review,” developed by four students in September.  Aiming to offer a non-partisan commentary on issues that currently plague the U.S. economy, the blog (www.econblog.org) delves into economic policy, touching on topics such as domestic energy policy, trade policy, campaign finance laws, and global competitiveness.    One of the blog’s creators, Kyle Sable, stated that the idea for the blog arose in his BGIE section when he recognized the “disjunction between sound economic principles and the polices that are often enacted.”  Hoping to close this gap and use his “HBS education to impact the world immediately,” Sable recruited his section mates to serve on the editorial board.  Each of the board members oversees a different economic policy area, yet each potential post is debated at their weekly meetings.  One of Sable’s fellow board members comments, “Talking about these issues in an open forum, free of partisan debates is an important way to understand the gravity of these issues while maintaining intellectual honesty.”  Another board member, Drew Thomas, recognizes the importance that his HBS education has played in making the blog possible, stating, “I’ve become more open to listening to opposing ideas and better at evaluating those ideas based on their strengths and weaknesses.”  Thus, the blog offers a chance not only to delve into American economic policy, but also to learn life lessons about assessing ideas and reaching consensus.

In other news, the Student Association at HBS is currently in the process of accepting applications for the SA Community Impact Fund.  The Impact Fund provides financial backing for student-led initiatives that have a “direct and tangible impact” on communities outside of HBS.  Fred Smith, the Co-President of the Student Association, stated that the SA is “proud in helping students help others,” going on to comment, “So many students have great ideas for outreach projects, and we want to use the fund to enable these initiatives to become reality.”  SA Senator and Chair of the Community Impact Fund Committee, John Coleman, echoes Smith in stating, “We know there are individuals and groups wanting to start new programs or expand current ones, and the SA wants to support them as much as possible.”  To gain funding for an initiative, at least one of the leaders must be an HBS student, and the SA prefers to see projects in which results will be achieved within six months of receiving funding.  Past funding has gone to transportation costs for the New Orleans Trek and material support for a student-led project in Africa.

Tune in next week for another edition of Campus Chronicles!

0 Comments »

# posted by Clear Admit @ 1:23 am in Campus Chronicles, General

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Darden, Kellogg, Kenan-Flagler All Encourage Entrepreneurship in the Face of Economic Crisis

When life deals you lemons, make lemonade. Or, more precisely, open your own lemonade stand. That’s the message several top business schools are projecting to students amid the current economic crisis.

In a blog post last week entitled “One answer to a recession: start a business,” Dean Robert Bruner of the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business reminded students that “financial crises and recessions are as much about new beginnings as dreadful endings.”

Bruner cites the example of a Darden alum, J. Bryan Murphy (’86), whose aspirations as a real estate developer were dashed by the recession of 1991-2. But instead of hunkering down and settling for something safe, Murphy and his partner decided to head to Europe, where there was less competition in their specialty. The move paid off, Bruner continued.

Going on to quote playwright Tom Stoppard, who said, “Every exit is an entrance somewhere else,” Bruner challenged his students to “frame the ‘somewhere else’” using Murphy’s experience as an example.

Kellogg Speaker: Pursue a “Different Entrepreneurship Dream”
A lecture at Kellogg last week about the future of entrepreneurship carried much the same message. Michael Ferro Jr., chairman and CEO of Chicago-based holding company Merrick Ventures, spoke as part of an event hosted by the Kellogg Entrepreneurship Club on November 13th. His message to students was that in times of economic crisis they should use their skills to revive faltering ventures and make them their own.

According to Ferro, people are sitting on the sidelines with money to invest even during an economic crisis, but they generally want to put their cash into deals that will save existing businesses and jobs. “The entrepreneurship dream is different” under those circumstances, he said.

Move beyond thinking of entreprenuership as launching a brand-new venture, he advised. “You can latch onto people [with existing businesses] who need help,” he said. “They need talent and equity and if you have it, you can do a lot.”

Pursue Your Passions Now, Says Kenan-Flagler Career Development Director
John Worth, director of MBA career development at the University of North Carolina’s Kenan-Flagler School of Business, says now is the time to go after your dreams.

In his November “Career Corner” column, he shares the stories of three Kenan-Flagler alumni who made decisions to marry their passions and their careers, finding nontraditional ways to put their business educations to work. Today’s economy and job market, Worth writes, is a great time to do just that.

“With the job market resembling a very large lemon, maybe the best lemonade is … why wait?” he says. Maybe your plan was to climb the corporate ladder in finance or marketing or consulting and then pursue your dream when you retire. Instead, make that dream part of what you pursue right now.

“Whether your dream is to teach, start a business, run a nonprofit organization, perform a similar function in a different industry/environment or pursue something totally different from anything you’ve done before, include a passion or something that always has been a long-term plan into your job search activities,” he recommends.

“It will put a whole new spin on your efforts to identify your most transferable skills,” he writes, adding that networking activities will be more fun, you’ll meet more people you have things in common with, and your sincere interest will come across in interviews.

“You may find yourself smiling more than ever before,” he adds. “Isn’t that what it should be all about?”

0 Comments »

# posted by Clear Admit @ 2:00 pm in General, MBA News, School: Northwestern / Kellogg, School: UNC / Kenan Flagler, School: Virginia / Darden

Wiki Wednesdays: UNC Kenan-Flagler, Northwestern Kellogg

Welcome to this week’s installment of Wiki Wednesdays, where we highlight fresh additions to the Clear Admit Wiki, an online collection of firsthand accounts of MBA applicants’ experiences with the admissions process. Before we take a closer look at some recent posts, we’d like to share an email we recently received from an appreciative Wiki user.  This note sheds some light on how the Wiki can be helpful in the MBA interview process:

—– Original Message —–
From: xxxxxx
To: wiki @ clearadmit . com
Sent: Friday, November 14, 2008 5:01 PM

The interview page in the wiki section of the Clear Admit website is a godsend! The questions provided by the students were very helpful in preparing for my interviews, both on and off campus, as I was able to formulate my responses beforehand and was not stumped during the interview itself. Even if I did not write out a response, having seen the question before helped as it was not a total surprise.

I have used the wiki section for multiple interviews in the past and I will use it during my preparations for my upcoming Wharton interview.

Regards,

XXXXXXX

We’re proud to provide such a useful forum, but the site could not be as “helpful” if not for firsthand accounts from applicants! Speaking of which, over the past week, we’ve received a number of interview reports for UNC / Kenan-Flagler and Northwestern / Kellogg. Without further ado, here’s a glimpse at the questions applicants posted to the Clear Admit Wiki…

A Round 2 applicant to UNC / Kenan Flagler listed the following questions:

1. Walk me through your resume?
2. Why do you want to get an MBA?
3. Why an MBA from Kenan Flagler?
4. What qualities do you hope to develop during your MBA?
5. What do you plan to do after your MBA?

Kicking the spotlight over to Kellogg, this applicant shared his encounter with the adcom, including some of the following questions:

1. Can you walk me through your key leadership experiences at company X?
2. Can you talk about your community experience?
3. Tell me 3 things you are good at? Or 3 good characteristics.
4. What would your colleagues tell me about you?
5. What kind of a person are you on a team?
6. What is an ideal teammate like?
7. What feedback have you used to do better?
8. What part of your application makes you nervous?
9. What do you want the reviewer to notice?

Thanks for joining us for this week’s Wiki Wednesdays! As always, we extend our gratitude to those who have contributed content to the Clear Admit Wiki for the benefit of the MBA applicant community. If you have an interview or campus visit to describe, be sure to share your experience! Simply create an account or send your reports to wiki@clearadmit.com. Don’t forget to check out the Clear Admit Interview Guides for a little extra help as well! Best of luck with those interviews and tune in next week for another taste of the Clear Admit Wiki.

0 Comments »

# posted by Clear Admit @ 11:37 am in Interview Tips, School: Northwestern / Kellogg, School: UNC / Kenan Flagler, Wiki Wednesdays

How Do You Wait?

 Loading ...

0 Comments »

# posted by Clear Admit @ 2:30 am in Poll

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Interview Insights from Stanford GSB, Chicago Booth Admissions Directors

In a post to the Stanford Graduate School of Business Admissions blog last week, Director of Admissions Derrick Bolton shed some light on the timing of interview invitations. “Please be assured that your likelihood of admission bears no relationship to when you receive your interview invitation,” he wrote. “The timing of your invitation simply depends on when we review your file.”

