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CATEGORY - SCHOOL: HARVARD

Monday, November 17, 2008

BusinessWeek 2008 Business School Rankings: A Closer Look

Today we’ll take a closer look at how the various top programs fared in BusinessWeek’s most recent business school rankings, released last week.

Chicago Booth held firmly to the number one spot it secured in the 2006 rankings, boasting high scores in both the corporate recruiter and graduate surveys. Harvard Business School (HBS) and Wharton traded places this year, with HBS climbing to number two and Wharton slipping to number four. BW’s Louis Lavelle attributed Wharton’s slide to a poorer showing in the intellectual capital category this year than in 2006. 

Columbia, meanwhile, advanced from the number 10 spot to number seven, but MIT Sloan and Berkeley’s Haas School of Business each slipped slightly. Also noteworthy was the fact that Southern Methodist University (18) and Brigham Young University (22) each cracked the top 25 this year for the first time ever. SMU, for its part, has been among the participating schools for years, but lacked sufficient response rates in the recruiter and student portions of the ranking to secure a top spot before now, according to BW’s Geoff Gloeckler.

There were also two newcomers to the Global MBA rankings, IE Business School (2) and Oxford’s Saïd Business School (10). Like SMU, IE has long been a participant but until this year had insufficient recruiter and student response rates, Gloeckler said.

Yale School of Management, meanwhile, seems to have fallen back slightly. It came in at 24 this year, down from 19 in 2006. Lavelle attributed its fall to low student survey scores.

In an article accompanying the rankings, BW takes a look at the current business school landscape, which it says is marked by surging application rates amid “wretched” recruiting prospects.

As has historically been the case in times of economic downturn, application rates to business schools are rising steadily. According to the BW report, schools are reporting double-digit increases in application volume. Chicago Booth, for example, has seen a 20 percent surge in attendance at information sessions around the globe.

But even as more students clamor to get in, job prospects upon graduation are uncertain, with some schools bracing for the toughest MBA job market since the dotcom bust. “I think next fall is going to be very, very difficult,” George Daly, dean of Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business, told BW.

The article went on to cite a survey by umbrella group MBA Career Services Council, in which 70 percent of 77 participating schools reported a downturn in full-time recruiting opportunities in financial services in October.

As a result, some students are shifting their focus from investment banking to consulting and other fields. Attendance at recruiting presentations by consulting firms is standing room only, New York University’s Stern School of Business Dean Gary Fraser told BW.

A shift is also taking place in the classroom, as professors are introducing new case studies and re-writing syllabi as part of an effort to make sense of the financial crisis and market upheaval.

Risk management, meanwhile, is expected to play a much more important role in business school curriculums over the next three to five years, according to the BW report, a trend that Robert Meyer, co-director of Wharton’s Risk Management & Decision Processes Center, calls “potentially transformational.”

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

HBS Sends Out 750 Round One Interview Invitations, 100 More to Come

In a post to her blog, Harvard Business School (HBS) Director of Admissions and Financial Aid Dee Leopold informed anxious Round One applicants that 750 invitations to interview went out yesterday. Her office will extend a total of around 850 invitations by the January 21st notification date for Round One, she continued.

“I can’t predict when this additional 100 invitations will go out nor to whom,” she wrote. Candidates who receive later invitations may not have extensive options to interview in hub cities, she noted, but HBS will do all it can to try to schedule convenient interviews. 

Review of written applications will continue up through the January notification date, and the Admissions Board will continue to discuss cases throughout that period. Leopold anticipates that an additional 100 Round One candidates who have not received invitations to interview will be offered places on the wait list in January. These candidates may be invited to interview as their cases undergo further consideration.

“We are trying to be as transparent as possible about this anxiety-producing process,” Leopold wrote. “I hope I am clear in my continued message that this is a ‘selection’ process designed to bring a talented and diverse mix of students into the classroom,” she continued, adding that HBS receives many more qualified candidates than it can admit.

This year’s approach differs rather dramatically from prior years at HBS. First, the school is being a lot more transparent about the number of invites and overall timing/mechanics of the process. Second, the fact that HBS has released the bulk of the invites on a single day is a departure from its past approach of letting the invites trickle out in smaller batches. From where we sit, both of these developments are extremely positive, since Clear Admit has long been a major advocate of transparency in MBA admissions.

