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Published: July 24, 2015
GMAC Debuts Interactive Post-MBA Salary Estimator
Especially given the price tag that accompanies obtaining an MBA from a leading business school, it would be foolhardy for prospective applicants not to give careful consideration to the degree’s return on investment (ROI). This, of course, will depend on the career you pursue after graduation and the salary you are able to command in that role. Turns out you’re in luck. The Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC), which administers the GMAT entrance exam, has created a new tool designed to help prospective applicants estimate the salary they can expect to earn after completing their degree. Prospective students enter their intended industry and job function, and the tool then parses data compiled by GMAC's surveys of thousands of MBA alumni to return a tailored salary estimate.  Read more
Published: July 22, 2015
Introducing the New and Enhanced Clear Admit Website
We are thrilled to announce the launch of our new and enhanced Clear Admit website, which includes a range of interactive features, exclusive content and improved navigation to help prospective MBA applicants quickly and easily find resources to guide them through the admissions process for the top MBA programs. This comprehensive site redesign reflects our mission as the leading independent resource for top-tier MBA applicants and helps us share the admissions expertise we have developed over the past 14 years. Read more
Published: July 21, 2015
Darden’s Dean Is Bullish on School’s Future as He Prepares to Depart
We had the distinct pleasure of speaking recently with Bob Bruner, who for the past 10 years has served as dean of the Darden School of Business at the University of Virginia. He will step down at the end of this month, when Scott Beardsley becomes the ninth dean of the school. In the wide-ranging interview that follows, Dean Bruner reflects on his time at Darden, the strengths his successor will bring in his role as Darden's dean, the state of graduate management education and why he is optimistic about Darden’s future. As always, he was thoughtful and engaging, with valuable insights for anyone considering business school, whether at Darden or elsewhere. We are so grateful to him for making the time to speak with us. Read more
Published: July 20, 2015
Citi CIO Debby Hopkins Named Haas’ Newest Executive Fellow
This post has been republished in its entirety from its original source metromba.com.  The Haas School of Business at the University of California at Berkeley recently named Citi Chief Innovation Officer (CIO) Debby Hopkins as Haas’ newest executive fellow. Hopkins, who is also CEO of Citi Ventures, is returning to Haas in this new role after speaking as part of the Haas Dean’s Speaker Series in 2012. “Debby is a trailblazer, continuing to question the status quo in her industry,” Haas Dean Rich Lyons said in a statement. “Her views on innovative leadership and social enterprise deeply resonate with our school's identity—we're thrilled to welcome her back.” Read more
Published: July 20, 2015
GMAT Tip: The Corrupt Mechanic Behind Sentence Correction Problems
The rules for GMAT Sentence Correction problems seem fairly straightforward, but a closer examination sheds a good deal of light on why these questions are trickier than they seem. You’re provided with a sentence, at least some of which is underlined. Choice A repeats the underlined portion, and choices B through E are each different ways to phrase that underlined portion. Your job is to select the one choice out of five that is logical in the context of the rest of the sentence and is also free from grammatical error. And while it may seem basic, the fact that Read more
Published: July 19, 2015
New Associate Dean to Spearhead Growing Entrepreneurship at Yale SOM
As a reflection of the growing importance of entrepreneurship at the Yale School of Management (SOM), the director of the school’s entrepreneurship initiatives has been appointed associate dean, the school announced earlier this month. Kyle Jensen joined Yale SOM last year as the inaugural Shanna and Eric Bass ’05 Director of Entrepreneurship. Under his leadership, the school’s Program on Entrepreneurship added seven new entrepreneurship courses last year, drawing students from the entire university. Read more
Published: July 17, 2015
MIT Sloan Admissions to Host Women’s Week, August 3rd – 6th
