School: INSEAD » Clear Admit: MBA Admissions Consultants Blog

APPLICANT RESOURCES

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Admissions Director Q&A
Below are links to Clear Admit's exclusive interviews with MBA admissions directors at leading programs.
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)
Mary Miller (Columbia)

Clear Admit School Guides
Become an expert on your target schools overnight! Get the program-specific details you need to craft essays that stand out. See how schools compare head-to-head in key areas like recruiting, curricular structure, elective offerings and more. Available for immediate download. As featured in the Economist.

Clear Admit Career Guides
Understand career-specific offerings at leading MBA programs and identify the schools that will best support your career goals with the Clear Admit Career Guides! Available for Consulting, Investment Banking, Entrepreneurship, Marketing and Healthcare.

Clear Admit Strategy Series
Craft 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!

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.
Feb 10: INSEAD R3
Mar 1: Michigan / Ross R3
Mar 3: CBS
Mar 3: LBS R3
Mar 4: Kellogg R3
Mar 8: Cambridge / Judge R4
Mar 8: CMU / Tepper R3
Mar 9: Duke / Fuqua R3
Mar 9: Penn / Wharton R3
Mar 10: Berkeley / Hass R4
Mar 10: Chicago Booth R3
Mar 10: Yale SOM R3
Mar 15: NYU / Stern R3
Mar 17: UCLA / Anderson R3
Mar 19: UNC / Kenan-Flagler R4
Mar 30: Cornell / Johnson R4
Mar 31: UVA / Darden R3
Mar 31: INSEAD R4
Apr 1: UT-Austin / McCombs
Apr 2: Dartmouth / Tuck R3
Apr 2: Oxford / Saїd R3
Apr 7: Stanford GSB R4
Apr 8: Harvard R3
Apr 14: CBS

Essay Topic Analysis
Below are links to our comments on some of the top programs' essay topics.
The Career Goals Essay
Berkeley / Haas*
Chicago Booth*
CMU / Tepper*
Columbia*
Cornell / Johnson*
Dartmouth / Tuck*
Duke / Fuqua*
Harvard*
Indian School of Business*
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
Knewton

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

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CATEGORY - SCHOOL: INSEAD

Thursday, March 11, 2010

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, it has grown by 30 percent during the same time period.

The recent analysis of test taking volume also revealed new trends in where test takers are sending their scores. Almost 10 percent of GMAT score reports sent globally in testing year 2009 went to programs located in 10 European countries, up from 6.9 percent of scores sent five years earlier. Of these 10 European countries, the United Kingdom and France received the most number of score reports.

“More and more Europeans are recognizing that high-quality management education is available in their own back yard,” Julia Tyler, GMAC marketing executive, said in a statement.

GMAC researchers have found that European citizens are sending a significantly smaller share of their GMAT score reports to programs in the United States and instead sending them to programs in Europe, particularly to British, French, Dutch and Spanish business schools. According to GMAC’s data, the most popular European MBA programs among European citizens in 2009 were those at INSEAD, London Business School and IESE Business School.

For more details on trends in GMAT testing and score sending, click here.

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# posted by Clear Admit @ 1:00 pm in GMAT News, School: IESE, School: INSEAD, School: London Business School

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

‘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 make an entrepreneur out of you?
Is [your] wife ready to move from US to France?
Why did [you] join [your] current company? Why US, Singapore and India?
[Describe your] proposed venture – its business model, how to raise capital, its market segment, how much energy, what kind of source for energy.
Why INSEAD? Why not some other school, like MIT or Kennedy School if [you] want to work in alternate energy?

A Round 2 applicant to London Business School shared the following questions, as posed by an alumnus:

Imagine the world without an MBA. What would you do?
If you can achieve your goals without an MBA why do you want to get an MBA?
How would you contribute to your study group at LBS from a professional point of view?
What will be your personal development after arriving at LBS?
Imagine that some people in your study group are not contributing enough and your talk to them didn’t help. What would you do next? How would you handle it? How would you feel?

Thank you to everyone who has shared their interview experiences this season and helped fellow applicants! 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, Harvard Business School, INSEAD, NYU / Stern or Wharton through next Tuesday, March 16th! 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 gift card per person).

The most helpful and informative reports usually include the following information:

Date/Admissions Round
Description of visit and/or interview atmosphere
Type of interview (alum vs. adcom, blind vs. application-based)
List of interview questions
Commentary (What did you think of the interview? What surprised you? What didn’t surprise you? What might you conclude about the school based on this experience?)

Applicants who would like to supplement the information available on the Wiki can check out our Clear Admit Interview Guides, which provide school-specific insight about admissions interviews. Thank you to everyone who has contributed to the Clear Admit Wiki and helped fellow applicants prepare for MBA admissions interviews this season!

