Strategy Series
Clear Admit Strategy SeriesCraft a winning application with the Clear Admit Strategy Series! Step-by-Step guidance through the application process. Titles include a Resume Guide, Recommendations Guide, Waitlist Guide and more!

Interview Reports

A selection of interview field reports from fellow applicants posted to the MBA Admissions Wiki. Add your reports when you are finished with your interviews.
Chicago
Columbia
Dartmouth / Tuck
Duke / Fuqua
Harvard
Kellogg
Michigan / Ross
MIT / Sloan
Stanford
UNC / Chapel Hill
Virginia / Darden
Wharton
London Business School

MBA Tipline

We encourage admissions officers, students and applicants to alert us of interesting news and developments, please send an email to news@clearadmit.com so we can blog it.

Program Rankings

Rankings are a good way to start your research on various MBA Programs. Keep in mind each uses a different methodology.
Business Week
Economist
Financial Times
Forbes
USNews
Wall Street Journal

B-School Resources

The following are business resources offered by a variety of leading Business Schools. It's useful to subscribe to these resources, especially for the schools to which you are applying.
knowledge@wharton
INSEAD Knowledge
Harvard Working Knowledge
Knowledge @ Emory
Columbia Ideas @ Work
knowledge@ W. P. Carey
Stanford Knowledgebase
Ross Thought in Action

MBA Programs: The Rest of the World

As there is some variety in the length of international MBA programs, we have denoted the length of the program next to its name (1 = one year; 2 = 2 years). If an MBA Program is not listed, please e-mail and we will be happy to list it.

Additional Resources

Archives

Clear Admit Featured in MBA Podcaster Video “Getting into INSEAD”

Are you looking at a career in international business or hoping to work outside your home country? INSEAD, with campuses in France and Singapore and exchange programs with Wharton and Kellogg in the United States, is one of the top international business schools in the world and features a concentrated 10-month MBA program. Clear Admit co-founder Graham Richmond shares valuable tips on INSEAD’s application process as part of a recent video by MBA Podcaster.

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The video, entitled “Getting into INSEAD: The Business School of the World,” aired on August 20th as part of MBA Pod TV, MBA Podcaster’s YouTube video channel. In this most recent episode, Richmond offers valuable insight into what the school is looking for in prospective applicants.   » Continue reading

Admissions Tip: Off-Campus Information Sessions

For all those applicants who have recently opened a calendar to plot out the next few months only to realize they can’t possibly fit in campus visits on top of full time jobs and essay writing, never fear!  It’s true that traveling to a school’s campus is the ideal way to learn about their MBA program, but visiting is often not a viable option for applicants who are located remotely or unsure of their level of interest in a given school.  The good news is that business schools might very well come to them.  Many b-schools are getting ready to hit the road and embark on worldwide tours to dispense information and recruit qualified applicants.  Such events offer a great opportunity for interested students to meet with admissions staff (and sometimes with current students and/or alumni), learn about the program and ask specific questions.

Some of the top schools are already on the road, so we recommend looking into the travel schedules for programs of interest and planning accordingly. Keeping in mind that these schedules are updated and amended throughout the fall, here are some of the top programs’ itineraries for the months ahead:  » Continue reading

INSEAD Essay Topic Analysis 2010-2011

Unchanged over the past several years, INSEAD’s essay questions cover a good deal of ground, giving candidates ample opportunity to discuss a range of topics related to their candidacies and highlight various elements of their interests and experiences. The first two “job essays” ask for a factual account of one’s current position and overall professional progression, while the rest of the set invite short reflections and exposition of the type MBA applicants are accustomed.

INSEAD’s total of seven essays puts the school at the high end of the MBA application spectrum in terms of questions posed. As always, careful forethought and planning before beginning to write will be important in ensuring that one is using each essay to one’s best advantage and presenting a balanced picture of a well-rounded individual. Let’s take a closer look at the questions:  » Continue reading

2010-2011 Clear Admit MBA School Guides to Darden, INSEAD, Johnson, Kenan-Flagler, London Business School and Tepper Now Available!

