Interview Guides
Clear Admit Interview GuidesBe 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.

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

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.

Program 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

B-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

MBA Programs: The 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.

Additional Resources

Archives

GMAT Practice Problem: Rhymes and Divisibility

Today’s GMAT challenge question comes from our friends at ManhattanGMAT.  To help you with your GMAT studying, try to solve the problem on your own, and then read on for the explanation of its solution:

Problem

Two different primes may be said to “rhyme” around an integer if they are the same distance from the integer on the number line. For instance, 3 and 7 rhyme around 5. What integer between 1 and 20, inclusive, has the greatest number of distinct rhyming primes around it?

(A) 12
(B) 15
(C) 17
(D) 18
(E) 20

Solution

First, make sure that you understand the new concept that the problem presents: “rhyming primes,” which are the same distance on the number line from a central number. You are given . . . → Continue Reading

Fridays From The Frontline

Hello and welcome to Fridays From the Frontline, Clear Admit’s round up of the best news from a battalion of b-school bloggers. This week found applicants getting results and sitting for interviews, while current students were talking internships and networking.

Dream Chaser shared an interesting video about the future of Asia, which he found on an ESADE student blog. Steve thought that the new dean of NYU had great ideas, but felt they might be difficult to implement. After weeks of prep, and foot surgery, XLick finally had his Stern interview (which we hope he shares with the Clear Admit Wiki).  Rocky jumped into a forum discussion about the value of an MBA. In the . . . → Continue Reading

Director of Cambridge’s Judge Business School Leaves for Singapore Management University

Earlier this month, the director of the Judge Business School at the University of Cambridge announced that he plans to leave his post this summer to become president of Singapore Management  University (SMU), the Financial Times reported.

Arnoud De Meyer, who has served as Judge’s director for the past four years, will become the fourth president of SMU, which the Singapore government opened just 10 years ago. In accepting the post, he will move from one of the world’s oldest universities to one of its newest, the FT added.

Singapore, however, is not new for De Meyer. Before coming to Judge, De Meyer spent 23 years at INSEAD, including helping to set up that school’s Singapore campus and serving as its founding dean.

SMU . . . → Continue Reading

Campus Chronicles: The Harbus

Welcome back to Campus Chronicles!  This week we’ll take a look at HBS’s student newspaper, The Harbus, to see what’s been going on at the Harvard campus.

Before leaving for winter break, HBS students had the chance to participate in the Cyberposium 15 conference.  With this year’s theme of “Navigating the Digital Storm” the audience of 700 students, professionals, and tech enthusiasts listened to 100 panelists and moderators discuss technology progress, such as cloud computing and cleantech.  Keynote speakers included RIM CEO Jim Balsille and YouTube Founder and CEO Chad Hurley, and the most popular panels were “Trends in Digital Media,” “Reinventing eCommerce,” and “Mobile Consumer.”

Last week the Harvard Green Living Program implemented its . . . → Continue Reading

GMAT Tip: How GMAT Reading Differs from Everyday Reading

Today’s GMAT tip comes from our friends at Kaplan. In this article, Kaplan GMAT instructor Arthur Ahn offers advice on how to approach the Reading Comprehension section:

Let’s first note the two reasons why we read in everyday life:

1)    We read because we are required (for real-life purposes) to be knowledgeable about the content we are reading: studying for a history exam, delivering on a business proposal, etc.
2)    We read because we have a natural interest in the topic at hand, as in leisurely reading: a novel, an analysis of a favorite sports team, etc.

You may have already known that the GMAT does not use particularly “interesting” topics.  Most content of a passage deals with topics such as a . . . → Continue Reading

Submit an MBA Interview Report, Win a $10 Gift Card to Amazon!

Welcome to another edition of Wiki Wednesdays, in which we highlight the latest happenings in the Clear Admit Wiki, an online repository for MBA applicants to share their experiences with admissions interviews.  We’ve received a number of interview reports this past week – for Berkeley / Haas, Carnegie Mellon / Tepper, Dartmouth / Tuck, Georgetown / McDonough, and Northwestern / Kellogg – and we’d like to thank everyone who has been sharing their experiences this season!

For the next few weeks, any interview report submitted for an MBA program in the Clear Admit Wiki is eligible for a $10 Amazon gift certificate!  In other words, all you have to do . . . → Continue Reading

New Dean Takes Office at NYU Stern

Earlier this month, a new dean took the reins at New York University’s Stern School of Business. Peter Blair Henry, an expert in international economics, was named Stern’s new dean in July 2009 and assumed the deanship on January 15th. In a recent letter to the NYU Stern community, Henry outlined his vision for the school. 

“Let me say, straightaway, that the NYU Stern Deanship is the only one I would have taken,” Henry began. He comes to Stern from the Stanford University Graduate School of Business, where he was a professor of international economics and the associate director of that school’s Center for Global Business and the Economy.