0 Comments »

# posted by Clear Admit @ 3:19 pm in School: Columbia, School: Harvard, School: INSEAD, School: NYU Stern, School: Penn / Wharton, Wiki Wednesdays

Wednesday, March 03, 2010

‘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 in a team? What was your role and how did you contribute?
I understand you don’t know what the other applicants are like, but how are you unique? What can you bring to the table that sets you apart from others?
What do you do during your free time?
Are there any questions that I haven’t asked that you think I should?

A Round 2 applicant to Berkeley / Haas shared the following questions, as posed by an alumna:

What will success look like for you? How do you define success?
Tell me about a time when you had an idea and you were swimming against the tide – what did you do to get your idea/plan across?
If you were admitted, what’s unique about you that you could contribute to Haas? What about outside the classroom?
Tell me something that’s not on your resume.

Thank you to everyone who has shared their interview experiences this season and helped fellow applicants! If you’re eager to contribute, we’ll be awarding a $10 Amazon gift certificate to applicants that submit interview reports for INSEAD, London Business School, Stanford GSB or Yale School of Management through next Tuesday, March 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 gift card per person).

The most helpful and informative reports usually include the following information:

Date/Admissions Round
Description of visit and/or interview atmosphere
Type of interview (alum vs. adcom, blind vs. application-based)
List of interview questions
Commentary (What did you think of the interview? What surprised you? What didn’t surprise you? What might you conclude about the school based on this experience?)

0 Comments »

# posted by Clear Admit @ 3:01 pm in School: INSEAD, School: London Business School, School: Stanford, School: Yale, Wiki Wednesdays

Monday, January 25, 2010

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 new perspectives.”

Another added: “You not only learn from the school curriculum but from the deep cultural diversity of the student population. There is no place else that can offer this advantage to the extent that London Business School does.”

In a statement announcing its second consecutive top ranking, LBS Dean Sir Andrew Likierman pledged that the school will maintain its international diversity and global reach.

LBS is one of only three schools to have held the number one spot since the rankings were launched in 1999, and it is the only non-U.S. school to do so. According to an FT report accompanying the 2010 rankings, the school’s gradual ascent from eighth place 12 years ago to first today indicates as a broader trend the diminishing dominance of U.S.-based schools over the past decade.

The number of U.S. schools in the FT rankings’ top 25 has decreased over the years, from 21 in 2001 to 11 this year. The remaining 14 schools in the top 25 for 2010 include 11 from Europe and three from Asia.

The FT attributed this shift in great part to the fact that the return on investment for studying toward an MBA – measured in terms of salary increase – has fallen since 2005, and most significantly so in the United States.

But in spite of a weaker showing in the top 25, U.S. schools still make up the majority of the top 100 ranked programs, claiming 56 in this most recent ranking. The United Kingdom, with 17 of the top 100, is the second most represented country, and overall schools from 20 different countries appear, the FT added.

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# posted by Clear Admit @ 9:30 am in Rankings, School: Harvard, School: INSEAD, School: London Business School, School: Penn / Wharton, School: Stanford

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

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 percent female for the past five years, and the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania reached the 40 percent mark for the first time this year.

“In a more plural classroom you’re going to get a more well-rounded learning experience,” John Fernandes, president and chief executive of AACSB, told the FT. “Many schools have become very focused on getting more women and they’re getting good results,” he added.

European schools, too, are attracting more women. For instance, the graduating class at INSEAD this year is 34 percent women, up from 23 percent in 2000, and in the past five years female applicants to the school have more than doubled, according to the FT.

Part of the challenge of attracting women has been the traditional timeline of the MBA. The standard MBA track requires four to five years of post-college professional experience before matriculation, which can be problematic for women planning a family, admissions officers told the FT.

“For a lot of work/family reasons, business school just comes too late [for women],” says JJ Cutler, dean of admissions at Wharton. Law, medicine and other graduate degrees, which women can pursue immediately after college, don’t pose the same conflict.

“Anecdotally speaking, what we find is that when women start thinking about graduate school, business school isn’t in the mix,” Elissa Sangster, executive director of the Forté Foundation, a consortium of corporations and schools that promotes women in business, told the FT. Schools that are successful in attracting more women are those who get them thinking about an MBA “early in the process,” she said.

So that’s exactly the tactic top schools are taking. Wharton, for example, has started to recruit promising female candidates at the college level by assigning them student mentors who offer advice and application tips, according to the FT.

Harvard Business School, through its 2+2 Program, has also drawn greater percentages of women. Though not specifically designed to impact the gender gap, the deferred MBA admissions program for undergraduates – which guarantees a spot in a future HBS class for accepted applicants upon completion of two years of approved work experience – drew about half women this year, HBS Admissions Director Dee Leopold told the FT.

Schools are also working to dispel the perception that business school is male-centric and cutthroat, as well as to counter the idea that an MBA is only useful for careers at investment banking and consulting firms.

