Clear Admit, Author at Clear Admit

Published: May 10, 2015

Admissions Tip: Feedback Session Etiquette

In mid-March, we discussed the importance of signing up for a feedback session when one is planning to reapply to a program that provides this opportunity. Today we’d like to follow up on that post by offering a few thoughts on feedback session etiquette. While on one hand a feedback session marks the close of this year’s process, it’s crucial that you realize that the impression you make on the adcom member conducting the session may be added to your file and come to bear on your candidacy next year. Taking heed of the following advice could help to make your feedback session as productive as possible – both in terms of gaining information about your weaknesses that you can address now and fostering a positive relationship with the school that will pay off in the future. Read more

Published: May 7, 2015

Mothers at Booth Prove That Being a Mom, Getting an MBA Can Go Hand in Hand

What’s harder than juggling the frenetic pace of classes, clubs, recruiting and studying that fills the two years of an MBA program at a top-tier school like the University of Chicago Booth School of Business? Doing it as a single mom. And yet, there are moms who do just that, and do it well. Sofía Vargas and Natalie Wilson are co-chairs of Mothers at Booth, a student club whose name says it all. Vargas, 25, has a three-year-old daughter named Gabriela. Natalie, 28, has a five-year-old daughter Gabrielle. The two Gabbys play together often as their moms hit the books. Read more

Published: May 5, 2015

University of Illinois College of Business Launches New $20,000 MOOC-Based MBA

The University of Illinois College of Business this week announced the launch of an online-only MBA degree program designed to democratize access to graduate management education, according to U. of I. College of Business Dean Larry DeBrock. Called the iMBA, it will be the first complete online graduate business degree offered in partnership with Silicon Valley educational technology company Coursera, which offers courses from many other leading MBA programs through its platform of massive open online courses (MOOCs). The College of Business is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year, and development of this new program was designed to mark the occasion, according to DeBrock. “We’re entering the online MBA field motivated in part to find new ways to return to the tradition of great public universities making an elite education available to all,” he said in a statement. Read more

Published: May 3, 2015

Tuck School of Business Launches New Digital Excellence Program for Minority Entrepreneurs

A new executive education program at Dartmouth’s Tuck School of Business will provide entrepreneurs from minority and underrepresented communities with tools and training to implement digital technologies to grow their businesses, the school announced last week. The inaugural Digital Excellence Program for Minority Entrepreneurs, developed by Tuck and sponsored by Google, will take place at Google’s Cambridge, MA, office June 8th through 10th. Led by Tuck Strategy Professor Alva Taylor, the three-day program will include sessions covering how to construct a digital strategy, how to market businesses online and how to manage a digital community. It will also feature intensive sessions on analytics and presentations by Google experts on topics including website design, search engine optimization and successful digital business models. Read more

Published: April 30, 2015

Business School Students Join Forces to Send Relief to Nepal

Yesterday, a student at Oxford’s Saïd Business School challenged her fellow students to donate to a fundraising campaign for victims of the Nepal earthquake, pledging to personally match every dollar raised in the next seven days, up to $20,000. Today, the school is already 24 percent toward its goal, having raised $4,875. Elsewhere around the country and the world, business school students are likewise putting their money where their mouths are. Still others are pitching in with person power and organizing know-how, helping bring much needed relief to a nation devastated by a 7.8-magnitude earthquake feared to have affected some 8 million people or more. April Chapman, who pledged to match funds raised by the students in Saïd’s Diploma in Strategy and Innovation program, said that social media posts and emails began to fly as soon as the news broke, and her cohort immediately decided that raising an immediate financial gift would be the best way to make a difference. Chapman serves as co-chair of the World Vision Innovation Fund, a faith-based humanitarian development and relief organization serving the poor in more than 100 countries. World Vision’s staff in Nepal, along with staff mobilized from other countries, are delivering temporary shelters, food, hygiene kits, water, emergency health and protection for children, according to a release from the organization. Read more

Published: April 29, 2015

Harvard Business School Wants Its Business Fundamentals Course to Be Law of the Land

Harvard Business School (HBS) today announced that the online business fundamentals course it launched last year will now be available to entering students at Harvard Law School. Today’s announcement follows on the heels of an announcement yesterday that HBS would likewise make its signature online business fundamentals course, known as HBX Credential of Readiness (CORe), available to undergraduate students at nearby Amherst College, with plans in place to roll it out to additional undergraduate institutions in the future. HBX CORe has been available to Harvard College undergraduates since last year. CORe, says HBS, uses the HBS signature case-based method to teach participants the key concepts of business. As in an HBS classroom, CORe classes require active participation and social learning. Three individual courses make up the HBX CORe core offering: Business Analytics, Economics for Managers, and Financial Accounting. Read more