The MIT Sloan School of Management admissions team has planned a week of events in early August designed to showcase the diverse paths and accomplishments of its women students and graduates to prospective female applicants. The week, which will take place from August 3rd through 6th, will include a Google Hangout open to prospective applicants anywhere in the world, as well as alumnae panels in five U.S. cities. “Our female students bring unique backgrounds, perspectives and beliefs to MIT Sloan, building a diverse campus community filled with opportunity,” reads an announcement about the events on the school’s website. “Their collective experiences create a rich educational experience and fuel the experimentation and transformation that develop principled, innovative leaders who improve the world.” Read more
Published: July 15, 2015
Chicago Booth Admissions Director Reveals Origins of Unusual New Essay Prompt
The University of Chicago Booth School of Business has done it again. Seven years ago the school made waves when it invited applicants to respond to its essay prompts via PowerPoint presentation. This year, the school has decided to go even further—innovating on its prior innovation. Applicants now are instructed to select one of 16 photographs that capture elements of the school’s community and culture and offer a response—in whatever format they want—that tells the Admissions Committee how the photo resonates with their own viewpoint on why Booth is right for them. “We are always trying to stimulate more authentic reactions,” Chicago Booth Associate Dean of Student Recruitment and Admissions Kurt Ahlm explained when we caught up with him earlier this week. “But we also wanted to give people a better sense of the breadth and depth of the Booth experience,” he continues. “With this new prompt, we wanted to give people the opportunity to see that and reflect on it.” Read more
Published: July 14, 2015
New GMAT Features Scheduled to Debut July 19th
This post has been republished in its entirety from its original source metromba.com. The Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC) will introduce new features for the GMAT entrance exam for applicants to business school. These three new features, which will go into effect on July 19th, are designed to help improve the GMAT exam experience. They come in response to GMAC surveys of GMAT exam takers’ experiences. Read more
Published: July 13, 2015
Admissions Director Offers Advice on Kellogg’s New Essay Questions
We caught up with Director of Admissions Beth Tidmarsh late last week to discuss the new essay questions posted by the Kellogg School of Mangement on July 8th. Though the wording and order of the questions has changed slightly this year, applicants are asked, like last year, to respond to two required prompts and given 900 words in which to provide their answers. As in past years, applicants also have the opportunity to respond to an additional optional essay with no word limit. Leadership and collaboration once again factor prominently into Kellogg’s new essay questions this year, but Tidmarsh and her team hope the prompts provide applicants with a great deal of latitude in how they respond. Read more
Published: July 12, 2015
Entrepreneurship at Ross Gets Major Boost with $60 Million Alumni Gift
A generous new pledge from longstanding benefactors to the University of Michigan will supercharge entrepreneurship studies at the Ross School of Business, the school announced today. The $60 million gift, from the Zell Family Foundation, will provide endowed support for the Samuel Zell and Robert H. Lurie Institute for Entrepreneurial Studies. The institute was originally established in 1999 with a $10 million gift from the Zell Family Foundation and the Ann and Robert H. Lurie Family Foundation. This newest injection of cash will support continued development of entrepreneurship programs for students and alumni, including $10 million dedicated to a new fund that will invest in new student business ventures. Read more
Published: July 10, 2015
UCLA Anderson Entrepreneurship Bootcamp Helps Kick Start Vets
This post has been reproduced in its entirety from its original source metromba.com. On Saturday, July 11th, a group of disabled veterans will use their military abilities of resilience, focus and leadership to learn the basics of business ownership at the Entrepreneurship Bootcamp for Veterans with Disabilities (EBV) at UCLA Anderson. The event, co-hosted by the Institute for Veterans and Military Families at Syracuse University (IVMF) and the Harold and Pauline Price Center for Entrepreneurial Studies at UCLA Anderson School of Management, helps post-9/11 veterans with service-connected disabilities develop skills and tools needed to launch, grow and lead successful businesses. Read more
