Posted by Clear Admit on January 22, 2010, at 3:00 am
Posted in:  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 to obsess over the details was an effective tactic for her. Though he was disappointed with his most recent GMAT score, MBADreamz did join a theater troupe, start going to the gym and contributing to an NGO. MBA Hopeful still felt positive about his Haas chances, even without an invite and round 1 results just days away. Madalogue turned her attentions to what she would eat once she was in an MBA program. AJ considered her ‘dream jobs,’ three of which seemed like they would be more easily achieved with an MBA. Braveheart attended a Chicago Booth lecture and networking reception. XLick spent his three day weekend prepping for his Stern interview, which included meeting with a current student and hearing his memories of his successful interview experience. A Beautiful Mind received the disappointing zap news from Fuqua, but was glad he had the opportunity to meet some current Fuqua students. Steve recounted the conundrum a colleague faced in terms of professional development and bolstering her resume for a future MBA application.
First years were a quiet bunch on the whole, but a few checked in. INSEAD ’11 Out of my Jeans attended his first INSEAD party and was overwhelmed by the number of names and faces to remember. Kellogg ’11 Orlando attended a presentation by Professor Harry Kraemer, and touched upon some of the reasons the man is a dynamic and interesting speaker. Foster ’11 Helen began her winter quarter and shared the progress of her marathon training team, ‘Run Foster Run.’
McCombs ’10 Paragon2Pieces celebrated her first day of her last semester. Harvard ’10 Gabrielle encouraged one and all to attend the school’s 2010 Entertainment and Media conference. Darden ’10 JulyDream was pleasantly surprised by the international diversity at her Swedish exchange program, and shared questions posed to her by a Darden undergrad about the merits of an MBA. McCombs ’10 Metal figured out most of his schedule, but was looking for a final course to round up his last semester. Fuqua ’10 Randy asked what could be better that receiving one statistics book in the mail?
And that’s all the news from the b-school blogosphere for this week. We hope that bloggers receiving round one notifications get to smile at the results, and we wish the best of luck to current students getting back into ‘the school groove.’ Until next week, have a great weekend!
Posted by Clear Admit on January 21, 2010, at 3:12 pm
Posted in: Twitter Thursdays 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 1 admissions decisions last week and offered advice to waitlisted applicants. Rich Lyons, the Dean of the Haas School of Business, explained the value of ideas and knowledge in today’s economy. MBA Admissions Coordinator at Judge Business School, James Barker, is sifting for gold through a stack of Round 3 applications.
The Johnson School kicked off Entrepreneurship & Private Equity Immersion for MBA students this week. Back in Boston, MIT Sloan plugged the latest business contributions of its students and staff – from research on counterfeit luxury goods to global energy. The Tuck School and The Kellogg School of Management treated their Twitter followers to some of their professors’ blog entries and various interviews.
That concludes Twitter Thursdays this week! If you’re on Twitter, let us know; e-mail wiki@clearadmit.com with your user name and status as an MBA applicant, student or admissions officer so we can add you to the appropriate Twitter list. Happy “tweeting” and we’ll see you next week with some more Twitter updates!
Posted by Clear Admit on January 21, 2010, at 8:30 am
Posted in: MBA News , School: Chicago , School: Yale 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, and he looks forward to maintaining the school’s tradition of preparing students for leadership in business and society by raising their awareness of the context in which business operates,” he continued.
Levin added that Snyder was especially drawn to SOM because of its openness to collaborate across schools and its focus on global experiences and awareness and that he is committed to pushing forward curricular changes begun by the SOM faculty three years ago.
Yale SOM seems happy indeed to have snagged Snyder. The release announcing his appointment ticked off the list of achievements Chicago Booth had under his leadership. Indeed, since Snyder became dean in 2001, Chicago Booth has almost doubled its number of endowed professorships, more than tripled its scholarship assistance to students, moved to a new Hyde Park campus, expanded its presence in Singapore, established a new campus in London, successfully completed a capital campaign and more than doubled its endowment. And in 2008, Snyder announced the unprecedented $300 million gift to the school from alumnus David Booth, for which the school was renamed.
At the time of his announcement that he would step down as Chicago Booth dean, Snyder intimated that he would be open to being dean of another school. “My guess is, I’ve got one more big leadership job,” he told the Financial Times on December 10th.
In his next role, Snyder will have a new set of efforts to lead. In addition to the curricular changes begun three years ago, Yale SOM is planning the construction of a new campus of its own. In his announcement yesterday, President Levin noted that site clearance and final drawings are underway for the new campus, designed by acclaimed architect Norman Foster, and that construction will begin in summer 2010. Buoyed by a $9 million alumnus gift earlier this month, Levin expressed confidence that the school was on track toward having sufficient funds to proceed with construction on schedule.