We are pleased to announce the release of the 2010-2011 Clear Admit MBA School Guides to Darden, INSEAD, Johnson, Kenan-Flagler, London Business School and Tepper! As previously announced in this space, also available are the updated versions of the Clear Admit MBA School Guides to Chicago Booth, Columbia, Fuqua, Haas, Harvard, Kellogg, MIT Sloan, NYU Stern, Ross, Stanford, Tuck, UCLA Anderson, Wharton and Yale, which were released earlier this summer.

All twenty of the 2010-2011 Clear Admit MBA School Guide titles feature the most current information from the programs, including the latest admissions guidelines, class demographics and placement statistics, and offer insight into year-over-year trends.

Applauded by admissions officers and applicants alike, the Clear Admit MBA School Guides are informative and detailed profiles of leading business schools that combine the views of faculty, students, alumni and the popular press. They are available electronically (in PDF format) to help you meet your tight time constraints.
 » Continue reading

Generous Alumni Gift Will Enhance INSEAD’s International Entrepreneurship Center

Last month, leading international business school INSEAD announced that is has received a €5 million alumni gift to directly benefit entrepreneurship research and teaching at the school.

The generous donation from an alumnus was specifically designated to further the work of the Rudolf and Valeria Maag International Centre for Entrepreneurship (Maag ICE), which was founded in 2003 to establish INSEAD as a leader in entrepreneurship research, teaching and outreach. With a commitment to “building businesses in a global world,” the Maag ICE supports INSEAD faculty, students and alumni in entrepreneurial initiatives and unites entrepreneurship stakeholders from around the globe.  » Continue reading

Top Business Schools Add Social Media Courses to MBA Curricula

At least six top business schools have added courses focused on internet marketing and social media to their MBA curricula in the past year as part of an effort to help students stand out to employers in a tight job market, a recent Bloomberg BusinessWeek article reports.

Harvard Business School, Columbia Business School and the Carroll School of Management at Boston College each will offer one or more social networking courses this fall, according to the report. And in Europe, INSEAD, London Business School and the École des Hautes Études Commerciales (HEC Paris) also have added or soon will add related course offerings of their own.  » Continue reading

Former Kellogg School Dean Tipped to Replace INSEAD Dean

Dipak Jain, the former dean of Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management, has been tipped to replace outgoing Dean Frank Brown at INSEAD, the Financial Times reported on Friday.

INSEAD, with campuses in France; Singapore and Abu Dhabi, is currently in the process of naming a replacement for Brown, one that is complicated given that it requires the approval of faculty across the school’s multiple campuses. But according to the FT report, a decision is expected in the next couple of weeks, and Jain has emerged as the front-runner.

Jain stepped down as dean of Kellogg in September 2009, having served as a marketing professor at the school since 1986 and dean since 1994. Though his academic career has largely been in the United States, the . . . → Continue Reading

President of Switzerland’s IMD Business School Steps Down, New Interim President Named

John Wells, who has served for the past two years as president of IMD in Switzerland, has stepped down, the Financial Times reported last week. IMD has named Dominique Turpin, a French professor of management and strategy at the school for the past 20 years, as interim dean. Turpin is expected to assume to role on a permanent basis after the interim period, the FT added. 

Wells’ departure from IMD after so short a stint calls to mind the effective ouster of Dean Robin Buchanan by faculty at London Business School in December 2008, the FT noted. Buchanan, who like Wells was deemed a “non-academic” dean, was forced out after just 16 months on the job. Meanwhile, INSEAD, a third top European . . . → Continue Reading

Wiki Wednesdays: INSEAD Interview

Welcome to another installment of Wiki Wednesdays, in which we take a peek at some of the new interview reports in the Clear Admit Wiki. Some of the latest additions to this online repository for MBA applicants include reports for Northwestern / Kellogg, Duke / Fuqua and INSEAD.  While Kellogg and Fuqua are wrapping up the admissions season, interviews with INSEAD tend to be ongoing.  So, let’s take a closer look at some of the questions an INSEAD candidate shared!

