Fridays From The Frontline » Clear Admit: MBA Admissions Consultants Blog

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.

Application Deadlines
Below are the upcoming deadlines for admission to top-tier schools.
Jul 28: INSEAD Jan. Intake R3
Sep 29: INSEAD R2
Sep 30: Duke / Fuqua EA
Oct 1: HBS R1
Oct 4: Cambridge / Judge R1
Oct 4: UPenn / Wharton R1
Oct 6: CBS EA
Oct 6: Stanford GSB R1
Oct 7: Yale SOM R1
Oct 8: Oxford / Saїd R1
Oct 11: Michigan / Ross R1
Oct 13: Berkeley / Haas R1
Oct 13: Chicago / Booth R1
Oct 13: Dartmouth / Tuck EA
Oct 14: Northwestern / Kellogg R1
Oct 20: UCLA / Anderson R1
Oct 22: UNC / Kenan-Flagler EA
Oct 26: MIT / Sloan R1

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 '10-'11 commentary

Categories
Use categories to access all that has been written on each of the topics. We have categorized by school and by subject matter.

Interview Reports
A selection of interview field reports from fellow applicants posted to the MBA Admissions Wiki. Add your reports when you are finished with your interviews.
Chicago
Columbia
Dartmouth / Tuck
Duke / Fuqua
Harvard
Kellogg
Michigan / Ross
MIT / Sloan
Stanford
UNC / Chapel Hill
Virginia / Darden
Wharton
London Business School

GMAT Resources
MBA.com
Manhattan GMAT
GMAT Club
Princeton Review
Test Prep New York
Kaplan
Beat The GMAT
Knewton
GMAT Pill

Writing Resources
Guide to Grammar and Writing
The Internet Grammar of English
English Usage, Style and Composition
The Economist Style Guide
Paradigm Online Writing Assistant

School Rankings
Rankings are a good way to start your research on various MBA Programs. Keep in mind each uses a different methodology.
Business Week
Economist
Financial Times
Forbes
USNews
Wall Street Journal

Career Guides
The following resources should be useful to those who want to research the careers open to them after (or before) earning an MBA.
Vault.com
Wetfeet

Business School Resources
The following are business resources offered by a variety of leading Business Schools. It's useful to subscribe to these resources, especially for the schools to which you are applying.

MBA Programs: North America
If an MBA Program is not listed, please e-mail and we will be happy to list it.
Berkeley / Haas
Boston College / Carroll
Carnegie Mellon / Tepper
Chicago
Columbia
Concordia
Cornell / Johnson
Dartmouth / Tuck
Duke / Fuqua
Emory / Goizueta
Harvard
HEC Montreal
Indiana / Kelley
Michigan
MIT / Sloan
Northwestern / Kellogg
New York / Stern
North Carolina / Kenan Flagler
Notre Dame / Mendoza
Pennsylvania / Wharton
Queens
Stanford
Syracuse / Whitman
Texas / McCombs
Thunderbird
Toronto
USC / Marshall
UCLA / Anderson
Vanderbilt / Owen
Virginia / Darden
Washington University in St. Louis / Olin
Western Ontario / Ivey
Yale

MBA Programs: Rest of the World
As there is some variety in the length of international MBA programs, we have denoted the length of the program next to its name (1 = one year; 2 = 2 years). If an MBA Program is not listed, please e-mail and we will be happy to list it.
AGSM (Australia) 2
Cambridge / Judge (UK) 1
CIEBS (China) 2
Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business (China) 1
Cranfield School of Mgmt (UK) 1
ESADE (Spain) 1 or 2
HEC (France) 2
Hult (UK) 1
IESE (Spain) 2
IMD (Switzerland) 1
INCAE (Costa Rica) 2
INSEAD (France) 1
IPADE (Mexico)
ISB (India) 1
London Business School (UK) 2
Manchester Bus. School (UK) 2
Melbourne (Australia) 2
Oxford / Said (UK) 1
Rotterdam (Netherlands) 1
Tsinghua IMBA (China) 2
University of St. Gallen (Switzerland) 1

Additional Resources
Here we link a host of additional resources available across the web. E-mail info@clearadmit.com to have resources added to this list.
AACSB International
Association of MBAs
Beyond Grey Pinstripes
EFMD
gradschools.com (worldwide)
Infozee
International Student Loans
mba.com (GMAT Scores)
MBAInfo
mbaleague.blogspot.com
MBAzone
MBA Jungle
TOEFL
Top MBA

MBA Tipline
We encourage admissions officers, students and applicants to alert us of interesting news and developments, please send an email to news@clearadmit.com so we can blog it.

Blog Archive

Applying to B-School? Send us your CV for a free assessment of your candidacy.

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

Friday, September 18, 2009

Fridays From The Frontline

Well, hello there and welcome back to the always edifying and often awe inspiring Fridays From The Frontlines! Another week has just flown by and things are definitely heating up in the applicant pool, as each passing day represents another opportunity for essay and application revision to be lost and gone forever. Current students are looking back at their first few weeks, while suddenly aware that presentations, exams and other academic requirements are looming.

Steve was officially not a fan of Gossip Girl and explained why he felt that a two year MBA program was best for him. XLick prepped for his Columbia interview by reviewing Clear Admit’s Columbia Interview Guide and shared the actual interview experience with his readers. Illuminati had a happening day of sports watching, from cricket to tennis. AJ considered how to develop her own personal brand. ArdentMeerkat spent a full day on her Wharton essays, and continued to struggle with the second prompt. Hari had a number of experiences to share with his readers, from a nice vacation in Vegas to an informative MBA Fair. Rocky outlined his strongly felt opinion about the GMAT.

INSEAD ’09 MBAMRS strongly vocalized her thoughts on drinking and driving. McCombs ’10 Paragon2Pieces recounted a funny class experience, and provided links to those thinking of grad school as a safe harbor from the tetchy economy. LBS ’10 OutOnALimb received a full-time job offer for next year! Darden ’10 Mechanigal participated in a conversation with a Darden Dean about the merits of the school putting more of its course materials online. HBS ’10 Rob enjoyed a lovely afternoon in Boston and noted a few differences between his first and second year classes’ dynamics. Darden ’10 JulyDream didn’t take kindly to the insincere faces she came across as a result of her being on crutches for a third time in one year. McCombs ’10 Metal was finally going to get to see one of his favorite musicians perform in concert. Melbourne ’10 RonJon maintained his second person narrative, sharing that ‘you’ recently looked at your old b-school essays.

BU ’11 Felish gave her first presentation, and felt it went well. Chicago Booth ’11 GlobThink transcribed a series of conversations he had with a baggage porter in Peru. The Kellogg contingent were vocal as always. Kellogg ’12 Jeremy talked MBA diversity and Hispanic Heritage Month. Kellogg ’11 Orlando found time was moving quite quickly and had quite a few projects in the pipeline. Kellogg ’11 D.G. gave his perspective on the CIM experience. Stanford ’11 PaloAltoForAwhile shared some figures about the most recent Stanford incoming class. Three weeks into her b-school experience and Haas ’11 SunnysideUp found herself preparing for midterms!

And that’s it for this installment of the consistently corroborative collection of student and aspirant blogs also known as Fridays From The Frontline. As deadlines loom larger on the horizon we hope that applicants are taking care of themselves and their applications however they can, and encourage them to share each and every detail in order to bolster the courage of their compatriots. Until next week, take heart and good luck!

# posted by Clear Admit @ 3:02 am in Fridays from the Frontline

ACTIVE CONTENT

Clear Admit's Recent Posts

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.

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:

GMAT Courses | Add your site

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.

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

2009-2010 Top Ten: