In a post to her blog yesterday, Martinelli sought to clarify certain points made in a BusinessWeek article earlier this week entitled “Business Schools Revamp the Application.” The BW article cited Chicago Booth and UCLA Anderson as leaders among top business schools that are embracing new technology as part of their application process, noting Chicago Booth’s PowerPoint component and Anderson’s invitation to candidates to answer one essay question in audio or video format. But it went on to report that Chicago Booth had decided to eliminate the PowerPoint presentations starting with the 2010-11 academic year because they didn’t work.

“While the article covered the spirit of my conversation, it unfortunately missed providing the context,” Martinelli wrote on her blog. The BW article suggested that Chicago Booth planned to nix the PowerPoint slides because they didn’t help the admissions committee determine how well a candidate would fit the Booth culture. On the contrary, Martinelli wrote on her blog. “The PowerPoint presentation has been incredibly successful in our evaluation process in identifying students who are great fit and match for Chicago,” she wrote.

Over time, though – as candidates and consultants have become more familiar with the exercise – her office has begun to see more presentations that felt standard or rote, she continued. As it begins to design next year’s application, her team is considering each individual component, but the PowerPoint has not necessarily been eliminated, Martinelli says. “While this may be the last year of the presentation requirement in its current form, we have not yet made any final decisions as to what next year’s application will look like,” she wrote.

Of course, those of us here at Clear Admit will stay on top of the developments in Chicago Booth’s application and update our readers here as soon as any official changes are released.

For instance, Chicago Booth permits alumni to enroll in up to three courses free of tuition at any time after they graduate. Most graduates use the courses to hone or sharpen their skills in a particular area, and the grades received in these courses become part of their official Chicago Booth transcript.

In contrast to Chicago’s formal alumni education program, Tuck offers a much more informal continuing education program. In addition to life-long access to the Career Development Office, Tuck alumni may enroll in programs through the Osman Tuck Alumni Lifelong Learning (TALL) Program. TALL’s classes are presented by Tuck faculty in the U.S. and abroad and help keep alumni up-to-date on the newest thinking and trends in business.

At Fuqua, alumni seeking formal continuing education are invited to enroll in the Health Sector Management Alumni Certificate program. Designed for alumni currently working in healthcare or seeking a career move into the field, the HSM Alumni Certificate program teaches students ways to approach the business of healthcare. Participants enroll in either Weekend or Global Executive MBA classes, in person or remotely.

Finally, all Stern alumni are eligible to continue their business education through Stern’s Alumni Students program. Although many leading business schools allow graduates to pursue additional coursework, Stern has one of the most flexible policies, allowing alumni to enroll in three credits per semester with no cap on the number of post-graduate credits they may earn. All Alumni Student participants must pay applicable tuition and fees, and all course grades are recorded on the participant’s official Stern transcript.

It’s important to remember that earning an MBA is about more than just the time spent on campus. Business schools want their graduates to do well not just in their first jobs, but throughout their professional lives, and the leading schools therefore devote significant resources to personal and professional support for alumni.

For more information on the career support, academic opportunities, mentoring programs and other resources available to MBA alumni, be sure to check out the Alumni Network sections of the Clear Admit School Guides!

She then rattled off a list of things applicants should consider when applying in R3. For starters, though Chicago Booth encourages international students to apply in earlier rounds to allow time for such a large transition, international candidates are nonetheless accepted during the third round. And because round-three decisions are released in mid-May, accepted international candidates still have plenty of time to process their visas before classes start in September.

Second, she encourages applicants to consider letting the application review team know why you’ve chosen to apply in R3 if it’s relevant. “It can ease the reader’s questions about your intentions,” she wrote. “Don’t be afraid to be honest – we’ve been in your shoes,” she added.