INSEAD typically conducts two interviews with each candidate.  For the first interview, the INSEAD applicant met with an alumnus, who posed the following questions:

[Define your] long-term career goal and short-term career goal. Why go . . . → Continue Reading

Trivia Tuesday: The Wharton/INSEAD Alliance

Welcome back to Trivia Tuesday, our regular examination of the programs and opportunities that help to distinguish the leading MBA programs. This week we turn to a special partnership between two of the world’s leading business schools, Wharton and INSEAD. Formed in 2001, the Alliance creates opportunities for formal collaboration between the two schools at many levels. Research collaboration takes place through the joint INSEAD-Wharton Center for Global Research and Education, as well as through faculty visits and exchanges. For students, the most popular part of the Alliance tends to be the opportunity for student exchanges between the schools.

Participation in the Alliance exchange program is usually high among both students and faculty. Wharton typically sends 40 to 60 students a year . . . → Continue Reading

Volcanic Ash Disrupts Attendance at European EMBA Programs

Business schools throughout Europe have felt the impact of Iceland’s Eyjafjallajökull volcano eruption as its ash has interrupted the flight plans of students travelling to and from executive MBA (EMBA) programs from France to Switzerland to the United Kingdom, the Financial Times reports.

Last week, France’s INSEAD had to cancel two short enrollment programs because not enough participants were able to make it, according to the FT report. “The worst thing for us is students that don’t show up,” INSEAD Dean Miklos Sarvary told the paper with an eye on his bottom line. But because most of those managers will participate in a future version of the program, Sarvary believes the school’s revenues will only be affected in the short term.

Ash from . . . → Continue Reading

INSEAD Deadlines 2010-2011

The INSEAD deadlines for the 2010-2011 application season are now online. The deadlines for both the September 2011 intake, as well as the January 2012 intake, are listed below:

September 2011 Intake:

Round 1
Deadline: September 29, 2010
Interview Decision Notification: November 5, 2010
Final Decision Notification: December 17, 2010

Round 2
Deadline: December 1, 2010
Interview Decision Notification: January 14, 2011
Final Decision Notification: February 25, 2011

Round 3
Deadline: March 9, 2011
Interview Decision Notification: April 15, 2011
Final Decision Notification: May 27, 2011

January 2012 Intake:

Round 1
Deadline: March 30, 2011
Interview Decision Notification: May 13, 2011
Final Decision Notification: June 24, 2011

Round 2
Deadline: June 15, 2011
Interview Decision Notification: July 22, 2011
Final Decision Notification: September 2, 2011

Round 3
Deadline: August 3, 2011
Interview Decision Notification: September 9, 2011
Final Decision Notification: October 14, 2011

Applicants should know . . . → Continue Reading

BusinessWeek Reports Surge in Demand for MBA Studies at European Schools

Business schools throughout Europe have seen their application volumes soar in the past year, in part as students from around the world are drawn by shorter programs catering to older students focused on entrepreneurial and socially minded career shifts, a recent BusinessWeek article reports.

IESE in Barcelona is looking to add a fourth stream to its full-time MBA in response to greater than ever application volume, a phenomenon that schools around the globe – but especially in Europe – are experiencing. Attendance at the QS World MBA Tour was up 5 percent overall this year, and most European business schools have reported increases of 10 percent or more in applications, according to BW.

The BW report attributes the surge in demand for MBA . . . → Continue Reading

More Europeans Taking GMAT, Having Scores Sent to European Business Schools

The number of European citizens taking the Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT) rising rapidly and a growing number of these test takers are having their scores sent to management education programs in Europe, according to recent research from the Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC), which owns the GMAT.

According to GMAC, increased test taking activity in Europe is part of surge in interest in MBA and other graduate management education programs worldwide. During the 2009 testing year, which runs from July 1st to June 30th, global GMAT testing volume reached an all-time high of 265,613. Of these test takers, for the first time ever this year more than half were non-U.S. citizens. Overall, test taking volume is up 32 percent since 2004. In Europe specifically, . . . → Continue Reading

‘March Interview Madness:’ Submit a Report for Columbia Business School, Harvard Business School, INSEAD, NYU / Stern or Wharton to Win an Amazon.com Gift Card!

Welcome to Wiki Wednesdays, in which we pull samples from the latest interview reports added to the Clear Admit Wiki, an online repository for MBA applicants to share their experiences with admissions interviews.  We’ve received a number of great interview reports this past week, namely for: INSEAD, Northwestern / Kellogg, London Business School, UVA / Darden and Yale School of Management. We’d like to thank everyone for continuing to share their experiences in the Clear Admit Wiki!