To learn more, click here.
Posted by Clear Admit on January 21, 2010, at 3:00 am
Posted in: Campus Chronicles , School: Virginia / Darden 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 the Winter Doldrums Social, the Chili cook-off Cold Call, and the Darden Cup for Dodgeball.
February will usher in both the yearly Women’s Leadership Week as well as events from the National Association of Women MBAs (NAWMBA). During Women’s Leadership Week, students can attend a community-wide that honor women in business, while NAWMBA will host “The Wednesday 10,” where current and upcoming business leaders will speak and network with Darden students on the last Wednesday of every month. In mid-January Darden will also host its 20th yearly charity auction, the 2010 Red Carpet Gala. Proceeds will be donated to Charlottesville’s Shelter for Help in Emergency.
Posted by Clear Admit on January 20, 2010, at 8:00 pm
Posted in: GMAT - Quantitative , GMAT News , GMAT Test Prep Company Series , GMAT Tips 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 solve for x. The answer is (C), or the third Data Sufficiency answer choice—together the statements are sufficient. If you’ve figured this out, that’s awesome. You’ve discovered how to save a lot of time on Test Day.
But I always tell students not to get trigger-happy. Before you pick (C), keep in mind that the GMAT often gives you situations in which we can get sufficiency with just one equation, or when two won’t be enough. Here are three of those situations:
The Vanishing Variable
What is the value of x?
(1) 3x+4y = 2(x +2y)+3
(2) 4x = y-2
Both equations have two variables, so how could one possibly be sufficient to solve for x? Let’s play with Statement (1) a bit so we can isolate x. Distribute the right side of the equation to get 3x+4y = 2x +4y+3. Then we can subtract 4y from both sides, and poof! We have a single variable equation. We certainly can solve for x. The answer is (A), statement 1 alone is sufficient to answer the question. So before you settle for (C), ask yourself if you can eliminate a variable from one equation.
Solving for a Relationship
What is the value of 2x – y?
(1) 6x + 3y= 15
(2) 6x – 3y = -3
When the GMAT asks you to solve for a relationship between variables (a sum, difference, product, or quotient), ask yourself, Can I manipulate one of the statements to solve for that relationship? If you can do this, you’ll only need one equation for sufficiency. In this case, no amount of manipulating of Statement 1 can do the trick, but let’s play with Statement 2. Divide both sides by 3, and you get 2x – y = -1. We still don’t know what x or y is, but we do know what 2x – y is. The answer is (B), statement 2 alone is sufficient.
The Disguised Twin
What is the value of x?
(1) 2x+5y = 12
(2) 4x = 24 – 10y
It seems like we have everything we need to pick (C) here. Two equations, two variables, we’re golden. Except dig a little deeper; Statement (2) should cause Déjà vu. Add 10y to both sides of the second equation (4x +10y = 24) and divide everything by 2, and you’ll discover that the two equations are identical—just dressed up a little differently. Since we really have just one equation with two variables, we have a recipe for insufficiency. The answer is (E), there is not enough information within these statements to answer the question, no matter how you use them or combine them.
Going forward
So you don’t necessarily have to solve these systems of equations when you see them in a DS question, but you will have to do some detective work before you pick (C). As we advise students in our newly revised GMAT courses, ask yourself the following questions when assessing this type of problem: Can you make a variable vanish? Can you solve for the desired relationship by manipulating an equation? Are these equations really different? When you know the anatomy of the test, you score higher.
For more information on Kaplan, download Clear Admit’s independent guide to the leading test preparation companies here. This FREE guide includes coupons for discounts on test prep services at ten different firms!
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 interview field report for inclusion in the Wiki and we’ll send you a $10 iTunes gift certificate. While any contributor can win, you must send your interview report to wiki@clearadmit.com to be eligible; we’ll post it to the Wiki and notify the winners by e-mail (Limit: one gift card per person).
The most helpful and informative reports usually include the following information:
- Date/Admissions Round
- Description of visit and/or interview atmosphere
- Type of interview (alum vs. adcom, blind vs. application-based)
- List of interview questions
- 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?)
Applicants who would like to supplement the information available on the Wiki can check out our Clear Admit Interview Guides, which provide school-specific insight and strategic about admissions interviews. Thank you to everyone who has contributed to the Clear Admit Wiki and helped fellow applicants prepare for MBA admissions interviews this season!
