Fridays from the Frontline » Clear Admit: MBA Admissions Consultants Blog

APPLICANT RESOURCES

Admissions Director Q&A Below are links to Clear Admit's exclusive admissions director Q&A sessions.
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)

Clear Admit School Guides
Eighteen titles available! Understand how the leading programs compare and learn more about the MBA experience in and beyond the classroom through Clear Admit School Guides. As featured in the Economist.

Clear Admit Strategy Series
Craft a winning application with the Clear Admit Strategy Series! Detailed guidance and illustrative examples to help you understand what schools are looking for and present your candidacy as well as possible.

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 1: HBS 2+2
Jul 22: INSEAD Jan Intake R3
Oct 1: Harvard Business School R1
Oct 1: Penn / Wharton R1
Oct 1: Duke / Fuqua EA
Oct 7: CBS J-Term
Oct 7: CBS ED
Oct 7: Stanford GSB R1
Oct 8: Yale SOM R1
Oct 10: Michigan / Ross R1
Oct 14: Chicago Booth R1
Oct 15: Northwestern / Kellogg R1
Oct 20: Berkeley / Haas R1
Oct 27: MIT / Sloan R1
Nov 15: NYU / Stern 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 GSB
CMU / Tepper
Columbia
Cornell / Johnson
Dartmouth / Tuck
Duke / Fuqua
Harvard*
IESE
INSEAD
London Business School
MIT / Sloan*
Michigan / Ross
Northwestern / Kellogg*
NYU / Stern*
Oxford / Said
Penn / Wharton*
Stanford GSB*
UCLA / Anderson
UNC / Kenan-Flagler
USC / Marshall
UT Austin / McCombs
UVA / Darden
Yale SOM
* denotes '09-'10 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

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

CATEGORY - FRIDAYS FROM THE FRONTLINE

Friday, October 31, 2008

Fridays From the Frontline (Halloween Edition!)

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

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

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

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