Before getting into contest details, let’s take look at a couple of the newest reports.  An accepted applicant to INSEAD shared the following questions from an alumnus:

Why entrepreneurship?  Do you think INSEAD will . . . → Continue Reading

‘March Interview Madness:’ Submit a Report for INSEAD, London Business School, Stanford GSB or Yale SOM to Win an Amazon.com Gift Card!

Welcome to Wiki Wednesdays, in which we take a look at the latest submissions to the Clear Admit Wiki, an online repository for MBA applicants to share their experiences with admissions interviews.  We’ve received a number of great interview reports this past week, namely for: Berkeley / Haas, UCLA / Anderson, Michigan / Ross and Wharton. We’d like to thank everyone for continuing to share their experiences in the Clear Admit Wiki!

Before getting into contest details, let’s take peek at a couple of the latest contributions.  A candidate for Michigan / Ross interviewed with an adcom member, who asked the following questions:

Can you give me an example of when you worked . . . → Continue Reading

London Business School Tops Financial Times 2010 Rankings

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

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

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

Women Are Pursuing MBAs in Higher Numbers Than Ever Before

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 . . . → Continue Reading

New Deans of Faculty, Research Assume Posts at INSEAD

INSEAD, the international business school with campuses in Fontainebleau, France, Singapore and Abu Dhabi, announced last week that two new deans, of faculty and research, officially assumed their posts at the start of the New Year. Appointed to their positions in September 2009, Peter Zemsky will now step into his role as dean of faculty and Ilian Mihov will step into his role as dean of research.

Zemsky, a professor of strategy and innovation, will replace Anil Gaba, the previous dean of faculty. A leading expert on economics-based approaches to strategy, Zemsky also serves as the head of the INSEAD Strategy Area and oversees the school’s multi-million Euro R&D budget.

Mihov, as the new dean of research, will oversee INSEAD’s research agenda and . . . → Continue Reading

INSEAD Professors Release CEO Rankings

Earlier this month, professors at INSEAD released a new ranking of the world’s best-performing CEOs, with the surprising finding that many star CEOs don’t live up to their reputations. Ultimately the study raises questions about just what constitutes effective long-term leadership and whether and why the business community might place higher emphasis on reputation than performance.

To conduct the survey, INSEAD professors Morten Hansen, Herminia Ibarra and Urs Peyer created a benchmark to measure how CEOs have built value over the long term, examining CEO performance at the world’s largest companies over the executives’ entire time in office.

“The real test of a CEO’s leadership should be how the company performs over his or her tenure,’” Morten Hansen, professor of entrepreneurship and management . . . → Continue Reading

Wiki Wednesdays: Submit an Interview Report for Dartmouth / Tuck, Duke / Fuqua, INSEAD or Michigan / Ross and Win a $10 Gift Card to iTunes!

Welcome back to Wiki Wednesdays, our weekly post about the Clear Admit Wiki – a free source of breaking interview invitation news and extensive information on the interview process at each program.  Over the past week, we’ve received a number of interview reports for Chicago Booth, London Business School and Stanford GSB.  Thank you to everyone who has contributed to the Clear Admit Wiki and helped fellow applicants prepare for MBA admissions interviews!

For those interested in adding their experience to the Wiki, we’ll be awarding a $10 iTunes gift certificate to every fifth applicant who contributes an interview report.  Plus, between now and next Tuesday, December 8th, the first 15 candidates . . . → Continue Reading

Global EMBA Programs Top Financial Times 2009 Rankings

Executive MBA (EMBA) programs have had trouble attracting as many students this year as they did last, with the exception of programs that feature classes taught across multiple continents. This according to data collected for the Financial Times’ 2009 EMBA ranking, released October 19th.

Among schools surveyed by the FT, overall enrollment in EMBA programs has dropped 9 percent – and it is believed to have dropped even more among lower-ranked schools. But multi-continent EMBA programs are proving the exception. They are the only programs to have increased enrollment this year, the FT reports.

Unlike regular MBA enrollment, which is often counter-cyclical to the economy, EMBA enrollment generally drops when times get tough, especially as corporate sponsorship dries up. But multi-continent . . . → Continue Reading