Published: April 28, 2015

UNC Kenan-Flagler Launches New Institute to Study Private Capital

If you don’t fully understand the role of private capital markets in the global economy, you are not alone. The University of North Carolina Kenan-Flagler Business School has launched a new Institute for Private Capital (IPC) designed to help change that. “The institute will come to define how private capital is taught and learned in every business school,” said Kenan-Flagler Dean Douglas A. Shackelford. He announced the new institute at the school’s eighth annual Alternative Investments Conference on April 24th to an assembled crowd of more than 150 business and academic leaders and business school students. Read more

Published: April 27, 2015

HBS Inks Agreement with Amherst Making Online Business Fundamentals Course More Accessible

Undergraduates at Amherst College will have increased access to HBX, Harvard Business School’s online business fundamentals course, thanks to a new agreement announced this week between the two schools. Similar agreements with other colleges and universities are expected to follow, according to HBS. The agreement with Amherst is designed to increase access to the HBX Credential of Readiness (CORe) program, an 11-week online course on the fundamentals of business designed by HBS faculty. First offered last summer, HBX CORe has now been offered to four cohorts of students. The next program will begin on June 3rd. Read more

Published: April 26, 2015

UCLA Professors Donate $10 Million to Launch New Marketing Center at Anderson

A $10 million gift from two UCLA professors will create a new marketing center at the UCLA Anderson School of Management, the school announced earlier this month. The gift, from UCLA Anderson Professor Emeritus Donald Morrison and his wife, Sherie Morrison, UCLA distinguished professor of microbiology, immunology, & molecular genetics, will establish the Morrison Family Center for Marketing Studies and Data Analytics. The generous gift is the largest ever from a UCLA Anderson faculty member. The new Morrison Family Center will enable academics and practitioners to use data and analytical tools to better understand consumer markets and behaviors, enhancing Anderson’s existing marketing curriculum and academic research. Read more

Published: April 23, 2015

Potential Leaders in Global Real Estate Should Have McDonough in Their B-School Sights

Benefactors of McDonough's new Steers Global Real Estate Center The new Steers Center for Global Real Estate at Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business, launched yesterday, promises to redefine the educational experience received by both undergraduate and graduate students preparing for leadership roles in global real estate, the school reports. Formerly known as the school’s Real Estate Finance Initiative, the Steers Center will offer students one-on-one career planning with professors and mentors, as well as experiential learning opportunities through the Real Estate Clinic and Real Estate Laboratory. Consulting projects and career treks will further expand the global nature of real estate opportunities at McDonough. McDonough Dean David A. Thomas asserts that the new Steers Center will offer students “a transformative program that provides an opportunity to engage the world of real estate through a very practical approach.” He also expects the Steers Center to propel McDonough toward its goal of becoming the premier destination for global business education, he said in a statement. Read more

Published: April 23, 2015

Sign Up for a Veritas Prep GMAT Course and Receive Three Free Clear Admit Guides

For a limited time, we are offering our Resume, Recommendation, and Financing Guides for free to anyone who signs up for GMAT classes or tutoring with Veritas Prep. Since running its first class in 2002, Veritas Prep has helped more than 100,000 students prepare for the GMAT. The company was the first in the industry to require that all GMAT instructors score in the 99th percentile or above on the official GMAT—a standard that most other competitors still can’t match. After clearing this hurdle, every potential instructor must pass a Read more

Published: April 22, 2015

Spain’s IE Business School Debuts Redesigned International MBA Program

IE Business School in Spain launched its redesigned International MBA (IMBA) program last week with a special event held in the innovative MadridDome tech space. The new one-year MBA program begins this month, with an inaugural cohort made up of 90 percent international students from 65 different countries. Speakers at the kick-off event on April 13th and 14th included Netflix co-founder Marc Randolf and astronaut Michael López-Alegría, who shared why they view innovative leadership and the entrepreneurial mindset as integral to business management. López-Alegría, the former commandant of the International Space Station, underscored the importance of innovation and creativity when it comes to launching new business ventures, citing private space tourism initiatives as an example. Netflix’s Randolf stressed that the most important thing for entrepreneurs is not to have a good idea, but to put it into practice—and that learning from mistakes along the way is an essential part of the process. Business schools can and should help foster this, he said. Read more

Published: April 21, 2015

Leading Business Schools Commemorate Earth Day

From Philadelphia to Los Angeles, business schools and their students are endeavoring to combat climate change at both the campus and the corporate level through innovation, conservation and awareness raising. The University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, for its part, is hosting the 8th Annual Initiative for Global Environmental Leadership (IGEL) Conference. This year’s theme, “Business Takes the Lead,” will examine how business innovation holds promise for helping the world both mitigate and adapt to climate change. Read more