Our congratulations to the lucky 750 applicants who received interview invitations yesterday. Don’t forget that you can share your experiences on the Clear Admit Wiki – and learn from those who have gone before you. You also may want to check out the Clear Admit Interview Guide for Harvard, which provides HBS-specific insight and strategic advice for how to prepare.

For those still waiting to hear, stay positive! Best of luck!

Thursday, November 06, 2008

New Stanford GSB Scholarship for Bangladeshi Students; HBS Loans for International Students Without Co-Signer

Today we are pleased to report a variety of good news for international MBA applicants.

First, the Stanford Graduate School of Business (GSB) has announced a new, one-time scholarship program that will cover all expenses for promising Bangladeshi students who demonstrate financial need. 

The Grameen Fellows program, made possible by a generous gift, is designed to help develop a new generation of leaders in Bangladesh who are committed to human and socio-economic progress in their native country.

As part of scholarship eligibility, recipients must commit to returning to Bangladesh within two years of graduation from the Stanford GSB program for at least two years of employment in the public or private sector.

Stanford will award up to two Grameen Fellowships, which will cover tuition, living expenses, and application and examination fees. In this way, the program allows Stanford to extend its outreach within Bangladesh to include the strongest MBA candidates, regardless of financial situation.

To learn more about Grameen Fellowship requirements and application details, as well as other fellowship opportunities at Stanford GSB, click here.

Reassurance for International Students Regarding Loans at HBS

Second, Harvard Business School (HBS) last week announced that international students there will continue to have access to need-based loans without having to find a U.S. co-signer. No other details about the specific loan program were shared, just the reassurance that students will have continued accessibility.

In her post about international loans, HBS Admissions Director Dee Leopold also reminded prospective applicants – both international and U.S. citizens – that HBS also will award $22 million in need-based fellowships – that is, money you don’t have to pay back – at an average of $25,000 per recipient per year. To learn more about HBS fellowships, click here.

Tuesday, November 04, 2008

Trivia Tuesday: Teamwork at Wharton, Harvard and Kellogg

It’s Tuesday once again and it’s time to check in on the important details and differences of the leading MBA programs. This week’s focus is teamwork, now a hot topic in business education. For the last decade or so, business schools have moved towards greater use of teams in coursework. This trend has been prompted by the reality that much of modern business depends on the work of functional, productive teams. In response, many business schools have integrated mandatory teamwork into the MBA curriculum, especially into the first year. Today we’ll look at a few of the models used by the leading MBA programs.

Wharton was among the first of the leading business schools to incorporate small learning teams into the first year. Wharton’s teams are assigned in August, at the end of Pre-Term, and students work with their assigned team members throughout the first year. The teams go on a 2-3 day Learning Team Retreat before classes start, during which they get to know one another and start laying the foundation for their work together during the school year. In addition to working together on class projects and studying together for core courses, Wharton’s learning teams also serve as the focus for the half-credit core course Foundations of Leadership and Teamwork. The course, which meets for the first and last six weeks of the first year, focuses on self-awareness, working in teams, and leading others, key concepts for any effective manager or teammate.

Harvard Business School divides its student body into 10 smaller groups called sections, who take all of their first-year classes together. While learning team members at most schools belong to the same larger cohort or cluster, Harvard’s learning teams - only recently introduced to the program - are cross-sectional. This is necessary because of the importance of contributing original ideas to case method classes with one’s sectionmates, and beneficial because it gives students the opportunity to meet and work with classmates outside of their section.

Kellogg, a school known for its focus on teamwork, is one of the only leading MBA programs not to assign first-year study groups. Like other b-schools, Kellogg does split its entering class into smaller sections, usually consisting of approximately 65 students each, and students in each section take all of their core courses together. (Fun fact: Kellogg’s section names are among the most unusual of any b-school’s, with the eight sections called Big Dogs, Bucketheads, Bull Frogs, Cash Cows, Highlanders, Jive Turkeys, Moose and Poets.)

Despite not breaking down the sections into smaller study groups, Kellogg students do work in teams throughout the curriculum. Students report that most of their class assignments require small group work, with the group assignments usually made by individual professors. Because Kellogg students may be in different study or project groups for each course, they miss out on the experience of sustained interaction with a single group of peers, but instead gain experience in working with a broad range of personalities. This system also hones students’ time management skills, since scheduling a group meeting for 5-6 people who are in 4-5 other small groups (while also working around classes, clubs, and recruiting activities) requires a sophisticated ability to juggle schedules!

Overall, most Kellogg students praise the school’s choice to use a dynamic team structure, feeling that this organization mimics teamwork situations in the professional world. However, since students at Wharton, Tuck, Columbia, and other schools often believe that their long-term group assignments best prepare them for teamwork in the business world, applicants should think carefully about the type of teamwork experience they are looking for, as well as the kind of group work they expect to encounter after graduating from business school.

In the end, regardless of how the learning teams or study groups are organized, they all share a common goal: providing students with hands-on practice in working effectively with a group of diverse people with divergent strengths, personalities and work styles. To find out more about the team-based learning at the leading MBA programs, be sure to check out the schools’ websites or the Clear Admit School Guides!

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Admissions Director Shares HBS Policy on Late Recommendation Letters

In a recent post to her blog, Harvard Business School (HBS) Director of Admissions and Financial Aid Dee Leopold addressed a question she hears often from prospective applicants:

“What if my recommender can’t meet the application deadline? Will my application be held over into the next decision round?”

In answer, Leopold explains her team’s protocol with regard to recommendation letters:

Applications with only one submitted recommendation letter by the deadline date are held up for the next round to provide time for the additional letters to come in, she says.

Applications with two submitted recommendations, Leopold explains, are sent out to review by the Admissions Board in the round in which the application was received. The Admissions Board will make every attempt to add the third recommendation letter to the applicant’s file when it comes in, she continues.

But there are no guarantees, she warns. “Since the file can be in any number of places and we can’t stop the reading flow, we can’t promise that the recommendation will be added before review is complete,” she writes. 

Here at Clear Admit, we try to always encourage applicants to engage recommenders early and inform them about the process and your timeline.

For round one applicants, we encourage sitting down with each recommender as early as August, even if actual application forms aren’t yet posted, to present them with a rough sketch of the deadlines and the process. This leaves plenty of time to meet again once the forms are available, at which time you’ll be able to share background materials (a resume, career goals essay, etc.) to help your recommenders understand and support your message.

For round two applicants, now is a great time to begin the process. And if round three is your goal, it’s a good idea to begin thinking about who you might want to ask to write your recommendation letters. For Clear Admit’s tips on how to select recommenders, click here.

Monday, October 20, 2008

Round One MBA Interview Update from Harvard Business School

In a blog post Friday, Harvard Business School (HBS) Director of Admissions and Financial Aid Dee Leopold shed some light on what round one applicants should expect in terms of the timing of interview invitations.

“Our plan is to begin inviting candidates to interview on November 12th,” she said. Not all invitations will be extended in a single day, but a significant majority will be issued by the week of November 17th, she continued.

For applicants who haven’t heard by November 17th, rest assured that all hope is not lost. “In past years, invitations have been extended up to and including the date of notification; we expect this practice to continue,” Leopold wrote.

She also stressed that a late invitation to interview does not reflect on the quality of the applicant, simply on the timing in which the application was reviewed as part of the HBS process. “There is no relationship between timing and ‘strength’ of application,” she underscored.

For anxious applicants eager to find method in the madness, Leopold had little to offer. “Interview invitations are not released in alphabetical order, by geographic location, or according to the date it was received,” she wrote. Stop guessing, she seemed to suggest.

This much is true, she said: Interview invitations – along with complete instructions and logistical information – are sent via email, and the HBS Admissions Committee cannot consider any additional materials received after the application deadline.

Basically, her message was good luck and be patient. Of course, we know how hard that can be! You might try distracting yourself by visiting the entrepreneurship page on the HBS website, which includes lots of great new information on both the history of entrepreneurship at HBS and the exciting ventures current students and recent grads and undertaking right now.  Alternatively, you might begin prepping for an eventual interview with HBS by investigating the dozens of HBS interview reports in the Clear Admit Wiki and purchasing a copy of the 2008-2009 HBS Interview Guide.

Happy waiting…!

Friday, October 10, 2008

Citibank Cancels CitiAssist Student Loan Program at Several Business Schools

A piece in the Economix column of the New York Times earlier this week called attention to troubling news regarding the impact of the current credit crisis on the availablility of student loans to MBA students, particularly private loans administered through the CitiAssist program for international students.

The piece, entitled “Credit Crisis Is Bad News for M.B.A. Students” excerpted an email message sent to students Monday at MIT Sloan School of Management. According to that message, Citibank has exercised its 30-day option to cancel the CitiAssist custom student loan program with MIT Sloan, effective November 2, 2008.

The Economix column went on to explain that students who have already had their loans processed and approved by Citibank appear to be safe, but that those who still need to secure financing face greater problems. “The school is now helping students scramble to find alternate financing,” the Times reported.

The problem is not limited to MIT Sloan. The CitiAssist program is also ending at the Ross School at the University of Michigan, according to the school’s own website.

Information listed on the Ross site about the CitiAssist program indicates that of the 3,500 University of Michigan students who took out private loans in 2007, 68 percent did so through the CitiAssist program. But a bulleted point highlighted in red in the program description reads, “This loan program will end on 11/02/08. Priority date for applications is 10/15/08. Applications received after this date may not be processed.”

In a phone interview this morning, Randall Sawyer, dean of admissions for the Johnson School of Business at Cornell University, said that as he understands it, Citibank has removed its CitiAssist program from all of its schools for international students without a domestic cosigner. Harvard Business School and the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania have also historically been part of the CitiAssist program.

“It’s affecting us, though not on a huge scale,” Sawyer said, indicating that schools with greater numbers of international students could be facing a larger-scale problem. “It’s certainly something that we are talking about though,” he continued.

According to Sawyer, even students who have secured funding for this year may still be unsure about whether they will find funding for next year. “At this point we don’t have any official release about the situation,” he said, but he indicated that Johnson would do its best to help students find alternate sources of funding.

Clear Admit plans to stay on top of this unfolding situation as it impacts prospective MBA applicants. Watch this space for more details as they become available.

Wednesday, October 08, 2008

Chicago GSB Admissions Dean Launches Her Own Blog

In late September, Rose Martinelli, dean of student recruitment and admissions at the Chicago Graduate School of Business (GSB), joined the blogosphere with the launch of her own blog, entitled “The Rose Report.”

A self-proclaimed advocate of transparency in admissions, Martinelli aims not just to talk the talk but also to walk the walk with her new blog. “Over the next several months I plan to update you on admissions, respond to questions and concerns and try to add some texture to this process,” she declared in her initial post on September 26th.

So far, her posts have touched on topics ranging from Chicago’s speedy response to recent GSB grads impacted by the Lehman bankruptcy, general application strategy (including a reference to Martinelli’s own Q&A with Clear Admit) and whether there are advantages to submitting in Round 1 versus Round 2.

Martinelli joins other admissions deans in the blogosphere. Harvard Business School’s Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid Dee Leopold has been blogging since June 2007. And Sara Neher, director of admissions at the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business, boasts her own video blog on YouTube.

Of course, admissions deans’ blogs should serve as just one of many resources for prosective applicants seeking to guage which business school will best meet management education needs and goals. But when an admissions dean takes the time to speak directly to prospective applicants…prospective applicants probably want to listen up!

(To subscribe to receive regular updates to “The Rose Report” via RSS feed, click here.)

Tuesday, October 07, 2008

Trivia Tuesday: International Study Trips at Chicago, Columbia, Harvard, NYU Stern and Wharton

Welcome back to Trivia Tuesday, our weekly exploration of the details, distinctions and developments of the leading MBA programs.

Over the last decade, most business schools have sought ways to provide relevant, hands-on international business exposure within the confines of a two-year degree. The solution that many schools have arrived at is “study trips,” which allow students to spend 1-2 weeks exploring the business environment of another country over the summer or during a mid-semester break. Depending on the school, these trips may be organized through an elective course, by an administrative office, or through a campus student group.