Published: July 9, 2015
Seven Schools Join Forces for Events Focused on Women in Business School
Starting next week, seven leading business schools will host a series of events around the country designed to showcase the value of the MBA for women and the experiences of women in business school. Participating schools include Michigan’s Ross School, the Haas School at UC Berkeley, Cornell Johnson, UVA’s Darden School, Duke’s Fuqua School, NYU Stern and the Yale School of Management. Admissions representatives and alumnae from all the schools will gather for each of five events, scheduled for Chicago, Washington, DC; New York City, Boston and San Francisco. The events will each feature a panel discussion in which female alums from each school will discuss the implications and value of an MBA degree for women in business today. Participants will also have an opportunity to meet fellow prospective applicants, network with alumnae, get tips on the application process and learn more about life on campus and recruiting. Read more
Published: July 8, 2015
3 Reasons to Do Some Pre-Matriculation MBA Prep This Summer
This post is brought to you by Smartly, which has partnered with top business schools to develop interactive and mobile-friendly courses to cover everything you’ll need to know come fall. Your MBA program--one of the most exciting and intellectually stimulating experiences of your life--is starting in two months, and you’re taking some well-deserved time to relax. You might be traveling to another country, signing a lease for a beautiful new apartment, shopping for furniture at IKEA, and enjoying some quality time with your friends and family. Brushing up on pre-MBA statistics and microeconomics is probably at the bottom of your list, but we know a few reasons why you might want to take a moment here and there to ensure your skills are up to snuff: You can hit the ground running. Imagine stepping into Finance 1 and realizing that, not only have you seen this content, but you also know it like the back of your hand. You’ll definitely ace that test come mid-terms. Moreover, you can spend more time on that challenging Marketing class that you’ve heard is a major pain. Read more
Published: July 8, 2015
New HEC Paris Dean Appointed to Succeed Outgoing Bernard Ramanantsoa
Leading French business school HEC Paris yesterday announced a new dean to succeed Bernard Ramanantsoa, who steps down at the end of August after 20 years in the role. Respected researcher and professor Peter Todd will take Ramanantsoa’s place beginning September 1st, serving as the school’s first-ever non-French dean. The Canadian-born Todd, an expert in the fields of innovation management and information technologies, also brings significant experience managing MBA programs. Until 2014, he served as dean of the Desautels School at Canada’s McGill University, where he himself obtained his undergraduate degree. Read more
Published: July 7, 2015
Harvard Business School Case Method Video Slated for Makeover
If you’ve looked at the new essay prompt for Harvard Business School (HBS) this year, you may have noticed that applicants are encouraged to view a video before starting to write. If you hadn’t noticed, you’re welcome. HBS Managing Director of Admissions and Financial Aid Dee Leopold is passionate about applicants watching this video, which brings to life the signature HBS case method. “I am a nut about that,” she confesses. “If I could require that applicants watch it, I would.” Read more
Published: July 6, 2015
Three Controversial (But Essential) GMAT Data Sufficiency Strategies
Of all the GMAT question types, Data Sufficiency is the most unique. Consequently, it tends to be the most feared. And as a result of that, most Data Sufficiency lessons focus more on how to “get through” Data Sufficiency than on how to conquer it. GMAT students are taught vanilla strategies to play Data Sufficiency safe, and then pat themselves on the back for learning techniques to essentially read the answer choices a second or two faster (let’s be honest, the famed AD/BCE and 1-2-T-E-N strategies are really just mnemonic devices to remember the answer choices that are always written on the screen for you). The following three strategies are not intended for those trying to creep their way up to a verbal-heavy 600 on the GMAT. And the following three strategies will contradict some of what you may have read on other blogs and forums. But for those who seek the highest quant scores and who are more concerned with conquering Data Sufficiency than with enduring it, what you are about to read will be instrumental in your GMAT quantitative success. 1. Use The Statements Together Because of the answer choices “Statement (1) ALONE is sufficient…”; “Statement (2) ALONE is sufficient…”; “Both statements TOGETHER are sufficient but neither ALONE is sufficient…”, everyone is taught to never use the two statements together unless neither is sufficient alone. Which, again, isn’t so much a strategy as a re-reading of the answer choices. And it’s not terrible advice: if you’re not careful, it’s easy to carry over some of what you read in Statement 1 and therefore think that Statement 2 is more impactful than it really is. So you should be careful to consider each statement alone so that you don’t fall victim to that mistake. Read more