And as for the order in which Stanford GSB reviews applications, there is no pattern, Bolton said. Interviews for Round 1 applicants start as soon as possible after the application deadline, which is typically early November, and continue through mid-January.

“We expect to send Round 1 interview invitations pretty regularly, every business day or so, through mid December,” he said. During the school’s winter shutdown, December 22nd through January 5th, the admissions committee is still reading applications “feverishly,” but invites get bundled and go out every few days instead of every day. 

According to Bolton, he hopes to send almost all Round 1 invitations out by mid-January, but some will likely go out later. And some applicants may be asked to join the waitlist without an interview, he added. But the timing of your invite does not have any bearing on your likelihood of admission, he repeated. “No matter when you receive your invitation to interview, you have the same chance of admission as any other candidate.”

In a blog post of her own, Rose Martinelli of the Chicago Booth School of Business shared a little about interviews at that school. Not a lot of detail here – her post was devoted primarily to the school’s new name and its generous benefactor – but she did reveal that more than 250 applicants were headed to campus this week to interview and that she has been enjoying meeting them all.

That’s all we have for today, but we’ll keep the updates coming as often as we can. And don’t forget, you can share your own interview experiences with fellow anxious applicants on the Clear Admit Wiki and read what others have to say about theirs as well.

0 Comments »

# posted by Clear Admit @ 8:19 am in MBA News, School: Chicago, School: Stanford

Trivia Tuesday: Health Sector Management at Fuqua

It’s time once again for Trivia Tuesday, our regular exploration of the special programs and opportunities that differentiate the leading business schools. This week we take a look at Fuqua’s Health Sector Management program.

Duke University began offering healthcare education in 1930 alongside its opening of the Duke Hospital. In the more than three-quarters of a century since then, the Health Sector Management program (HSM) has evolved into one of the preeminent healthcare management education programs in the nation, alongside Wharton’s Health Care Systems major. Today, the HSM program enrolls over one-fifth of each Daytime MBA class, making it the largest healthcare program affiliated with a leading business school.

Fuqua’s affiliation with Duke University and location in the North Carolina Research Triangle area are major contributors to the strength of the HSM program. The Duke University Medical Center and Health System is a leader in biomedical research, education, and healthcare delivery, while the HSM program’s relationships with area biotech and pharmaceutical companies keep students and faculty connected to the rapidly changing healthcare industry.

Students enter the HSM program from a variety of backgrounds; though the program does not require prior health sector experience, it does look for a strong commitment to the healthcare field among all student participants. As with Wharton’s Health Care Systems major, application to Fuqua’s HSM program is through the MBA admissions process, with HSM applicants asked to indicate their interest in pursuing the HSM Certificate in a special section of the application.

Once enrolled, HSM students spend the first year completing the standard core curriculum before beginning the coursework that leads to the HSM Certificate. To earn the Certificate, HSM students complete three HSM core courses and three healthcare elective courses. All six HSM courses count as elective credit towards the MBA degree requirements. This is a slightly heavier course load than required by Wharton’s healthcare program, which asks students to complete two foundations courses and three healthcare electives.

In addition to providing students with the tools and skills to be successful in established health sector organizations, the HSM program also allows students to combine their health sector studies with the study of entrepreneurship and community involvement. For instance, HSM students may participate in the Engineering World Health program, using their skills to improve healthcare facilities in an impoverished community, or compete in the healthcare track of the Duke Start-Up Challenge.

For more information on Duke’s Health Sector Management program, be sure to visit the school’s website or check out the Health Sector Management section of the Clear Admit School Guide to Fuqua!

0 Comments »

# posted by Clear Admit @ 12:30 am in School: Duke / Fuqua, Trivia Tuesday

Monday, November 17, 2008

BusinessWeek 2008 Business School Rankings: A Closer Look

Today we’ll take a closer look at how the various top programs fared in BusinessWeek’s most recent business school rankings, released last week.

Chicago Booth held firmly to the number one spot it secured in the 2006 rankings, boasting high scores in both the corporate recruiter and graduate surveys. Harvard Business School (HBS) and Wharton traded places this year, with HBS climbing to number two and Wharton slipping to number four. BW’s Louis Lavelle attributed Wharton’s slide to a poorer showing in the intellectual capital category this year than in 2006. 