For instance, the Chazen Institute at Columbia works with individual students and clubs to organize study trips to countries or regions of interest, while Chicago’s International Programs Office coordinates short-term summer exchanges to Austria, Brazil, France and Germany. Several other business schools offer students academic credit for their travel abroad. At HBS students are able to earn 1.5 credits for their work abroad over the summer between the first and second year, provided they keep a weekly journal and submit a final paper. At Wharton, however, study trips are often closely integrated into full-semester elective courses, with students participating in hands-on consulting projects with firms from outside the U.S.

At NYU Stern, the school’s two-week long Doing Business In… (DBI) programs offer an appealing short-term alternative to spending an entire semester abroad. The program is usually offered in three selected locations each year and takes place outside of the normal academic calendar, usually between semester breaks or during Spring Break, making it easy for students to fit the program in at some point during their MBA. Each DBI includes one pre-trip class session and 8-10 full days of scheduled activities in the host country. Admission is by lottery, and classes are taught by the faculty of the host university; these faculty members also award the final pass/fail project or paper grades for the course.

In addition to the two-week DBI programs, Stern also offers students the unusual opportunity to study abroad for 1-6 weeks with one of four partner universities in Argentina, Denmark, Germany, or South Korea. These courses usually take place in early- to mid-May, making it possible to arrange a summer internship start date around completion of the course. The one-, three- and six-week programs may earn students 1.5 to 6 credits toward graduation. Although many MBA programs allow students to study abroad for a full semester or to travel abroad as part of a course, few provide summer exchanges through which students can earn credit toward graduation.

As knowledge of other cultures and business practices becomes more important to the daily life of business, it will become ever more important for students to gain exposure to international business during the MBA program. Since study trips range from informal and self-directed to formal consulting engagements for academic credit, applicants may want to consider the type of study trip that would best complement their prior international experience and keep this in mind as they apply to MBA programs. For more information on the details of schools’ study trip offerings, be sure to check out the schools’ websites or consult the Clear Admit School Guides!

Friday, October 03, 2008

Five Years’ Work Experience Not the Norm at HBS

In a post on her blog on Wednesday, Harvard Business School (HBS) Director of Admissions and Financial Aid Dee Leopold provided a breakdown of when the HBS Class of 2010 graduated from college.

The simple but revealing bar graph showed that the vast majority of the class, 65 percent, graduated in 2004 and 2005, suggesting that they could only have gained between three and four years of work experience before enrolling at HBS. Indeed, the sweet spot now in terms of work experience, at least at Harvard, seems to be squarely between two and five years.

Whereas in the past, having more than five years of experience under your belt before heading to business school was the norm, it now seems to be the exception. Only 11 members of the class of 2010 graduated from college in 1999 or before.

In her post, Leopold did remind her audience that “all directly admitted college seniors have the option to postpone matriculation in order to gain work experience.” And only nine students in the class of 2010 entered immediately after graduating last spring. But the trend toward a younger HBS class is clear nonetheless.

This trend could be further influenced in coming years by the HBS 2+2 program, a deferred MBA admission program the school launched last year. The program accepted its first undergraduates, 106 seniors from 52 colleges, in mid-September.

Upon graduating from college, these students will complete two years of approved work experience at a range of participating companies and organizations before assuming their reserved spots in the HBS class of 2013.

In a statement about the program, Leopold stressed that the Harvard MBA offers a wide range of opportunities after graduation. “HBS 2+2 enables undergraduates to understand that flexibility early in their education,” she said.

“It also contradicts the conventional – and incorrect – notion that prospective students must have worked for five or six years before applying to the school,” Leopold continued. “As far as we’re concerned, there is no single profile for the successful applicant to HBS.”

Saturday, September 27, 2008

Business Schools Continue to Focus on Financial Crisis

With the nation squarely focused on the state of the economy and Congressional negotiations toward a bailout plan waging on, business schools, too, have kept the financial crisis at the forefront of their communications.

Harvard Business School’s Admission Director Dee Leopold yesterday posted an entry on her blog directed toward prospective applicants wondering how the current economic situation will impact upcoming admissions volumes and cycles.

According to Leopold, the Admissions Office at HBS has been receiving a new array of questions given the climate of uncertainty in the financial markets. Questions have ranged from whether or not HBS intends to increase the size of next year’s class and/or the number of admits from financial services in light of higher application volume to whether prospective candidates who are unemployed will be at a disadvantage.