Published: July 5, 2015
Chicago Booth Gears Up to Welcome Summer Business Scholars
Want to test drive an MBA? The University of Chicago Booth School of Business provides an opportunity to do just that through its Summer Business Scholars Program (SBSP). This unique program convenes participants from around the globe on Booth’s campus for three weeks during the summer to study accounting, finance, marketing and leadership while gaining valuable career development insight and networking opportunities with Chicago-based companies. The goal of the SBSP is to give participating scholars a unique opportunity to learn business principles and gain hands-on experience before starting their careers. This year, Chicago Booth has carefully reviewed applications to assemble a diverse group of 65 participants from 25 different countries. Beyond their international diversity, the group also represents a wide range of undergraduate majors, from economics to art history to biomedical engineering. Read more
Published: July 1, 2015
A PEEK Is All It Takes: HBS’s Innovative Initiative to Woo Women
HBS Professor Youngme Moon teaching PEEK students Photo credit: Evgenia Eliseeva For Priyanka Krishnamoorthy, a 2015 Mt. Holyoke graduate working in investment banking at Bank of America, a recent weekend at Harvard Business School (HBS) helped set her sights on pursuing an MBA. The Sri Lankan native majored in economics and minored in math and had been thinking about business school for a while. She originally read about PEEK—an innovative weekend program HBS debuted last month for students from women’s colleges—in an article in the paper. She decided to apply after attending an information session HBS held at neighboring Smith College. “They pitched it really well as a way to see what HBS is like,” she recalls. “On campus you hear a lot about PhD programs and law school, but not about business school.” For Krishnamoorthy, the highlight of the weekend was getting to meet current HBS students and alumnae and hearing about the decisions they made both before and after business school. Just a few weeks into her own first job, she found their choices really eye-opening. “I thought there was a set path to it, but they all said, ‘No, you can come from anywhere.’” She was encouraged multiple times throughout the weekend to think of the MBA more as a master’s in leadership than a master’s in business administration. Read more
Published: June 30, 2015
NYU Stern Ranked Number One in Support of LGBTQ MBA Students
Last week’s momentous Supreme Court ruling on marriage equality helped more people than ever before feel like the United States is a great place to be part of the LGBTQ community. Maybe it got you wondering about which business schools are the best places to be part of that community? As it turns out, there’s a ranking for that. And this year, New York University (NYU) Stern School of Business soared to the top, winning recognition for getting more of its student body involved to help foster an LGBTQ-inclusive campus culture than any other top business school. The MBA Ally Challenge rankings, released in June, are the culmination of a year-long competition launched by nonprofit organization Friendfactor as part of an effort to encourage straight people to become visible and active allies in their workplace and campus communities. Twenty-three schools participated this year, shattering prior records. Together, the business schools involved 9,000 students as allies—more than double last year’s participation of 4,300—and hosted more than 280 events and activities. Collectively, the schools improved LGBTQ inclusiveness on campuses by 30 percent based on measures taken at the beginning and again at the end of the school year, Friendfactor reports. Read more
Published: June 29, 2015
Fuqua Admissions Dean Dishes on Essays and Life