Posted by Clear Admit on January 20, 2010, at 1:00 pm
Posted in: MBA News 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 signs of rebound. While 48 percent of survey respondents reported a decline in full-time MBA job postings in 2009, this represents an improvement over 2008, when 70 percent reported a decline, the CSC reported. And in brighter news, 34 percent of respondents reported an increase in job postings during fall 2009.
And while recruiting was down significantly in traditional sectors, other sectors saw increased activity last year. More than 20 percent of career service directors surveyed reported increases in recruitment activity in energy/petroleum, government, healthcare services, pharma/biotech and high technology; 20 percent also reported decreased recruiting activity in sectors such as consulting, banking, private equity and real estate.
As to the future, the majority of respondents were optimistic about recovery, with 60 percent predicting an increase in overall market opportunities in the year ahead, the CSC reported. “All of us in the MBA Career Services offices at business schools across the world are hopeful,” Kip Harrell, CSC president and career services vice president at Thunderbird School of Global Management, said in a statement. “We know that graduate employment is a lagging economic indicator and as the economy picks up, so will MBA hiring,” he added.
For more on this story, click here.
Posted by Clear Admit on January 20, 2010, at 2:00 am
Posted in: Poll
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Posted by Clear Admit on January 19, 2010, at 1:00 pm
Posted in: MBA News , School: Harvard , School: INSEAD , School: NYU Stern , School: Penn / Wharton Women today make up 37 percent of students in full-time MBA programs in the United States, up from 33 percent five years ago and 30 percent 10 years ago, according to a recent article in the Financial Times. Adding that top European schools are also closing the gender gap, the FT report attributed the increase to a concerted effort on the part of leading programs to woo more women.
Citing data from the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB), a global accrediting agency for business schools, the FT report noted that while schools are still far from a 50/50 split, many are much closer than ever before. For instance, New York University’s Stern School of Business has been about 40 percent female for the past five years, and the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania reached the 40 percent mark for the first time this year.
“In a more plural classroom you’re going to get a more well-rounded learning experience,” John Fernandes, president and chief executive of AACSB, told the FT. “Many schools have become very focused on getting more women and they’re getting good results,” he added.
European schools, too, are attracting more women. For instance, the graduating class at INSEAD this year is 34 percent women, up from 23 percent in 2000, and in the past five years female applicants to the school have more than doubled, according to the FT.
Part of the challenge of attracting women has been the traditional timeline of the MBA. The standard MBA track requires four to five years of post-college professional experience before matriculation, which can be problematic for women planning a family, admissions officers told the FT.
“For a lot of work/family reasons, business school just comes too late [for women],” says JJ Cutler, dean of admissions at Wharton. Law, medicine and other graduate degrees, which women can pursue immediately after college, don’t pose the same conflict.
“Anecdotally speaking, what we find is that when women start thinking about graduate school, business school isn’t in the mix,” Elissa Sangster, executive director of the Forté Foundation, a consortium of corporations and schools that promotes women in business, told the FT. Schools that are successful in attracting more women are those who get them thinking about an MBA “early in the process,” she said.
So that’s exactly the tactic top schools are taking. Wharton, for example, has started to recruit promising female candidates at the college level by assigning them student mentors who offer advice and application tips, according to the FT.
Harvard Business School, through its 2+2 Program, has also drawn greater percentages of women. Though not specifically designed to impact the gender gap, the deferred MBA admissions program for undergraduates – which guarantees a spot in a future HBS class for accepted applicants upon completion of two years of approved work experience – drew about half women this year, HBS Admissions Director Dee Leopold told the FT.
Schools are also working to dispel the perception that business school is male-centric and cutthroat, as well as to counter the idea that an MBA is only useful for careers at investment banking and consulting firms.
To read the FT article in its entirety, click here.
Posted by Clear Admit on January 19, 2010, at 3:00 am
Posted in: School Guides , School: Chicago , Trivia Tuesday Welcome to another edition of Trivia Tuesday, our weekly look at the policies and programs that impact the student experience at the leading business schools. Today we turn our attention to Chicago Booth’s incoming class, taking a closer look at the smaller groups that help to structure that school’s first-year experience.
Chicago organizes its approximately 550 first-year students into 10 cohorts, and within the cohorts, into 8-9 squads. New students learn their cohort and squad assignments on the first day of CORE, the two-week Chicago pre-term program. Later in the pre-term, the cohorts take a three-day camping trip, during which they participate in teambuilding activities and get to know one another better before the beginning of the academic year in late September.
Cohorts
Cohorts are purposefully assembled so that each represents the diversity of the class as a whole, with an eye to varying age, gender and professional and ethnic backgrounds within the group. Chicago’s cohorts maintain their names from year to year – Rockefeller, Nobels, Phoenix, Walker, Gargoyles, Bond, Maroons, Harper, Davis and Stuart – creating connections between the students and alumni from each cohort.