To read the FT article in its entirety, click here.

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# posted by Clear Admit @ 1:00 pm in MBA News, School: Harvard, School: INSEAD, School: NYU Stern, School: Penn / Wharton

Monday, January 11, 2010

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 help drive new areas of focus. Mihov teaches macroeconomics and econometrics across the MBA, EMBA, PhD and other programs at INSEAD. His research focuses primarily on the fields of monetary and fiscal policies, economic growth and political economy.

“At INSEAD, we are deeply committed to providing the highest quality faculty and research to all of our programme participants,” INSEAD Dean J. Frank Brown said in a statement announcing the new appointments. “‘We welcome both Peter and Ilian to their posts as we enter 2010. Their background and experience will undoubtedly lead faculty development and research into the next decade of success,” he added.

For more information, including a complete list of INSEAD’s deans, click here.

0 Comments »

# posted by Clear Admit @ 1:00 pm in MBA News, School: INSEAD

Tuesday, December 29, 2009

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 at INSEAD, said in a statement about the study. “As the current economic crisis has taught us, it’s no longer enough to look at short-term gains in regards to executive performance. It is essential to examine the bigger picture.”

Compiling a list of 2,000 CEOs worldwide, the professors then set to work measuring their actual performance based on hard metrics such as shareholder returns and changes in market value. They whittled the list down to the 200 top-performing CEOs and found some surprises along the way. Of particular note was the fact that the top 200 included a large number of relatively unknown and “unsung” CEOs, while a number of high-profile “celebrity” CEOs didn’t make the cut.

All in all, the leading CEOs truly delivered. On average, the top 50 performing delivered a total shareholder return of 997 percent, with the top-spot CEO delivering an astounding 3,226 percent return (30 percent annually).

Of particular interest to the MBA world, the survey revealed that having an MBA was linked to better CEO performance. CEOs with an MBA degree ranked, on average, 40 places better than the CEOs without an MBA.

The survey also revealed that no single country or industry had a lock on performance. The list of the top 50 performing CEOs includes companies based in the United Kingdom, Russia, India, Germany, China, the United States, South Korea, Canada, Brazil, Japan, Finland, France, Spain, Italy, Netherlands and Switzerland.

The study and a list of the top 50 performing CEOs will appear in the January 2010 issue of Harvard Business Review. For a full list of the top 200 performing CEOs in the world and for more information on the survey, click here.

0 Comments »

# posted by Clear Admit @ 1:00 pm in General, MBA News, School: INSEAD

Wednesday, December 02, 2009

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 that submit interview reports for Dartmouth / Tuck, Duke / Fuqua, INSEAD or Michigan / Ross will receive a $10 gift certificate to iTunes! To be eligible for the prize, simply send your contribution to wiki@clearadmit.com; we’ll post it to the Wiki and notify the winners by e-mail (Limit: one gift card per person).

The most helpful and informative reports usually include the following information:

Date/Admissions Round
Description of visit and/or interview atmosphere
Type of interview (alum vs. adcom, blind vs. application-based)
List of interview questions
Commentary (What did you think of the interview? What surprised you? What didn’t surprise you? What might you conclude about the school based on this experience?)

Applicants who would like to supplement the information available on the Wiki can check out our Clear Admit Interview Guides, which provide school-specific insight and strategic advice to help applicants with their admissions interviews.

As always, we wish the best of luck to Round 1 applicants undergoing the interview phase of the admissions process! Stay tuned to this blog for an array of interview tips in the coming weeks, and be sure to check out the Clear Admit Wiki for firsthand interview accounts.

0 Comments »

# posted by Clear Admit @ 2:14 pm in School: Dartmouth / Tuck, School: Duke / Fuqua, School: INSEAD, School: Michigan / Ross, Wiki Wednesdays

Thursday, October 22, 2009

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 programs are bucking the trend this year, and topping the FT rankings.

Each of this year’s top four programs is taught on at least two continents. They include partnerships between Kellogg and Hong Kong UST Business School (No. 1); HEC Paris, London School of Economics and NYU Stern (No.2); Columbia and London Business School (No. 3); and a program at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business taught in the United States, the United Kingdom and Singapore (No. 4).

Even with a price tag of more than $100,000, these and other multi-continent programs are still attracting students, including many who opt to sponsor themselves. According to Vince Frillici, a Washington, DC-based political lobbyist, his decision to pursue an EMBA now through the OneMBA program at the University of North Carolina’s Kenan-Flagler school is already paying dividends. ““I feel it is adding value for my clients already,” he told the FT.

Taught at five schools in Brazil, China, Mexico, the Netherlands and the United States, Kenan-Flagler’s OneMBA was particularly attractive to Frillici precisely because of its global scope. “It’s a cliché, but the whole world is like a global village,” he told the FT.