It’s not every admissions director who will make time during her vacation to discuss how prospective business school applicants should approach their essays. And yet Liz Riley Hargrove, associate dean for admissions at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business, did just that. Speaking from North Carolina’s Outer Banks this morning, before the kids woke up ready to head to the beach, she shared insights with Clear Admit on the essay prompts released last week. Not a lot has changed this year in terms of Fuqua’s application, it turns out. Applicants will find they have twice as much space in which to answer three short-answer prompts—one on short-term goals, one on long-term goals and one on an alternative plan should that first short-term goal not pan out. This year candidates get 500 characters for each response, up from 250 last year. “We wanted to give candidates a little more opportunity to expand upon their responses,” she says of this year’s doubled answer field. Read more
Published: June 29, 2015
GMAT Tip: 3 Essential Critical Reasoning Strategies
Approximately one-third of the GMAT Verbal problems you see will be of the Critical Reasoning variety, in which you read a paragraph (or two short paragraphs representing a dialogue) of up to 125 words and then answer a question based on it. While the general instructions are relatively straightforward, there are three things you must do in order to succeed on these problems. 1. Select the only correct answer. The official instructions for Critical Reasoning read: “For these questions, select the best of the answer choices given.” This wording can cause some real problems for examinees who interpret it very literally. Why? Because looking for “the best” answer implies that there may be more than one “good” answer. That’s dangerous in practice, because you could look at the right answer and think “I get why that’s better than mine (but mine is still good)” and therefore overlook a fatal flaw in your thinking. This is risky on test day because it leads to your spending energy ranking or otherwise comparing answer choices more subjectively when, in reality, there is only one correct answer and the other four are definitely incorrect. Read more
Published: June 28, 2015
How to Use MBA Program Rankings to Your Advantage
There are a number of authoritative sources that knowledgeably rank the “top” MBA programs each year.  Because the methodologies of these rankings can differ considerably, however, a given school may well be ranked quite differently across these various lists, making it difficult to decipher which are the “best” schools. For that reason, we'd like to talk today about how b-school applicants can use MBA program rankings to discover which schools truly are the best -- for them.  Although the general merits of each school are important, we also believe that it is essential for MBA applicants to develop ranked preferences for schools based on their individual needs and interests. Here are our tips for using official MBA school rankings: 1. Use rankings to create a consensus Ranked lists of top schools are seldom identical, which makes it difficult to identify which schools are in the "top five” or "top ten." Instead, it’s best to compile these different sources of rankings to form a consensus regarding the top schools. For example, if your target program is consistently listed in the top 15, regardless of its individual ranking among different sources, you should feel confident that it is regarded as a top school by industry professionals and future employers.  You may not be able to pinpoint the ultimate “number one” school, but you will be able to distinguish between the different tiers of schools. Read more
Published: June 24, 2015
New Certificate Program at NYU Stern Lets Working Professionals Sample the MBA
Not sure you’re ready for a complete MBA? Why not try out a quarter of an MBA? A program introduced earlier this year at New York University (NYU) Stern School of Business lets you do just that. The new Advanced Professional Certificate (APC) program lets participants take five courses in either finance, marketing or general business taught by Stern’s world-class faculty, alongside students in the school’s part-time MBA program. Upon completion of any of the three tracks, participants receive a certificate registered with the New York State Department of Education. The program is great for working professionals who want to quickly build knowledge in a specific area as well as for those who already have an MBA but want to refresh or supplement their expertise. Qualified candidates can apply for admission to the program and take courses on a part-time basis in MBA classes where there is capacity. Enrolled students will have up to two years to complete the five courses, or 15 credits, required for certification in any of the three tracks. Read more