Columbia, meanwhile, advanced from the number 10 spot to number seven, but MIT Sloan and Berkeley’s Haas School of Business each slipped slightly. Also noteworthy was the fact that Southern Methodist University (18) and Brigham Young University (22) each cracked the top 25 this year for the first time ever. SMU, for its part, has been among the participating schools for years, but lacked sufficient response rates in the recruiter and student portions of the ranking to secure a top spot before now, according to BW’s Geoff Gloeckler.

There were also two newcomers to the Global MBA rankings, IE Business School (2) and Oxford’s Saïd Business School (10). Like SMU, IE has long been a participant but until this year had insufficient recruiter and student response rates, Gloeckler said.

Yale School of Management, meanwhile, seems to have fallen back slightly. It came in at 24 this year, down from 19 in 2006. Lavelle attributed its fall to low student survey scores.

In an article accompanying the rankings, BW takes a look at the current business school landscape, which it says is marked by surging application rates amid “wretched” recruiting prospects.

As has historically been the case in times of economic downturn, application rates to business schools are rising steadily. According to the BW report, schools are reporting double-digit increases in application volume. Chicago Booth, for example, has seen a 20 percent surge in attendance at information sessions around the globe.

But even as more students clamor to get in, job prospects upon graduation are uncertain, with some schools bracing for the toughest MBA job market since the dotcom bust. “I think next fall is going to be very, very difficult,” George Daly, dean of Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business, told BW.

The article went on to cite a survey by umbrella group MBA Career Services Council, in which 70 percent of 77 participating schools reported a downturn in full-time recruiting opportunities in financial services in October.

As a result, some students are shifting their focus from investment banking to consulting and other fields. Attendance at recruiting presentations by consulting firms is standing room only, New York University’s Stern School of Business Dean Gary Fraser told BW.

A shift is also taking place in the classroom, as professors are introducing new case studies and re-writing syllabi as part of an effort to make sense of the financial crisis and market upheaval.

Risk management, meanwhile, is expected to play a much more important role in business school curriculums over the next three to five years, according to the BW report, a trend that Robert Meyer, co-director of Wharton’s Risk Management & Decision Processes Center, calls “potentially transformational.”

0 Comments »

# posted by Clear Admit @ 9:40 am in MBA News, Rankings, School: Berkeley / Haas, School: Chicago, School: Columbia, School: Georgetown, School: Harvard, School: IE, School: MIT / Sloan, School: NYU Stern, School: Oxford, School: Penn / Wharton, School: Yale

Next Page »

ACTIVE CONTENT

• Stanford Graduate School of Business Invites Prospective Applicants to Visit this Spring
• Fridays From the Frontline
• MBADiversity and The National Graduate Preparatory Program Host National Symposium in NYC
• Twitter Thursdays: News from MBA Programs
• BearingPoint Bankruptcy Could Cost Yale School of Management $8.1 Million

Facebook

Become a fan of Clear Admit on Facebook and join a vibrant MBA applicant community to engage in discussion, stay on top of deadlines, follow MBA news and win prizes!

Twitter

Follow Clear Admit on Twitter for breaking MBA news before it's blogged, just-posted interview reports in the Wiki and more!

MBA Twitter Index!

We've created the MBA Admissions Twitter Index, a directory of applicants, current MBA students and b-schools on Twitter.

Clear Admit Newsletter

Join our semi-monthly email newsletter for exclusive admissions advice and information on our latest Publications offerings!

Wiki

MBA Admissions Wiki
The Clear Admit Wiki is designed to allow b-school applicants to share their experiences through the application process. You can learn from others' experiences and contribute your own reports to the community. Below are the five most popular pages in the wiki:
Wharton Interview Field Reports
HBS Interview Field Reports
Kellogg Interview Field Reports
Chicago Interview Field Reports
Columbia Interview Field Reports

Discussion Boards

BusinessWeek Forums
The BusinessWeek Discussion Boards are another way to learn about the issues applicants face. Clear Admit hosts the Ask Clear Admit thread, which should help answer your questions. Here is a link to the original interface (for those of you who didn't like the recent upgrade). Also, here are the five most recent discussions taking place in the forum:

Beat The GMAT Forums
Clear Admit is a featured expert in the BeatTheGMAT forums, answering questions from applicants across the globe. Feel free to ask us your questions in this forum! Here are the most recent posts:

StudyLink Forums
Clear Admit manages the Applying section of the StudyLink MBA discussion boards.