A change in format for part-time EMBAs has helped support the growth of multi-continent programs. In place of the evening and weekend format of years past, EMBAs now often feature a modular structure in which students study in one-week blocks. “We find that people will fly one hour for each day [of the module],” dean of EMBA programs at INSEAD, told the FT.

To read the full FT Global EMBA special report article, click here. To view the interactive 2009 EMBA rankings, click here.

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# posted by Clear Admit @ 2:30 pm in EMBA, Part-Time/Executive MBA, Rankings, School: Chicago, School: Columbia, School: INSEAD, School: London Business School, School: NYU Stern, School: Northwestern / Kellogg, School: UNC / Kenan Flagler

Thursday, October 08, 2009

Financial Times Reports Record Class Sizes at Top Business Schools, Drops at Other Schools

According to a Financial Times article last week, many top business schools are reporting record numbers of students this year, the result of higher-than-normal enrollment yields among admitted students. But still other schools are reporting drops in traditional yields. Overall, an unusual combination of factors this year seems to have made predicting class enrollment sizes far trickier than usual.

The FT credited Edward Snyder, dean of the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, with predicting accurately that it would be unusually difficult to predict student enrollment this admission season. “This year, I think you can throw out traditional yield information,” he told the FT.

Indeed, yields at most top schools have surged this year, which is to say that higher-than-usual percentages of admitted students have chosen to enroll, resulting in record student numbers. Chicago Booth’s enrollment swelled to 592 full-time students, up from 577 last year and higher than ever before. The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, which usually enrolls between 800 and 820 students, this year welcomed 862. Harvard, Stanford, the University of Michigan’s Ross School, and INSEAD also all report record-high enrollments this fall, according to the FT report.

At the same time, some schools have seen their yields fall off. An example is the Anderson School at UCLA. Admissions Director Mae Jennifer Shores attributed this year’s lower-than-normal yield to the fact that some prospective students opted to accept offers at schools with bigger brands. “There’s a lot of crossover between UCLA Anderson and the other top schools,” she told the FT.

Whether up or down, yield has been unusually difficult to predict this year in part because of competing theories about business schools and recessions, the FT reports. Some argue that an economic downturn makes for an opportune time to go back to school. Others counter that if you have a job, now’s the time to hold tight to it.

A drop in international student applications – the result of uncertainty around the availability of student loans and/or post-graduation jobs – has also made it more difficult for admissions offices’ to accurately gauge yield. Columbia Business School saw its yield drop this year, which Assistant Dean Linda Meehan attributes at least in part to a drop-off in overseas applications. Even so, she finds the overall drop in yield hard to understand. “This last year was a very different year and different from other downturns,” she told the FT.

To read the FT article in its entirety, click here.

0 Comments »

# posted by Clear Admit @ 2:24 pm in MBA News, School: Chicago, School: Columbia, School: Harvard, School: INSEAD, School: Penn / Wharton, School: Stanford, School: UCLA / Anderson

Monday, August 31, 2009

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:

Berkeley / Haas:
https://ssl.haas.berkeley.edu/Admissions/Events/index.cfm

Chicago Booth:
http://www.chicagobooth.edu/fulltime/admissions/events/

Columbia:
http://www0.gsb.columbia.edu/events

Duke / Fuqua:
https://www.fuquaworld.duke.edu/www/public/infosess_all_view.jsp

HBS:
http://www.hbs.edu/mba/admissions/events.html

Northwestern / Kellogg:
http://bit.ly/Zrg7b

Michigan / Ross:
http://www.bus.umich.edu/Admissions/Mba/forumsreceptions/RossReceptions.htm

MIT / Sloan:
http://mitsloan.mit.edu/academic/events.php

Stanford GSB:
http://www.gsb.stanford.edu/mba/outreach/info_sessions.html

NYU / Stern:
http://w4.stern.nyu.edu/admissions/cgibin/sched_events.cgi

Dartmouth / Tuck:
http://www.tuck.dartmouth.edu/admissions/events.html

UCLA / Anderson:
http://www.anderson.ucla.edu/x5525.xml

UNC / Kenan Flagler:
http://www.kenan-flagler.unc.edu/News/Events/embambainfo.cfm

UVA / Darden:
https://apply.darden.virginia.edu/admissions/events/EventsSchedule.tap?sp=103

U Penn / Wharton:
http://www.wharton.upenn.edu/mba/admissions/admission-events.cfm

Yale SOM:
http://mba.yale.edu/MBA/admissions/events.shtml

IESE:
http://www.iese.edu/aplicaciones/emba/events/events_emba.asp?lang=en

IMD:
http://www.imd.ch/programs/mba/infosessions/index.cfm

INSEAD:
http://www.insead.edu/mba/offevents/index.cfm?fuseaction=offcampus

LBS:
http://www.london.edu/programmes/infoevents/do?progSelect=MBA&locationSelect=