Published: June 23, 2015
MBA Provides Both Immediate and Lasting Value, Say Graduates
Type “the MBA is” into Google, and the autocomplete box fills with inauspicious indicators of the degree’s value. “The MBA is losing its magic” is followed by “the MBA is worthless” and “why the MBA is a waste of time and money.” Students graduating with an MBA disagree—and quite emphatically—according to a survey report released today at the annual Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC) Conference in Denver. “Business school graduates are clear in their judgment that their degrees not only provided immediate value, but lasting value,” Bob Alig, GMAC’s executive vice president for school products, said in a statement announcing the results. Indeed, nine out of 10 of the more than 3,000 graduating business school students who responded to the GMAC Global Management Education Graduate Survey (GMEGS) rate the value of their degree as good to outstanding, and 88 percent would recommend their program to others considering a graduate business degree. Read more

MBA Applywire

1
February 28, 2025 7:26am ET
Applying: Carnegie Mellon / Tepper
Intake Year: 2025
Pre-MBA Career: Financial analyst
Post-MBA Target Industry: Investment Banking Companies: Bank of America , JP Morgan
GRE: 328
GPA: 3.7
Years of Work Experience: 5
Location: Nigeria
Post MBA Location: USA
7
February 27, 2025 6:06am ET
Applying: Cambridge / Judge, Columbia, Harvard Business School, INSEAD, London Business School, U. Chicago Booth, Yale SOM
Intake Year: 2025
Pre-MBA Career: Family Business, Military
Post-MBA Target Industry: Family Business
GRE: 339
GPA: 3.1
Years of Work Experience: 2
Location: Singapore
8
February 26, 2025 5:04am ET
Applying: Berkeley / Haas, Duke / Fuqua, Emory / Goizueta, Michigan / Ross, Northwestern / Kellogg, U. Chicago Booth, UPenn / Wharton, UT Austin / McCombs
Intake Year: 2026
Pre-MBA Career: U.S. Special Operations 8yos / 5 years Financial Advisor
Post-MBA Target Industry: Consulting, Other Companies: Bain , Deloitte
GRE: 315
GPA: 3.7
Years of Work Experience: 13
Post MBA Location: Chicago
Notes:

Throughout my time in the Army I steadily promoted and I have had a successful Financial Advising career with notable institutions and now currently with a startup firm. Average client I manage has a liquid asset of $1.5million. I am looking to change careers as I struggle with the monotony of the job, and I am always seeking new challenges. I know post MBA there will be plenty of challenging and exciting opportunities to tackle which will hopefully help me feel more fulfillment in my professional career.
4
February 18, 2025 9:55am ET
Applying: Columbia, NYU Stern, UCLA Anderson, USC / Marshall
Intake Year: 2025
Pre-MBA Career: Brand Consulting
Post-MBA Target Industry: Consulting, Other Companies: Bain , BCG
GRE: 319
GPA: 3.47
Years of Work Experience: 3
Location: California
Notes:

I applied to my programs via the Consortium.
8
February 15, 2025 7:12am ET
Applying: Carnegie Mellon / Tepper, Cornell / Johnson, Dartmouth / Tuck, Duke / Fuqua, Michigan / Ross, Northwestern / Kellogg, Stanford GSB, UCLA Anderson
Intake Year: 2025
Pre-MBA Career: Tech
Post-MBA Target Industry: Consulting Companies: Bain , BCG
GMAT: 705
GPA: 8.23
Years of Work Experience: 6.5
Location: Pune
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MBA LiveWire

March 1, 2025 7:57am ET
Accepted to Oxford / Saïd
Round: Round 4
Received via portal on February 27, 2025
Standardized Test: GRE
GPA: Upper Second Class Honors
GRE: 315
Program Type: One Year Program
Target Career: Finance
Application Location: Slovakia
March 1, 2025 4:41am ET
Applied to Stanford GSB
Round: Round 2
Received via n/a
Standardized Test: GRE
GPA: 3.2
GRE: 330
Program Type: Traditional Two-Year
Target Career: Entrepreneurship
March 1, 2025 4:20am ET
Accepted to Indian School of Business
Round: Round 2
Received via email on February 26, 2025
Standardized Test: GRE
GRE: 322
Program Type: One Year Program
Target Career: Consulting
February 28, 2025 8:11pm ET
Interview Invite to Stanford GSB
Round: Round 2
Received via email February 28, 2025
Standardized Test: GMAT
GPA: 2:1 (UK)
GMAT: 695
Program Type: Traditional Two-Year
Application Location: Korea
February 28, 2025 7:29pm ET
Accepted to NYU Stern
Round: Round 3
Received via email February 28, 2025
Standardized Test: GMAT
GPA: 3.4
GMAT: 735
Program Type: Traditional Two-Year
Target Career: Finance
Application Location: United States, New York
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