The class size next year will not increase, remaining at roughly 900 students, Leopold says. As to increasing the number of admits from financial services, Leopold’s answer was less precise. “Not necessarily,” she said. “Our goal is to compose a class which represents many different kinds of diversity, of which professional experience is only one element.” But there are not strict quotas that govern industry or geographical targets, so the overall class profile could shift some in the coming year.

Applicants who find themselves unemployed will not be at a disadvantage, Leeopold assures. “We realize that these are unusual times and that many strong contributors may find themselves in this situation,” she says.

To view the full list of questions and Leopold’s answers, click here.

Schools Offer Support to Alumni
MIT Sloan and Wharton, meanwhile, have each reached out to their alumni bases via email to remind them that school career services, networks and support are available to those within the alumni community who may need them.

“Whether you are employed by a fledging new venture, a not-for-profit service or one of the firms in the headlines, these services are there for you,” wrote MIT Sloan Dean David Schmittlein in an email address to alumni earlier this week. Schmittlein also encouraged alumni who are in a position to provide support to other alums in need to get in touch with the school.

Dean Tom Robertson of the Wharton School at the University of Pennyslvania issued a similar statement to that school’s alumni on Monday, listing a range of resources available to alumni in need of support and encouraging others who might be in a hiring position to post job opportunities at no cost on the Wharton Job Board.

Roberston also noted that Wharton faculty led a teach-in on campus on September 16th about the unfolding financial situation attended by more than 1,000 students. Videos of that day’s panelists are available for viewing at this link.

The University of Chicago Graduate School of Business also reached out to its alumni, including convening a dinner in New York in the immediate aftermath of the Lehman bankruptcy announcement for members of the 2008 class who had accepted offers with the firm.

“As soon as we heard the news, we reached out to the ‘08s who had just graduated in June,” explained Julie Morton, associate dean of career services at Chicago GSB. According to Morton, 26 members of the 2008 Chicago class had accepted offers with Lehman, some in Chicago and New York and others in London and Asia.

Morton and Stacey Kole, dean of Chicago’s full-time MBA program, flew to New York to have dinner with the Lehman students there on September 19th. “At that point the whole Barclays deal had been announced and they were waiting to see,” Morton explained, most having just completed training a week earlier and not yet started their rotational programs.

“They were in a state of limbo, and we were really just reminding them that we were here from them,” Morton said.

“At this point quite honestly I’m not sure they are going to need a lot of new job support,” Morton said in a phone interview earlier this week. “I think for the most part they will land on their feet with the acquisition,” she said, “but I think it meant a lot to them to know that we are there.”

Friday, September 26, 2008

Yale SOM Cosponsors Roundtable Discussion on Financial Crisis in New York

Partnering with the Wall Street Journal and CNBC, Yale School of Management (SOM) held a roundtable discussion Tuesday in New York on the current financial crisis, drawing together business leaders and scholars from Yale, Wharton, NYU, Columbia and Harvard to examine the state of the economy and the proposed Treasury Department bail-out plan.

“We were inspired by the outpouring of interest and the quick response to this event,” said its organizer, Yale SOM Senior Associate Dean Jeffrey Sonnenfeld. Planning began on Sunday night, and by Tuesday afternoon a staggering roster of economic thought leaders had assembled around the table to share their insights.

Among those in attendance were a former chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the former executive chairman of the Bank of New York Mellon Corporation, the president and CEO of Marsh & McLennan Companies, the president and CEO of Credit Suisse Investment Banking and managing directors and partners at several prominent boutique investment and private equity firms. A full list of roundtable participants is available here.

“That we could get everyone together so quickly is a signal of both their leadership and their concern in this growing crisis,” said Sonnenfeld. “Peer-driven learning is what is required, as there is no clear map to follow for navigating this worst financial crisis in 80 years,” he continued.

Yale SOM will post video of the full roundtable discussion as soon as it is available. In the meantime, you can view video from various roundtable participants:

• The Blackstone Group’s Stephen Schwarzman and W.L. Ross & Co. CEO Wilbur Ross
• Yale Economist Robert Shiller
• Yale SOM Senior Associate Dean Jeffrey Sonnenfeld
• Yale SOM Associate Professor Jonathan Koppell

Check back tomorrow when our continuing coverage of top business school’s responses to the current economic crisis will include outreach efforts by the Wharton School, MIT Sloan and Chicago GSB to recent alums, as well as Harvard Business School’s advice to prospect applicants on how the situation could impact future application cycles.