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# posted by Clear Admit @ 2:48 am in Admissions Tips, School: Berkeley / Haas, School: Chicago, School: Columbia, School: Dartmouth / Tuck, School: Duke / Fuqua, School: Harvard, School: IESE, School: IMD, School: INSEAD, School: London Business School, School: MIT / Sloan, School: Michigan / Ross, School: NYU Stern, School: Northwestern / Kellogg, School: Penn / Wharton, School: Stanford, School: UCLA / Anderson, School: UNC / Kenan Flagler, School: Virginia / Darden, School: Yale

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

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 Alliance Center for Global Research and Development, 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 to INSEAD’s two campuses, while playing host to approximately 60 INSEAD exchange students in any year. Because Wharton and INSEAD have linked their credit system, students participating in the Alliance exchange can be confident that their credits will easily transfer back to their home institution. Furthermore, because INSEAD’s and Wharton’s career management services are available to all Alliance participants, students in the exchange are able to continue involvement in full-time recruiting even while abroad. In fact, the strength of INSEAD’s corporate relationships in Europe and Asia makes the exchange a wonderful career opportunity for Wharton students interested in working abroad after graduation, while Wharton’s extensive contacts in the U.S. are particularly valuable to participating INSEAD students.

Through the Alliance, two Wharton professors may also spend a semester teaching at INSEAD’s France or Singapore campuses and two INSEAD professors may teach at Wharton’s San Francisco or Philadelphia campuses. This exchange of professors allows each school to enhance its global education offerings. For instance, in one recent academic year, Wharton professors on exchange to INSEAD taught courses on Financial Engineering, Management/Supply Chain, and Quality & Process, while INSEAD professors at Wharton offered courses on Mergers & Acquisitions, Corporate Strategy, and Marketing Strategy. Although these are not new topics for either institution, the Alliance believes that there is a benefit to tackling these topics with a professor from another background.

To read more about the Wharton/INSEAD Alliance, and to find out about other special programs, check out the Clear Admit School Guides to Wharton and INSEAD!

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# posted by Clear Admit @ 2:57 am in School: INSEAD, School: Penn / Wharton, Trivia Tuesday

Thursday, August 06, 2009

London Business School, Stanford, INSEAD Top 2009 Forbes ROI MBA Rankings

Forbes has released its biennial ranking of top business schools as measured by return on investment graduates achieve after five years, with London Business School (LBS), Stanford Graduate School of Business and INSEAD topping the lists.

To compile the survey, alumni from top business schools were asked to share their pre-MBA salaries and compensation for three of the first five years of work after obtaining their degrees. Taking into account opportunity costs (tuition and salary lost while in school), adjusting for cost-of-living expenses and discounting earnings gains, Forbes ranked programs based on overall ROI divided into three distinct tables: U.S. programs, non-U.S. one-year programs and non-U.S. two-year programs.

LBS, which ranked number two among non-U.S. two-year programs in the 2007 rankings, sidled back up into the number one spot this year, which it also held in 2005. “I am delighted that we have re-claimed the number one position in this ranking,” said Sabine Vinck, LBS associate dean of degree programs, in a statement. “This result demonstrates that London Business School offers excellent return on investment and that our alumni compensation levels post-graduation are among the highest in the world,” Vinck added.

Stanford, too, reclaimed the number one spot this year on the U.S. programs list, having also slipped to second in the 2007 rankings. According to the Forbes report, Stanford graduates from the class of 2004 – now five years out from graduation – had a median salary of $82,000 before entering school, made a $235,000 investment on average on an MBA, and report a median salary of $225,000 five years out, which shows a typical cumulative gain of $85,000.

Overall, Forbes found that graduates of the five top-ranked MBA programs in its survey typically make more than $200,000 once they’re five years out of school but that rising tuitions and higher pre-MBA salaries mean it’s taking longer for them to get a solid payback on their investment.

For a full breakdown of the rankings, click here. The rankings issue of Forbes will be on newsstands tomorrow.

1 Comment »

# posted by Clear Admit @ 1:00 pm in MBA News, Rankings, School: INSEAD, School: London Business School, School: Stanford

Friday, July 31, 2009

2009-2010 Clear Admit School Guides to Darden, INSEAD, Johnson, Tuck, UCLA Anderson and Yale Now Available!

We’re pleased to announce the release of the 2009-2010 versions of the final six of our 18 Clear Admit School Guides, our line of informative and time-saving reports about the leading business schools. The Clear Admit School Guides provide detailed information on all aspects of the student experience at a leading MBA program, and compare the schools in such areas as student demographics, curricular structure and employment statistics. The School Guides present an objective view of what each school offers and what makes each unique. They are a must for serious applicants who are investigating target schools, looking for school-specific details for their essays or just getting up to speed on a program in advance of a campus visit or interview.