Published: April 20, 2015

Partnership Between Darden School of Business, UVA Law School Offers Entrepreneurs Pro Bono Legal Assistance

Ventures taking part in the Darden Business Incubator at UVA’s Darden School of Business i.Lab have the added advantage of pro bono legal counsel thanks to an innovative partnership with the University of Virginia School of Law, the Law School reported yesterday. As part of the Entrepreneurial Law Clinic, entrepreneurs taking part in Darden’s Incubator work directly with law students to create legal plans and handle necessary paperwork for their new ventures. In this win-win arrangement, the law students benefit from practical, hands-on training on how to advise startup companies and draft basic corporate documentation. Read more

Published: April 19, 2015

Georgetown’s McDonough School of Business to Host 2015 Forté Foundation MBA Women’s Leadership Conference

The 2015 Forté Foundation MBA Women’s Leadership Conference, scheduled to take place in June at Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business, will welcome current female MBA students and alumni for two jam-packed days of sessions devoted to exploring the nature of power, presence and workplace politics. The annual conference, hosted by a different sponsor business school each year, is put on by the Forté Foundation as part of its mission to help women succeed in business careers through increased access to business education, opportunities and a community of successful women. With the theme “Let’s Power Up!” this year’s conference is scheduled for June 19th and 20th in Washington, DC, on the campus of Georgetown’s McDonough School of Business. The event will feature more than 100 speakers and presenters, as well as 50+ workshops on topics ranging from money management to communications strategies to help make your voice heard in the classroom and beyond. Read more

Published: April 16, 2015

Haas School of Business Forms New Partnership to Understand Crowdfunding

Crowdfunding – the process of crowds of people investing relatively small amounts of money online to fund new ventures and individuals – promises to reshape the future of finance, and researchers at UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business want to understand how. The school this week announced a new partnership with the Fung Institute for Engineering Leadership to do just that. Coined CrowdBerkeley, the new partnership will equip Berkeley-Haas finance and social enterprise faculty and researchers to study databases aggregated by Fund Institute engineers from global crowdfunding platforms. The researchers will use the data to examine and understand how crowdfunding is transforming traditional financial models as well as the opportunities it presents for innovation and new ventures. Read more

Published: April 15, 2015

Darden Annouces Next Cohort of Ventures for Its i.Lab Incubator

Ventures focused on developing an educational technology to improve spoken English instruction to children in China, products to support healing among orthopedic patients and tools to help small businesses automate processes were among those selected to take part in the 2105 i.Lab Incubator program at the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business, the school announced this week. Operated by Darden’s Batten Institute of Entrepreneurship and Innovation, the i.Lab and incubator will host 25 new ventures in the coming year along with eight ventures from the class of 2014. “This year we saw a particularly experienced group of applicants,” Philippe Sommer, director of Darden’s Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership, said in a statement. “It will be an incredible asset to have entrepreneurs in the incubator with deep expertise in fields such as engineering, biomedicine and education.” Read more

Published: April 14, 2015

HBS Rolls Out New Recruiting Program Targeting Students at Women-Only Colleges

Harvard Business School (HBS) last week announced a new recruiting program designed to help increase the pipeline of qualified female applicants to its MBA program. The program, called Peek Weekend, invites juniors, seniors and recent graduates from women’s colleges for a June weekend of case studies, presentations and other activities designed to serve as an introduction to HBS and the MBA degree. Speaking to the Wall Street Journal, HBS Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid Dee Leopold explained that the school hopes through the program to give women a fuller sense of what an MBA can lead to. Calling the MBA “a misunderstood degree,” she noted that there is a perception among many that pursuing one “must mean you want to go work in a bank forever and sit in a cubicle and wear a suit.” Read more

Published: April 13, 2015

Georgetown McDonough Survey Reveals Interesting Tax Refund Spending Trends

Do you think of your tax refund as a nice spring bonus or money the government owes you? Your answer likely influences the way you’ll spend the funds in question, according to new research from the Georgetown Institute for Consumer Research at the McDonough School of Business. The 2015 Tax Refund Consumer Spending Survey, sponsored by KPMG, was conducted during the last two weeks of March to examine consumer spending around Tax Day. “Apparently all dollars are not created equal in the minds of consumers,” Kurt Carlson, director of the Georgetown Institute for Consumer Research, said in a statement. Indeed, 53 percent of consumers who think of their refund in terms of a bonus plan to spend it on something in the near term, the survey found. Furthermore, they are more likely to spend it at stores where they rarely shop throughout the year. Read more