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Ahead of the Curve: To Buy or Not to Buy?

The Economist called it “an insightful portrait of HBS life.”  HBS Deputy Dean for Academic Affairs Carl Kester said, “The book contains numerous factual errors and mischaracterizations that range in nature from minor to egregious.”  BusinessWeek crowned it an “excellent book [that] only deepens the puzzle” of how so many Americans at once resent and revere the ivy-draped Cambridge, Massachusetts, institution.  Adam Ireland, a contributing writer to HBS’s student paper, meanwhile, concluded after an arguably quite balanced review, “When it comes down to it, this isn’t a particularly good book.”

Perhaps on this we can all agree: Philip Delves Broughton’s tell-all tale of his two years at Harvard Business School has created quite a buzz. The Economist and BW were joined by the Wall Street Journal, the Boston Globe, Bloomberg and others in reviewing the pithily titled Ahead of the Curve (a reference to HBS’s grading system). To say nothing of the ongoing discourse it spurred in the pages of HBS’s own Harbus.

Sad for Broughton that his resume wasn’t quite as attention-grabbing. (He interviewed at Google and McKinsey but ultimately graduated from HBS without a job offer.)

Some speculate that Broughton, who left a position as Paris bureau chief at Britain’s Daily Telegraph to attend HBS, only ever really did so with the intention of writing about it. As has been noted, he certainly might have increased his odds of getting a fantastic job out of school if he’d spent his summer interning, as his classmates did, rather than writing his exposé.

Many reviewers have opined on what they say the book reveals about what Broughton gained or missed from the HBS experience. Specifically, several have pointed out that Broughton entered HBS without a clear sense of what he wanted out of the experience and thus emerged with equally hazy takeaways.

At the same time, his overview of the basic literature of HBS’s MBA program got praise from several sources. “He has put his class notes to good use by providing an excellent layman’s guide to the big ideas of the literature,” writes the Economist.

Not surprisingly, HBS’s case method gets prominent play, which alone will make the book a useful read to applicants who want to get more of a glimpse of just how the signature teaching method is employed there. “It’s a testament to the method of the Harvard faculty that Broughton managed to become conversant in the language of business with so little prior exposure to it,” writes BusinessWeek.

Of course, it’s Broughton’s outspoken criticism of HBS as a place full of overbearingly entitled and/or ethically challenged spreadsheet makers and PowerPoint presenters that has spawned its own sharp criticism – from current students, alumni and the HBS adminstration.

So, prospective HBS applicants want to know, is Ahead of the Curve worth the investment – either of the $25.95 retail price or the time reading it could take away from writing inspired application essays?

As we say about all of the various information sources on the top business schools – including the ever multiplying school rankings – Broughton’s memoir, in that it provides insight into the student experience at HBS, can be used as one of many tools in evaluating your options for business school.

Of course, Broughton’s memoir is just that – the personal experiences of a single HBS graduate. So if you do choose to add his voice as a resource in your HBS exploration, be sure that his is but one of many view points you consider.

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Harvard Business School Invites Prospective Students to Schedule Class Visits Online

To make it easier for prospective students to get the full case method experience, Harvard Business School has unveiled a new online scheduler to help applicants plan class visits. HBS will being welcoming visitors in its classes during the week of October 6th.

In a blog post yesterday, HBS Director of Admissions Dee Leopold cautioned that not all applicants may be able to schedule a class visit before the October 15th Round One deadline. Not to worry, though, she continued.

“Although we think it’s wonderful to be able to see the case method in action, please be reassured that if this isn’t possible, you are in no way disadvantaged in the application process,” she said, adding that the Admissions Board does not keep track of who has or hasn’t seen a class.

In the event that you aren’t able to sit in on a class before October 15th, there are several other ways to get to know HBS, Leopold points out. Also beginning October 6th, the school will offer campus tours and lunch with current students. Unlike class visits, these don’t require advance scheduling. And information sessions will take place most weekdays throughout September, October and November at 1 p.m. Again, no registration is required. For a complete schedule of campus activities this fall, click here.