Available for immediate purchase and download are the 2009-2010 versions of Darden, INSEAD, Johnson, Tuck, UCLA Anderson and Yale. These titles include the most up-to-date information about the programs, including the latest admissions guidelines, class demographics and placement statistics, and insight into year-by-year trends.

Our entire line of MBA School Guides has now been updated for the 2009-10 admissions cycle, and all 18 are available for immediate download in the Clear Admit shop. More information on the Guides’ contents and the online ordering process is available in the School Guides section of our website.

0 Comments »

# posted by Clear Admit @ 6:00 pm in Interview Guides, School Guides, School: Cornell / Johnson, School: Dartmouth / Tuck, School: INSEAD, School: UCLA / Anderson, School: Virginia / Darden, School: Yale

Thursday, July 23, 2009

Class Size Increases Planned at Harvard Business School, INSEAD

According to recent reports in the Financial Times, both Harvard Business School (HBS) and INSEAD plan to increase the size of their incoming classes in the year ahead. INSEAD’s class size will rise from 900 to 980, with most new students enrolling at the school’s Singapore campus. Harvard, meanwhile, will increase its class size from 900 to between 930 and 940 students.

The class size increases come amid an overall rise in applications to business schools. INSEAD, which currently enrolls 600 students on its French campus and 300 on its Singapore campus, will rebalance to admit 400 students in Singapore and up to 580 in Fontainebleau, INSEAD Dean Frank Brown told the FT.

According to Brown, the increase in class enrollment in Singapore reflects growing interest in Asia. “We find a lot of the people on the Asia campus are from the U.S. and Europe,” he told the FT, adding that the growing number of U.S. applicants to INSEAD reflects shifts in the perspectives of younger U.S. managers toward a greater international focus.

Meanwhile, at HBS, a recent article in the Harvard Crimson cited Director of Admissions Dee Leopold as saying that she expects enrollment for the incoming class this fall to increase by 30 or 40 students, up from last year’s 900. So far, according to the Crimson, 942 students have enrolled, but Leopold expects this number to settle between 930 and 940 by the time classes begin.

With these projected class size increases, HBS and INSEAD will remain among the largest of the top-tier full-time MBA programs, keeping company with the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, which has around 800 students.

1 Comment »

# posted by Clear Admit @ 11:30 am in MBA News, School: Harvard, School: INSEAD

Thursday, July 16, 2009

INSEAD Essay Topic Analysis 2009-2010

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:

Job Essays

1. Please give a detailed description of your job, including nature of work, major responsibilities; and, where relevant, employees under your supervision, size of budget, number of clients/products and results achieved. (250 words)

While the essays for most programs begin by addressing the overall progression of the applicant’s career up to this point, INSEAD’s first question requests a snapshot of the applicant’s career at this moment. Even if you have held a number of positions within the same organization, it’s best to maintain focus on your current position and responsibilities. Keeping in mind that this will be the adcom’s introduction to your materials, you might also provide the context necessary for the reader to understand your place within the organizational structure and the work that occupies your days. While there is some room to talk about “results achieved,” there’s no need to get bogged down in the specifics of certain projects or engagements – a good essay will be composed of fairly general comments that are focused on the present. It is fine to incorporate some more specific information about your career’s “greatest hits” later in response to other questions.

2. Please give us a full description of your career since graduating from university. If you were to remain with your present employer, what would be your next step in terms of position? (250 words)

This is a tall order for a 250 word essay, so brevity and efficient use of language will be key here. The adcom is looking for an applicant who can present her career as a coherent whole, and demonstrate that she has been on an upward trajectory since the outset. While it would be ideal for you to include some comments on lessons learned and skills gained over the course of your career, the primary focus should be touching upon each full-time post you’ve held, explaining the reasons behind each move you’ve made and commenting on increases and changes in responsibility.

Personal Essays

1. Give a candid description of yourself, stressing the personal characteristics you feel to be your strengths and weaknesses and the main factors which have influenced your personal development, giving examples when necessary. (400 words approx.)

It’s important to address the question in full when responding to this sort of essay, but it’s also in one’s best interest to focus as much as possible on the positive. With this in mind, you might lead off with two or three positive qualities and then comment on one or two weaknesses – ideally ones that you’ve already taken steps to address. Whether discussing a strength or a weakness, though, it’s ideal to back up every statement about your character with a brief example as “proof” of the statement. INSEAD’s framework gives applicants free reign to select personal, professional or extracurricular subjects, so try to select your examples with an eye to presenting a balanced picture of your interests and experiences.

2. Describe what you believe to be your two most substantial accomplishments to date, explaining why you view them as such. (400 words approx.)

This is another fairly straightforward question. Though it’s important to reflect and respond candidly with those achievements that have truly been the most meaningful to you, keep in mind that, given the interests and priorities of the adcom in evaluating one’s business school candidacy, it would be beneficial to feature at least one accomplishment from the professional realm. As always, it will be important to ground your comments in specific details and fully explain why these achievements were significant, both in terms of the results you produced and the lessons you learned.