Finally, shake the “last ditch” mentality and make sure that your round-three application is as strong as it can possibly be, Martinelli advises. “We can tell if your application is rushed or if you’re just hedging your bets by throwing one more application together,” she wrote. Indeed, because there are fewer slots left by the time R3 rolls around, your application needs to be as strong and well thought through as you can make it.

Applicants considering a round-three run at Chicago Booth won’t want to miss the live chat Chicago Booth has scheduled for March 3rd. To learn how to join, click here.

The new Bakala Professor of Management faculty chair is named for Zdeněk Bakala, a member of the Class of 1989 who returned to campus for his 20th reunion this past fall. In enabling Tuck to expand its faculty of thought leaders, the establishment of the new chair advances one of the primary goals of the school’s ongoing Tuck 2012 initiative.

A Czech native, Bakala has been involved in finance and business in the Czech Republic and the CEE since the early 1990s and is an established figure in the business community there. Among his many achievements, he established the Prague office of Credit Suisse First Boston in 1991 and founded Patria Finance, one of the largest investment banking boutiques in the Czech Republic, in 1994. He credits Tuck with helping him get to where he is today. “The skills I learned at Tuck translated into success in entrepreneurship,” he said in a statement announcing his gift.

Though the recent reunion marked only his second return to Tuck’s New Hampshire campus since his graduation 20 years ago, Bakala’s ties to the school have remained strong. “The contacts I made are still important to me – they are some of the people I speak to everyday,” he said. “I want to help make sure this experience continues for Tuck students.”

Bakala’s gift to Tuck is one of several sizeable alumni donations at leading business schools in recent months, signaling renewed generosity following a period of more constrained giving associated with the global economic crisis. Most notable is the $50 million gift last year to the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business from alumnus David Booth, for which the school was renamed. Even more recently, New York University’s Stern School of Management received a $20 million gift in November 2009, and the Yale School of Management received an alumni gift of almost $9 million in January 2010.

At Stern, the program will be coordinated by the school’s Volatility Institute, which is directed by Nobel Laureate Robert Engle. Deutsche Bank’s funding will support research at the Volatility Institute and the Salomon Center for the Study of Financial Institutions, as well as a series of conferences and other events.

At Chicago Booth, Deutsche Bank will underwrite a new speaker series for MBA students and a new summer conference for PhD students. The “Risk and Regulation in Financial Markets” speaker series for MBA students is already underway. Its inaugural event, which took place on February 9th, featured Douglas Diamond, the Merton H. Miller Distinguished Service Professor of Finance.

The new PhD program, meanwhile, will consist of a multi-day summer conference focused on the regulation of financial markets. Designed to complement Chicago Booth’s existing PhD curriculum, the conference will be open to PhD students as well as invited junior faculty from other top business schools.

Deutsche Bank’s decision to partner with leading business schools around risk management and regulation comes in response to the recent global financial crisis, which resulting in the collapse of major financial institutions, bail outs of other banks by national governments and downturns in stockmarkets around the world. ”The financial crisis has shown that risk management and a strong regulatory framework are critical to healthy markets and economies, so it is imperative we work together to educate tomorrow’s business leaders,” Hugo Banziger, Deutsche Bank’s chief risk officer, said in a statement announcing the Chicago Booth partnership.

Let’s take a look at a few of the options for students seeking a Master’s degree in conjunction with their MBA, as well as the admissions requirements governing these degrees.

Like most leading MBA programs, Columbia Business School offers dual degree programs through which students earn another degree concurrently with their MBA (e.g., Master’s in International and Public Affairs, Master’s in Social Services). Applicants are required to apply to and receive admission to both programs and may apply to both programs simultaneously or to the second program if they are less than halfway through their studies at the first school.

Students in a dual degree program at Columbia register at one school per term and may take courses in either program in each term, as long as they meet each school’s course, residence, and sequencing requirements. CBS recommends that candidates complete the first two terms of the MBA program consecutively to maintain the integrity and full benefits of the cluster system.