Henry went on to say that he feels privileged to assume his role at . . . → Continue Reading

What are you Looking for in a Peer?

What Are You Looking For in a Classmate?

I’m looking for people with similar interests and experiences as my own, that way we can explore our shared subject matter together.
I am looking for individuals with radically different interests and experiences than my own, that way I can learn more about areas that I am unfamiliar with.
I’m looking for friendly folks, regardless of their interests, willing to collaborate and learn together.
I’m looking for highly motivated and connected classmates, capable of giving me the leg up I need in a tough industry.

View . . . → Continue Reading

UC Berkeley’s Haas School Launches New Interactive Learning Center

A ribbon-cutting ceremony earlier this month marked the opening of a new interactive learning center at the Haas School of Business at the University of California at Berkeley. The center is the first renovation completed as part of Haas’s five-year capital campaign and the dean’s strategic plan to transform the campus.

Haas Dean Rich Lyons was joined by Koret Foundation CEO Jeff Farber on January 12th to celebrate the opening of the new Koret Interactive Learning Center, a 70-seat, tiered classroom complete with state-of-the-art video conferencing, dual-screen projectors, extensive white boards and a high-tech touch-screen lectern.

The center was funded in part by a $1.5 million grant from the Koret Foundation, a private philanthropic organization created by the estates of Joseph and Stephanie Koret, founders . . . → Continue Reading

Trivia Tuesday: On-Campus Housing at Kellogg and Tuck

Welcome to another edition of Trivia Tuesday, our weekly exploration of the special programs, interesting opportunities and unusual policies that impact the MBA experience at the leading business schools! Today we turn our attention to residential life, an important aspect of student life and campus culture. Although most of the leading business schools offer some on-campus housing options for full-time MBA students, space tends to be limited, and the rooms or apartments tend to be in residence halls shared by other graduate programs at the university.

However, two of the leading MBA programs best known for their strong sense of community are also two of the schools that have actively expanded the number of on-campus housing opportunities for MBA students. Let’s take . . . → Continue Reading

London Business School Tops Financial Times 2010 Rankings

London Business School (LBS) ranked number one in this year’s Financial Times global rankings of MBA programs, released today. Sharing the top spot with the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School last year, LBS this year claimed the honor all for itself.

Wharton came in second this year, followed by Harvard Business School, Stanford Graduate School of Business and INSEAD. To view the full rankings, click here.

LBS’s strong showing was due in great part to the broad educational experience it offers, according to the FT. “One of the best decisions of my life was to go to LBS for a full-time MBA,” one alumnus reported. “[It] has enriched my life, from education to career development, to making new friends and gaining . . . → Continue Reading

Admissions Tip: The Waitlist

What should an applicant do when placed on the waitlist at his or her dream school? While most applicants regard the waitlist in a negative light (we’ve even heard it described as “a sort of purgatory prior to getting dinged”), the best approach is to view the glass as being half-full (especially for R1 waitlisters). In all cases, getting waitlisted is much better than getting denied.

Here are a few tips to help you navigate this often difficult and mysterious process:

1) Know your file.  Before you can develop a waitlist strategy you need to understand where you may have fallen short in the application process. Read over your file with a critical eye and try to identify any weaknesses. Talk to anyone . . . → Continue Reading

GMAT Practice Problem: Zeropian Shoes

Today’s GMAT challenge question comes from our friends at ManhattanGMAT.  To help you with your GMAT studying, try to solve the problem on your own, and then read on for the explanation of its solution:

Problem

The consumer price index in Zeropia in 2009 relative to the year 2000 was 1.75, meaning that for every Zeropian dollar spent on consumer goods in 2000, $1.75 on average had to be spent in 2009. In Zeropian dollars, what was the increase in the price of Brand Z running shoes from 2000 to 2009, if these shoes’ price increased precisely according to the consumer price index?

(1) The price of Brand Z running shoes was $91 in 2009.

(2) The ratio of the dollar increase . . . → Continue Reading

Round 2 Interview Information from Harvard Business School

Director of Admissions Dee Leopold announced on her blog yesterday that Harvard Business School (HBS) plans to begin sending out interview invitations to round-two candidates on February 12th.

Her office will conduct roughly 800 interviews in this round, including interviewing some candidates who were placed on the waitlist as part of the first round, Leopold continued. “Most, but not all, of these invitations will go out on February 12th so that all invitees have equal access to locations and dates,” she wrote. But some may continue to trickle out up to and including on April 6th, the notification deadline for the second round.

Invitations will come in the form of an email from HBS MBA Admissions, Leopold wrote. The HBA MBA . . . → Continue Reading

Fridays From The Frontline

It’s Friday, and that must mean it’s time for another Fridays From The Frontline, Clear Admit’s titular trek through the tantalizing lives of MBA applicants and student bloggers. As the new year settled, and most round two deadlines passed, applicants were wondering what to do with their spare time just as current students got back into gear for their new set of courses.