Published: April 12, 2015

Financial Times Data Suggest MBA ROI Is Greater for Younger Students

Parsing through data from its 2015 Global MBA rankings, the Financial Times has come to the conclusion that the earlier you get your MBA degree, the more you stand to boost your salary, both in percentage and absolute terms. Combining survey responses from the MBA class of 2011 with analyses of their career progress and salaries, the latest FT rankings data reveal a more significant jump in pay for younger graduates in the three years after graduation than for their older classmates. According to the FT analysis, participants aged 24 and under when they began their degree enjoyed salary increases of nearly $69,000 three years out from graduation, a 145 percent increase over their pre-MBA salary. Those who were 27 to 28 when they began their degree program reported an average pay increase of $67,000, to nearly double their pre-MBA salary. The oldest members of the class, those aged 31 or above, had an average pay increase of $56,000, representing a roughly 70 percent bump over their pre-MBA salaries. This pattern was observed in all industry sectors and countries, regardless of whether graduates worked overseas or changed industries, according to the FT. Read more

Published: April 12, 2015

A Guide to Student Loans for MBAs

The following sponsored content was provided to Clear Admit by CommonBond. For more information about sponsorship opportunities with Clear Admit, contact us here. First off, congratulations to all the new admits! Whether you’re starting your first year this fall or returning for your second year, you’ll need to answer the following question: How will you pay for the next year of school? If the answer is “all or partially with student loans,” we’ve got you covered with the information you need to make an informed choice on the right loan for your situation. CommonBond is a student lending platform founded by three MBAs who created the company based on their own experiences with the unnecessarily expensive and confusing student loan system. We know the experience can be overwhelming and are here to help, so let’s get started. If you’re a U.S. citizen or permanent resident, your options are federal student loans and private student loans. Read more

Published: April 9, 2015

Columbia Business School Dean Proposes Radically Simple B-School Rankings Methodology

Penning a recent column for Forbes, the dean of Columbia Business School (CBS) took on the question of whether and how much the seemingly ever-multiplying rankings of leading business schools matter. His answer: yes – but an applicant’s individual needs should outrank any number affixed to a school in the many rankings that abound. CBS Dean Glenn Hubbard, an economist, argues that the quality of a business school can be measured by two simple metrics, input and output. By input he means applications, specifically how many applications a school gets and whether application volume is trending up or down. “It stands to reason that the marketplace of prospective students will send the most applications to the best schools, which will, in turn, have more selective admission rates,” Hubbard wrote. Read more

Published: April 7, 2015

Choosing an MBA Program Based on Where You Want to Work

With some lucky applicants now having been accepted to multiple top-tier business schools, a new challenge faces them: choosing where to go. A New York Times article decided to look at that question in an interesting way, offering suggestions for what school to attend based on the specific company you hope to work for upon graduation. According to the Times analysis, the best school to choose if you want to land at Amazon is the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business. Amazon last year hired 27 Ross MBAs, displacing the school’s historical No. 1 recruiter, Deloitte, according to the Times. Another 37 Ross grads headed to the e-commerce giant in the two years before that. Read more

Published: April 6, 2015

U.S., European Business Schools’ Expansion to China Continues with New IE Collaboration

Late last month, IE Business School signed a collaboration agreement with Chinese business school Antai College of Economics and Management to offer dual degrees to students from the two institutions, IE announced recently. Antai College, a leading business school in China and part of Shanghai’s Jiao Tong University, hold accreditation from each EQUIS, AMBA and AACSB. Antai College Dean Lin Zhou joined IE Dean Santiago Íñiguez de Onzoño for a signing ceremony at IE’s campus in Madrid on March 26th. As part of the new agreement, students in IE Business School’s International MBA program can take a dual degree program with the Antai College of Economics and Management and vice versa. A dual-degree program is also available students in IE’s Master in Management and Antai’s Master in International Business program. In either instance, students will be able to complete both degree titles in two years, instead of the three years it would take to complete the degrees separately. Read more

Published: April 5, 2015

MIT Sloan to Host May Workshop for Prospective MBA Students Interested in Finance

If you are considering how an MBA from MIT Sloan School of Management could help advance your career in finance, an upcoming workshop was made for you. The MIT Sloan Admissions Office has collaborated with several other offices and groups to organize a jam-packed day full of activities next month, all geared toward highlighting MIT Sloan’s strengths in finance for prospective MBA applicants. The MIT Sloan Focus on Finance Symposium will take place on campus on Saturday, May 9th. The event is a joint effort between the Admissions Office, the MBA and Master of Science in Management Studies program office and the MIT Sloan Finance Group. The day-long workshop will include two sessions taught by finance professors Nittai Bergman and Rajkamal Iyer, including a case study in which participants will get to work together addressing questions of capital structure and financial distress. Read more

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