GMAT Club Forums
Below are the five most recent posts to the GMAT Club message boards.

• LBS vs. American Schools
• Regarding test prep course scored before 590 with 1 weekprep
• Свежие базы для Хрумера
• Which GMAT score is considered.?????
• Duke EMBA now or full time top-5 MBA in three years?

student 2 student
The student-2-student Discussion Boards are managed by Wharton. Here are the five most recent discussions.

School-Hosted Blogs

Straight from the source: aggregated posts from students and administration. Below are the seven most recent posts in school-hosted blogs.

Individuals' Blogs

A selection of the latest updates to MBA blogs compiled by Hella.
MBA Applicants

MBA Students

Bloggers by School

The following are links to bloggers at each of the schools listed.
Chicago
Columbia
Dartmouth / Tuck
Duke / Fuqua
Harvard
Kellogg
Michigan
MIT / Sloan
New York / Stern
North Carolina / Chapel Hill
Stanford
Virginia / Darden
Wharton
Yale
ESADE
IESE
INSEAD
London Business School

Community Blogs

Bshoolers.com
Community blog with MBA student and alum contributors.

Forté Foundation MBA Diaries
Video blog entries posted by women MBA students.

Owen Bloggers
Independent blog with content by Vanderbilt MBA students.

Best of Blogging

2008-2009 Top Ten:

• Top 10 Applicants:
• Tieny Chesney
• D.G
• Ahembeea
• Mission MBA
• Soni
• PaloAltoForAwhile
• Choc Heaven
• Helen
• Samantha
• OMGParisHilton

Top 10 Students:

MaybeMBA(Chicago Booth)

JulyDream (Darden)

Paragon2Pieces (McCombs)

HairTwirler (McDonough)

Iday (Chicago Booth)

TinyDancer (Wharton)

CS (Harvard)

Andrew (Marshall)

Mandy (Darden)

M@ (Ross)

Best of Blogging

2007-2008 Top Ten:

• Top 10 Applicants:
• July Dream
• Miss Curly Bee
• VidiViciVeni
• B-School Bound
• Tinydancer
• gltnforpnshmnt
• mbabound08
• Achilles
• Eight Schools
• MBA Runner Girl

• Top 10 Students:
• m@ (Ross)
• MaybeMBA (Chicago)
• Hair Twirler (Georgetown)
• Iday (Chicago)
• J-term Johnny (Columbia)
• La Laudiaria (Wharton)
• MBA Gladiator (Yale)
• Angel Angie (LBS)
• Necromonger (INSEAD)
• Chrisof Meyer (Darden)

2006-2007 Top Ten:

• Top 10 Applicants:
• Rungee582
• Iday
• Juggler
• Asiangal
• Forrest Gump
• RusGirl
• Hair Twirler
• JatWarrior
• MBA Babe
• Anand

• Top 10 Students:
• Angel Angie (LBS)
• The Divine Miss N (LBS)
• From Cali (Ross)
• Tim K. (McCombs)
• Noelle (IESE)
• Jerry Blank (Yale)
• Benny (Tuck)
• La Laudiaria (Wharton)
• Karlitos (LBS)
• MBA Gladiator (Yale)

2005-2006 Top Ten:

• Top 10 Applicants:
• MBA Jackass
• Marina
• Forrest Gump
• Pupstar78
• Axechick
• Sorebrek
• Angel Angie
• I_Will_Make_It
• Redwolf056
• Vatsa

• Top 10 Students:
• Marquis (Stanford)
• Poweryogi (Chicago)
• KV (LBS)
• FutureMBAGirl (Wharton)
• The Divine Miss N (LBS)
• Vijay (ISB)
• Wakechick (Chicago)
• NoelleBellie (IESE)
• Jerry Blank (Yale)
• Olivier (INSEAD)

2004-2005 Top Ten:

• PowerYogi
• Brit-Chick
• bskewl
• WakeChick
• Dave
• Iceman07
• iwhoElse
• Atta Girl
• Aregon23
• Classy

WWW Clear Admit Blog

View blog top tags

 

Enter your email to subscribe:

Powered by FeedBlitz

Blog content copyright 2003-2009 by Clear Admit, LLC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.