3. Describe a situation taken from school, business, civil or military life, where you did not meet your personal objectives, and discuss briefly the effect. (250 words approx.)

To fully address this question, you’ll need to describe the situation and detail, in very concrete terms, what went wrong and why. This essay has a particularly restrictive word limit, making it all the more important for applicants to summarize and explain the failure as concisely as possible. Keep in mind that the reason a school asks this question is to discern whether a student is able to learn from experience and avoid repeating past mistakes. Toward that end, it would be wise to interpret INSEAD’s request for a discussion of the “effect” of the mistake as a chance to talk about personal growth (as discussing the negative consequences of one’s actions would be a less flattering approach). Ending the essay on a more positive note is always a good idea, especially for those who can point to subsequent successes in the same realm.

4. Discuss your career goals. What skills do you expect to gain from studying at INSEAD and how will they contribute to your professional career. (500 words approx.)

This is the standard career goals essay, with an interesting focus on skills as they relate to INSEAD classes and future goals. The phrasing of this question might indicate that the school is looking for applicants who have really thought through the limitations they face given their current skill sets, and have a clear sense of what they need to learn (and how they will do so through an MBA) in order to be successful in a very specific career path. This underscores the fact that well-defined goals and school-specific detail are essential to a successful application.

As is the case with most schools, demonstrating an understanding of the unique merits of INSEAD’s program is crucial to an effective response to this question. Taking the time to learn about the school’s curriculum, special programs and extracurricular activities – whether through a visit to campus, conversation with alumni or reading the Clear Admit School Guide to INSEAD – will pay dividends here.

5. Please choose one of the following two essay topics:
a) Have you ever experienced culture shock? What did it mean to you? (250 words approx.)
b) What would you say to a foreigner moving to your home country? (250 words approx.)

This sort of question is designed to gauge an applicant’s cultural sensitivity and ability to conduct business in an international setting, and it probably comes as no surprise to applicants who are familiar with INSEAD’s reputation as a highly international program. The first option asks applicants to recount a trying experience in another country or environment, and to explain the resulting personal growth and process of adjustment. Meanwhile, the second asks candidates to reflect on the unique characteristics of his or her own culture and anticipate the issues that a visitor might encounter. In both responses, one has an opportunity to demonstrate cultural flexibility, offering evidence for his or her ability to operate as a global citizen and work in diverse teams. Of course, many of the best essays will manage to incorporate a healthy dose of lessons learned, indicating that cultural adjustment can be fraught with trial and error rather than sugar-coating a response and failing to outline the struggles or periods of adjustment.

0 Comments »

# posted by Clear Admit @ 8:43 am in Essay Topic Analysis, School: INSEAD

Wednesday, July 08, 2009

INSEAD Essay Topics 2009-2010

The official INSEAD essay topics for both the January 2010 and September 2010 intakes are available online. The essay topics are the same as the ones required of applicants last year. In fact, only very minor changes have been made to the INSEAD application over the past two years. The application can be accessed on INSEAD’s admissions website. This year’s essay topics are as follows:

Job Essays

2. Please give us a full description of your career since graduating from university. If you were to remain with your present employer, what would be your next step in terms of position? (250 words)

Personal Essays

1. Give a candid description of yourself, stressing the personal characteristics you feel to be your strengths and weaknesses and the main factors, which have influenced your personal development, giving examples when necessary. (400 words approx.)

2. Describe what you believe to be your two most substantial accomplishments to date, explaining why you view them as such. (400 words approx.)

3. Describe a situation taken from school, business, civil or military life, where you did not meet your personal objectives, and discuss briefly the effect. (250 words approx.)

4. Discuss your career goals. What skills do you expect to gain from studying at INSEAD and how will they contribute to your professional career. (500 words approx.)

5. Please choose one of the following two essay topics:
a) Have you ever experienced culture shock? What did it mean to you? (250 words approx.), or
b) What would you say to a foreigner moving to your home country? (250 words approx.)

The INSEAD 2009-2010 deadlines were released in May.

0 Comments »

# posted by Clear Admit @ 11:37 am in Essay Topics, School: INSEAD

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

INSEAD/Kellogg Research Reveals Link Between Study Abroad and Creativity

According to recent research from INSEAD and Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management, the experience of living outside your home country and adapting to a new culture may enhance creative thinking.

From El Greco to Ernest Hemingway, many artists have sought out experience in a foreign culture as a means of stimulating their imaginations and enhancing their work. But does living abroad really stimulate creativity? “It’s a longstanding question that we feel we’ve been able to begin answering through this research,” said the study’s lead author, INSEAD assistant professor of organizational behavior William Maddux, in a statement.

Together, Maddux and Kellogg’s Adam Galinsky conducted five studies to test the links between the two. Their findings were published in the May issue of the American Psychological Association’s Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.