Foo-Blogger encouraged his readers to donate funds to help Haitians cope with the recent earthquake. LBiggs completed his last round two applications, and made a list of the four most important lessons he gained from the experience. Ardent Meerkat also finished up her applications and found that not giving herself too much time . . . → Continue Reading

Twitter Thursdays: News from MBA Programs

Welcome to another take of Twitter Thursdays, a weekly column in which we highlight the updates of the top MBA programs on Twitter!  If you’re not following Clear Admit already, be sure to check us out on Twitter for updates, special prizes, admissions tips and breaking news.   We’ve also created a list of MBA programs to ease your daily access to breaking news from the top MBA programs, as reported by admissions committee members themselves.

The Assistant Dean of UCLA Anderson MBA Admissions & Financial Aid, Mae Jennifer Shores, is excited about Media, Entertainment & Sports week at UCLA.  Jon Fuller, the Senior Associate Director of Admissions at the Ross School of Business, rolled out Round . . . → Continue Reading

Chicago Booth Dean Snyder to Assume Deanship of Yale SOM in July 2011

Yale School of Management (SOM) President Richard Levin announced last night that Edward Snyder, former dean of the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, has been appointed as Yale SOM’s new dean, effective July 1, 2011.

Snyder, who is currently dean and George Shultz Professor of Economics at Chicago Booth, last month announced his decision to step down as dean there effective June 30, 2010. Snyder will take a year’s leave before assuming the deanship at Yale, during which time Sharon Oster will continue as SOM interim dean. 

“Ted Snyder is widely regarded as the most successful business school dean in the nation,” Levin said in a statement announcing the appointment. “He brings experience, enthusiasm, and vision to the Yale School of Management, . . . → Continue Reading

Campus Chronicles: The Darden Cold Call Chronicle

Last week we introduced you to two new student newspapers in our Campus Chronicles lineup.  This week we’ll take a closer look at the Darden Cold Call Chronicle and see what students arriving for their second semester have to look forward to in the coming months.

At the end of January, Darden students will have the chance to attend the first Explore Wine, Beer, and Spirits Industry Day, a new annual event to give students the opportunity to learn about the WBS industry.  Participating students will attend panel discussions and network with leading industry companies.  The last week of January also offers students to attend . . . → Continue Reading

GMAT Tip: Data Sufficiency: Before You Pick C…

Today’s GMAT tip comes from our friends at Kaplan. In this article, Kaplan GMAT instructor Ben Leff offers advice on how to tackle Data Sufficiency questions:

To succeed on the GMAT, there is a general rule of Algebra that you should know: to solve for all variables in a system of equations, you need as many distinct linear equations as variables.  So if you get 2 variables, you need two equations; three variables, three equations, and so on.  With that in mind, think about this Data Sufficiency question:

What is the value of x?

(1)    2x + 3y = 8
(2)    3x-5y = -7

We have two variables, and once we get both statements, we’ll have two equations, so we’ll be able to . . . → Continue Reading

Submit an MBA Interview Report, Win a $10 Gift Card to iTunes!

Welcome to another edition of Wiki Wednesdays, in which we highlight the latest happenings in the Clear Admit Wiki, an online repository for MBA applicants to share their experiences with admissions interviews.  We’ve received a number of interview reports this past week – for Berkeley / Haas, Georgetown / McDonough, MIT / Sloan and Northwestern / Kellogg – and we’d like to thank everyone who has been sharing their experiences this season!

For the next few weeks, any interview report submitted for an MBA program in the Clear Admit Wiki is eligible for a $10 iTunes gift certificate!  In other words, all you have to do is send us your . . . → Continue Reading

MBA Career Service Directors Predict Growth in Job Opportunities Despite Decreased Recruiting in Key Sectors

MBA recruiting, especially in traditional sectors such as financial services and consulting, took a significant hit in 2009, but career service directors are calling for growth in total job opportunities in 2010. This according to the MBA Career Services Council (CSC), a global professional association of management education career service directors and MBA employers, which last week released the findings of its fall 2009 survey of career service directors.

The CSC survey, which polled career directors at AACSB accredited business schools in the United States and Europe, showed that 79 percent of business schools saw a decline in on-campus recruiting for full-time MBA jobs last year, matching exactly the percentage of respondents who reported a decline the year before.

Job postings, though, showed . . . → Continue Reading

Are You Almost Done, or Almost Beginning?

Where Are You In Your Application Process?

I have received all my notifications, with some acceptances, and have decided which school I want to attend.
I have received a few round 1 admits and zaps, but I’m still waiting to hear for my round 2 schools’ results before I make a final decision.
I haven’t applied yet, I’m just beginning my application process.
I’m not sure I want to apply; I’m doing my due diligence before jumping all the way in.

View . . . → Continue Reading