Leopold reminds applicants that it is not possible to schedule individual meetings with members of the Admissions Board. But as part of the daily information sessions, the MBA Admissions team delivers a comprehensive overview of the HBS MBA program, and time is left for questions at the end of each session. 

Leopold closes by giving applicants a sense of what to expect in terms of timing for Round One. Round One interview invites will go out beginning in mid-November, and the majority of interviews will be conducted in December, she says. If this information changes, HBS will provide updates, which Clear Admit will be sure to pass along!

Monday, September 15, 2008

Scoretop Saga Conclusion: With 84 Students’ Scores Cancelled, Some Fates Still Uncertain

As reported last week in BusinessWeek and the Wall Street Journal, the Graduate Management Admissions Council (GMAC) has cancelled the scores of several students shown to be involved in the Scoretop.com scandal that came to light earlier this year.

According to various reports, the ultimate fate of these students will depend on the level of participation they had with the Scoretop website, the schools to which they applied and their current student status. (Some students involved, in fact, have already graduated from business school.)

According to GMAC spokesperson Judy Phair, the admissions council has decided to cancel the scores of only those students “against whom we felt we have airtight cases.” In total, 84 students’ scores were cancelled.

Of those, 12 students were shown to have actually posted questions themselves on the Scoretop site. Those students will be barred from retaking the GMAT exam for at least three years. The other 72 students posted messages on Scoretop indicating that they had seen certain questions on their GMAT exam. Their scores cancelled, these students will be permitted to retake the exam again immediately.

In all 84 cases, the admissions council notified schools that students had improperly prepared for the exam, although what individual schools will do with that information remains to be seen.

According to the Journal, two of the students who acknowledged that they had seen certain test questions on the Scoretop site – but who had not posted actual questions themselves – are current students at the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business. Chicago is considering action against the students, but “we haven’t decided anything,” Rose Martinelli, director of admissions, told the Journal.

Meanwhile at Stanford, 11 students’ scores were cancelled, according to the Journal report. Of those, 10 were denied admission, but one had already graduated, Admissions Director Derrick Bolton said in a statement.

Stanford plans to meet with the student who has graduated “to discuss this situation,” Bolton said. For students whose scores were cancelled and who plan to reapply, they will need – “at minimum” – to supply an explanation, Bolton continued, encouraging that they “might learn from the experience by reflecting on their actions and taking ownership for their errors, then sharing those explanations and insights with us.”

Other top business schools – including Columbia, Dartmouth, Harvard, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Yale – report that they had no students with tainted scores actually enroll. And a spokesman for the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania said in an email to the Journal that officials still “analyzing the situation are not yet prepared to discuss next steps.”

Dartmouth’s Tuck School of Business, for its part, will hold an “ethics fireside chat” this month on campus to discuss the Scoretop cheating scandal.

GMAC, meanwhile, has posted an extensive FAQ on the subject of score cancellations. It also announced that it plans to implement palm-vein scanning technology going forward to help reduce other types of fraud among test-takers, including “proxy” test taking, in which applicants hire high-scoring imposters to take the exam for them.

We’d love to hear what you think of the conclusion to the Scoretop scandal. For anyone who missed it last week, click here to participate in Clear Admit’s online poll about whether the punishment fits the crime.

Thursday, September 11, 2008

Wharton School, Law School at University of Pennsylvania Launch Joint Three-Year JD/MBA Program

The Wharton School and Law School at the University of Pennsylvania yesterday announced the launch of an accelerated three-year joint JD/MBA degree program. The program, which will begin in September 2009, will target potential applicants with around two years of experience in either law or business-related fields.

“Business today operates in a complex legal and regulatory environment,” Thomas Robertson, dean of the Wharton School, said in a statement announcing the new program. “Success requires the ability to navigate through this landscape,” he continued.

Among elite schools, the University of Pennsylvania joins several others offering a combined JD/MBA program, including Harvard, Stanford, Columbia and Yale. But far fewer schools allow students to complete both degrees in a mere three years, as the new U. Penn program does. Northwestern transitioned from a four-year to a three-year JD/MBA degree program several years ago, and the