Using MBA students as test subjects, two of the studies presented problems of logic and negotiation designed to test creative insight. The results of both studies showed that the longer students had spent living abroad, the more likely they were to come up with the most creative solution. In both instances, time spent traveling abroad didn’t impact creativity the way living abroad did.

After conducting the five test studies, Maddux and Galinsky then ran a follow-up study to better understand the link. With a group of MBA students at INSEAD, they determined that those students who had adapted themselves to the foreign cultures when they lived abroad were those most likely to solve the classic creative insight challenge.

But while the studies did show a strong link between living abroad and greater creativity, they don’t prove that adapting to a new culture actually causes increased creativity. “We just couldn’t randomly assign people to live abroad while others stay in their own country,” Maddux said in a statement.

So instead, they tried a technique called “priming” to try to understand what causes someone to be creative. In two experiments, they primed students at the Sorbonne to mentally recreate their past experiences living abroad and then measured whether doing so caused them to be more creative, at least temporarily. Another group of students were asked instead to recall experiences that didn’t involve adapting to another culture, such as going to the supermarket.

The results revealed that students primed to recreate past experiences of living abroad then drew space aliens and solved word games more creatively than those primed to recreate domestic experiences.

According to Maddux, the research findings could have something to show about the increasing impact of globalization on the world. “Knowing that experiences abroad are critical for creative output makes study abroad programs and job assignments in other countries that much more important, especially for people and companies that put a premium on creativity and innovation to stay competitive,” he said.

To read the full article, click here.

0 Comments »

# posted by Clear Admit @ 9:37 am in General, MBA News, School: INSEAD, School: Northwestern / Kellogg

Thursday, May 07, 2009

INSEAD Deadlines 2009-2010

The INSEAD deadlines for the 2009-2010 application season are now online. The deadlines for both the September 2010 intake, as well as the January 2011 intake, are listed below:

September 2010 Intake:
Round 1
Deadline: September 30, 2009
Interview Decision Notification: November 6, 2009
Final Decision Notification: December 18, 2009

Round 2
Deadline: December 2, 2009
Interview Decision Notification: January 15, 2010
Final Decision Notification: February 26, 2010

Round 3
Deadline: February 10, 2010
Interview Decision Notification: March 19, 2010
Final Decision Notification: April 30, 2010

Round 4
Deadline: March 31, 2010
Interview Decision Notification: May 7, 2010
Final Decision Notification: June 18, 2010

January 2011 Intake:
Round 1
Deadline: March 10, 2010
Interview Decision Notification: April 16, 2010
Final Decision Notification: May 28, 2010

Round 2
Deadline: June 9, 2010
Interview Decision Notification: July 16, 2010
Final Decision Notification: September 3, 2010

Round 3
Deadline: July 28, 2010
Interview Decision Notification: September 10, 2010
Final Decision Notification: October 15, 2010

0 Comments »

# posted by Clear Admit @ 3:19 pm in Deadlines, General, School: Harvard, School: INSEAD, School: MIT / Sloan

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Wiki Wednesdays: INSEAD and NYU / Stern Interview Reports

Welcome to another installment of Wiki Wednesdays, in which we take a closer look at some of the freshest material in the Clear Admit Wiki, an online repository for MBA applicants to share their experiences with the admissions process. This week, we’re checking out the latest interview from NYU / Stern. Plus, Parisian MBA stopped by again to share his second INSEAD interview!

A Round 2 Stern candidate faced the following questions from an adcom member, who, according to the contributor, “was definitely familiar with [his] application.”

Walk me through your background, how did you end up at [company A] after college?
Talked about the state of the economy, importance of students/applicants being flexible in their career endeavors. If your goal doesn’t work out, what is your plan B?
What 2 clubs do you see yourself engaging with?
What are 2 skills you gained at your last job?
What is the greatest challenge you faced at your job?

The Parisian MBA shared the following queries from an INSEAD alum:

Can you briefly describe your career to date and tell me why do you apply to an MBA?
So, now there is an economic crisis and you apply for a MBA: is it for you a way to hide from the crisis?
Can you explain the credit crunch crisis?
What do you think of the actions taken by Sarkozy and the French government to solve this crisis?
I see in your file that you are interested in Entrepreneurship post-MBA. With the current crisis, do you think it is a good choice to start a business right after MBA?

As always, we’d like to thank everyone for sharing their personal experience with the MBA admissions process! If you’d like to share your interview experience, a reflection on school choices or an account of a campus visit, simply create an account or e-mail your content to wiki@clearadmit.com. Be sure to stop back to check out some snippets of the latest contributions to the Clear Admit Wiki.

0 Comments »

# posted by Clear Admit @ 12:00 pm in Interview Tips, School: INSEAD, School: NYU Stern, Wiki Wednesdays

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