Students take the required LEAD class with their cohorts, and the cohort is also the base unit from which members of the Graduate Business Council, Chicago’s student government body, are elected (two per cohort per class). Inter-cohort competitions, such as a series of poker nights with a year-end tournament, take place throughout the first year at Chicago. Despite these activities, Chicago’s cohorts do not seem to foster the strong links created in cohort systems at other schools. This is likely due to the flexibility of Chicago’s core curriculum; at Wharton and Columbia, for instance, cohorts take almost all of their first-year courses together, while Chicago first-year students follow individualized schedules.
Squads
Within each cohort, students are assigned to squads, also designed with diversity of members in mind. Squads generally consist of about 6-8 people, and serve as the primary study group during the required first-quarter LEAD class. Students work within their squad on role plays and team projects, and also compete against other squads throughout the course.
Upon completion of LEAD, however, the role of the squad dissipates as students pursue their own paths through Chicago’s core curriculum. Squad members sometimes find themselves in the same courses and reunite as study partners, but the official academic role of the squad ends with the LEAD program.
For more information on the first-year experience at Chicago Booth or other leading business schools, be sure to check out the Clear Admit School Guides!
Posted by Clear Admit on January 18, 2010, at 1:00 pm
Posted in: General , School: Yale In a blog post late last week, Yale School of Management (SOM) Dean Sharon Oster spoke to the tragic situation in Haiti, which was struck by a major earthquake on Tuesday. Acknowledging that many members of the SOM community have expressed a desire to help, she shared details about an aid organization led by a Yale SOM alumnus and advisory board member.
“Many organizations are currently rushing to provide relief and assistance to people in Haiti, but one has a particular SOM connection,” Oster wrote. The organization, Mercy Corps, has significant experience responding to humanitarian crises around the globe and had last week already deployed an emergency team to Port-au-Prince, Oster continued. Mercy Corps is led by CEO Neal Keny-Guyer, who graduated from Yale SOM in 1982 and today is a member of the SOM Board of Advisors and the Yale Corporation.
Oster directed members of the Yale SOM community to the Mercy Corps website for details on how to offer support, adding that a special Yale SOM Haiti Fundraiser Response page has been created there to allow members of the SOM community to join together in making a financial donation toward relief efforts. Oster committed $1,000 to start the SOM fundraising drive and, as of this writing, a total of $7,208 has been raised.
“I know I speak for the entire SOM community in sending condolences and sympathy to those affected by this tragedy,” she concluded.
Posted by Clear Admit on January 18, 2010, at 5:49 am
Posted in: Admissions Tips With the majority of schools having released their Round One decisions (and with Duke, Haas, and Darden to follow in the coming weeks), many successful applicants will soon be facing the enviable – but often agonizing – decision of choosing between programs. Though we know that those of you in this position will already be juggling an overwhelming amount of information about the schools on your short lists, we wanted to offer a few pointers to consider as you identify and evaluate the most important facts and factors in making this decision.
1) Immerse yourself. If you have not yet visited campus, go to the school and see what you think of the environment. Be sure to attend classes, talk with students, tour the facilities, and so on. Even if you have already made the trip, it’s a good idea to attend the school’s events for admitted students to meet your potential classmates. After all, these are the folks whose thoughts you will be hearing in class for two years and who will making up your future network.
2) Consider your immediate priorities. Think about the location, size, teaching method, etc. Are you looking for a close-knit, “we’re all in this together” sort of experience, or would you prefer to attend classes and then disappear into a large city with a few classmates or old friends? Do you need the benefits of a large university to pursue coursework in a specific field? Do you crave lengthy discussions with faculty? Do you have family or a significant other who might need to consider your location? Are you strong in qualitative areas but looking to refine your skills in quantitative subjects? Is there a teaching method that might better address your weaknesses or best suit your learning style? Reflecting on the relative importance of each of these questions might help you to organize your thoughts about and the information on each program.
3) Look farther forward. In addition to the experience you would have as a student, try to get a sense for the school’s track record in your target field. For example, if you hope to become a strategy consultant after school, take a look at each program’s placement statistics with the firms that are of interest to you. Talk to the career management office and find out which firms came to campus and how many offers were made. You might also try to contact alumni who work in your target field and see what they have to say about their alma mater’s strength in that area. A final option is to approach the HR departments of the firm you are likely to target and ask for their opinion of the programs on your list. This is also a nice excuse to build rapport with a potential future employer.