Similar systems are in place at Chicago, which offers two joint MBA/MA programs, at HBS, which offers concurrent degrees with the Kennedy School of Government, and at Stanford, where there are joint MBA/MA options. A few business schools offer slightly different options for students interested in joint degree study. For instance, Kellogg does not offer a set list of MBA/MA programs, instead opting to allow students to create their own joint program through application to their two programs of interest. Meanwhile, although Tuck and Wharton offer dual degrees on their own campuses, each also teams up with other universities (including Tufts, the Kennedy School, and Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies) to offer a more extensive list of dual degree programs.

While dual degree students make up a relatively small percentage of the overall MBA population, some admissions officers report that combination degrees are becoming increasingly popular as students seek to customize their educations and take advantage of the opportunity to earn two degrees in less time, and for less money, than if they pursued separate programs. For MBA applicants interested in applying their business education to fields such as public policy, education, social work, the environment, public health, international policy or another specialized field, a joint degree program can offer both the area expertise and business knowledge needed for a successful career.

To learn more about MBA/MA dual degree options, be sure to check out the Dual Degrees section of the Clear Admit School Guides!

Before getting into contest details, let’s take a peek at a few snippets from some of the latest contributions!  A Round 2 applicant to IESE shared the following questions from an adcom member:

1. Tell me something about your family.
2. Describe your school life.
3. When is the last time you met your college friends?
4. How would your friends describe you?
5. Describe the characteristics of your best friend.
6. What is your take on the trade situation in China?
7. Are you comfortable talking in front of/ addressing large audiences of 70-80 people?
8. How will you finance your MBA, if you don’t get a scholarship?

On behalf of Booth, an alumnus interviewed a Round 2 candidate:

1. What do you expect from Booth?
2. Which other schools are you applying to?
3. What leadership experiences you have? How is your interaction day to day with your team?
4. What do you expect from your MBA in the long term?
5. What are the differences you’ve found between different nationalities while working in a multinational?

Thank you to everyone who has helped fellow applicants by sharing your interview experience!  If you’re eager to contribute, we’ll be awarding a $10 Amazon gift certificate to applicants that submit interview reports for Columbia Business School, Cornell / Johnson, NYU / Stern or UCLA / Anderson through next Tuesday, February 9th!  In other words, all you have to do is send us your interview field report for the selected schools for inclusion in the Wiki and we’ll send you a $10 Amazon gift certificate.   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 iTunes or Amazon gift card per person).

The most helpful and informative reports usually 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?)

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 about admissions interviews.  Best of luck to those undergoing Round 2 interviews!

“I want to assure you that we are still evaluating applications,” she wrote on her blog yesterday. “ In fact, we’ve just crossed 50% as of today,” she continued, adding that her office will need every day between now and the February 17th notification deadline for the round to evaluate the remaining applications and extend interview invitations.

She reminded applicants about what they should expect from the interview, encouraging them to be prepared to answer basic questions about the MBA and their own future goals. As examples, she offered the following:

• Can I clearly articulate my career plan and future goals? 
• What do I really want from my MBA experience? 
• What is my motivation to obtain an MBA? 
• Why is Chicago Booth the right place for me, and why am I right for Booth? 
• How do I plan to use my MBA in my career? 

Beyond these types of questions, the interview will be behaviorally-oriented, calling on applicants to discuss how they approached a situation or challenge in the past, she wrote. “Think about experiences that you can use to address these types of questions,” she suggested, and practice a few times with friends or colleagues.

Finally, relax and just focus on having a conversation with your interviewer, she said. “Remember, the interviewer knows Booth well, but not you. So feel free to allow the conversation to be two way,” she suggested. The interview is just one of many components of your application, she concluded.

Don’t forget that you can follow other applicants’ progress through the interview process – and share your own experience – on the Clear Admit Wiki. And you can check out the Clear Admit Chicago Booth Interview Guide for valuable insight on exactly how to prepare for your own interview. Good luck!

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.

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!