4) Think big. Beyond the job you hope to secure immediately after school, consider the program’s regional and global brand. For example, if you are looking for work in London, you might investigate whether the school in question has an active alumni club in that city. Meanwhile, if you dream of working in Los Angeles but are debating between two programs on the East Coast, it might be important to determine which has the greater West Coast presence.
These are just a few general tips to get you thinking about how to make your b-school decision. It goes without saying that this is a once in a lifetime decision, so it certainly makes sense to do your homework and fully understand the strengths and weaknesses of each of your options. Rankings are a good starting point for a school search, but should not be the deciding factor. Reading in-depth, independent reports on each program can be helpful, so be sure to check out the Clear Admit School Guides for their extensive cross-school comparisons on placement, class composition, campus life and more. Another thing to remember that the shoe is finally on the other foot, and that the schools are now the ones marketing themselves to you. Be sure to take advantage of their offers to answer any questions you may have.
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
How many factors does x have, if x is a positive integer?
(1) x = pn, where p is a prime number.
(2) nn = n + n, where n is a positive integer.
A: Statement (1) ALONE is sufficient, but statement (2) alone is not sufficient.
B: Statement (2) ALONE is sufficient, but statement (1) alone is not sufficient.
C: BOTH statements TOGETHER are sufficient, but NEITHER statement ALONE is sufficient.
D: EACH statement ALONE is sufficient.
E: Statements (1) and (2) TOGETHER are NOT sufficient to answer the question asked, and additional data are needed.
Solution
We cannot easily rephrase the question. Note that we may not need to know x in order to know how many factors it has.
Statement (1): INSUFFICIENT. Without knowing the value of n, we cannot determine the number of factors x has.
Statement (2): INSUFFICIENT. This statement by itself is unconnected to the question, because the statement involves only the variable n, whereas the question only involves the variable x.
Statements (1) and (2) TOGETHER: SUFFICIENT. First, we should analyze the second statement further, to see whether we can find a unique value of n.
Since n is a positive integer, we can test simple positive integers in an organized fashion, checking for equality of the two sides of the equation.
11 = 1 + 1? No.
22 = 2 + 2? Yes.
33 = 3 + 3? No.
44 = 4 + 4? No.
Notice that the left side of the equation is growing at a much faster rate than the right side, so the equation will not be true for any higher possible values of n. Thus, we can determine that the value of n is 2.
Now, we do not know the value of p, nor of x, but we do now know that x = p2, with p as a prime number. Since a prime number has no factors other than 1 and itself, we can see that x has no factors other than 1, p, and p2. Thus, x has exactly 3 factors, and we can answer the question definitively.
The correct answer is C: BOTH statements TOGETHER are sufficient, but NEITHER statement ALONE is sufficient.
For more information on ManhattanGMAT, download Clear Admit’s independent guide to the leading test preparation companies here. This FREE guide includes coupons for discounts on test prep services at ten different firms!
Posted by Clear Admit on January 15, 2010, at 1:00 pm
Posted in: MBA News , School: Harvard In an effort to expand the number of international experiences available to its MBA students, Harvard Business School (HBS) will open a new facility in China later this month, according to a recent report in the Financial Times. The new facility, in Shanghai, will be the school’s first overseas facility, the FT adds. The move to China is part of an expanded curriculum development program and the launch of a new January term that will include a range of intensive seminars taught in small classroom settings, HBS announced.
In addition to China, the expanded Immersion Experience Program (IXP), which debuted on a smaller scale in early 2007, will take HBS first- and second-year students to other countries such as India, Rwanda and Peru to give them a chance to experience business outside of the United States, according to a release from the school. In these and other locations, the program will include field-based learning, company visits and service projects.
In addition to the IXBs, the new January term offerings will include eight faculty-led seminars taught in small classroom settings. Planned seminar topics include leadership, negotiation, sustainable development and healthcare, among others. The seminars will take place between January 11th and 22nd and will feature case discussions, explorations of literature, lectures, guest speakers and student working groups and presentations.
Other top schools such as the Wharton School and Stanford Graduate School of Business have provided such opportunities for their students as a matter of course, the FT reports, but HBS has been slower to initiate such offerings. HBS was outranked by each of the other top seven U.S. MBA programs in the FT’s 2009 rankings in the area of international experiences afforded MBA students.
More than 400 first- and second-year HBS students are expected to participate in the expanded curriculum program as part of nine faculty-led IXPs beginning this month, according to the HBS release. And two more IXPs are planned for March, to Brazil and Costa Rica.
The new Chinese facility also will open unofficially this month, the FT reports. In addition to serving as a base for MBA students on overseas projects, the new Shanghai facility also will be used for short executive courses, the FT added.
For the Financial Times article, click here. For the HBS press release, click here.
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