Clear Admit, Author at Clear Admit

Published: September 2, 2013

Career Services Director Q&A: Doreen Amorosa of Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business

~ A CLEAR ADMIT EXCLUSIVE ~ Three years ago Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business convinced Doreen Amorosa to take over as associate dean and managing director of career services, despite the fact that she lived in New Jersey, not Washington, DC, and didn’t plan to move. Now she keeps a small apartment in DC and commutes back and forth each week, returning to spend the weekends with her husband. Until that point, Amorosa had spent all of her career working in New York City, including the first 22 years with Merrill Lynch. In her later years at Merrill, she migrated into running recruiting and retention for the firm, discovering that was what she really loved. She went on to head recruiting for a range of other firms, including American Express, traveling to the McDonough campus in that capacity to recruit MBA students. And that’s how the school recognized her talents and eventually wooed her to its side of the fence. Read more

Published: September 2, 2013

Trivia Tuesday: Teaching Methods at Duke / Fuqua

Welcome to another edition of Trivia Tuesday, in which we examine individual program elements that differentiate the leading MBA programs from their peers. Today, we’re taking a look into the Clear Admit School Guide to Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business in order to share with you some insights about the program’s teaching methods. “Most classes at Fuqua meet twice a week, either on Mondays and Thursdays or on Tuesdays and Fridays. No classes are held on Wednesdays, a system designed to give students a mid-week break that can be used to schedule job interviews, attend campus events or catch Read more

Published: August 29, 2013

McDonough, ESADE, EBAPE Launch New Corporate International Master’s Program

Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business, together with Spain’s ESADE Business School and Brazilian Business School EBAPE/Fundação Getulio Vargas, has launched a new year-long master’s program with an international focus for experienced business executives. The new Corporate International Master’s (CIM) Program welcomed its inaugural class of 27 students to McDonough’s Washington, DC, campus earlier this month. Designed for experienced professionals and executives who want to obtain a master’s degree while continuing to work, the CIM program includes four in-person sessions at locations around the globe augmented by online classes in between. The internationally focused curriculum was created to help students expand their understanding of business practices in the United States, Europe, Latin America and China. Read more

Published: August 29, 2013

Fridays From The Frontline

Greetings! Welcome to Fridays From The Frontline, Clear Admit’s weekly blog post dedicated to bringing you the latest from b-school bloggers. This week, applicants, first years, and second years alike were nervous, some about admittance and many about everything that comes after admittance. HammO answered the question, "What if I don't get in anywhere?," with a definitive, "I have to get in somewhere this year." MBA Girl Journey is dealing with the nerve-wracking stress of application short answer questions (where there's no room for error) and essay revisions (you have to have the X factor). MBA Reapplicant84 was one of four winners in Haas's Facebook Value of an MBA Essay Contest and was pretty happy about the Modify watch prize. Kellogg '12 Jeremy filled his blog with advice about how to be a stronger person who doesn't run from pain and how to make deeper connections with friends and even strangers. He asked readers to think about venturing out of well-established, safe career paths and into more inspiring, yet uncertain career opportunities. HBS '15 TwoYears wrote about feeling retrospective, anxious, and excited all at once and lamenting the fact that she wasn't eligible to attend the Analytics Pre-MBA Program. She spent the summer building her HBS professional network and traveling, and now she's looking forward to meeting her 900 HBS classmates while somehow also managing to sift through 100 case studies. INSEAD 14' Jason prepped for his arrival in Singapore by renting an apartment, meeting his new roommates online, and even getting to know a few Toronto-based INSEAD classmates. Read more

Published: August 28, 2013

Career Services Director Q&A: Michael Malone (Formerly) of the Kellogg School of Management

~ A CLEAR ADMIT EXCLUSIVE ~ Editor's note: In the time since we conducted this interview, Malone has returned to Columbia Business School, where he currently serves as associate dean for the school's MBA program. But because he shared so much valuable insight into the Kellogg School of Management career services process, we're running his interview here. We will update this series with an interview with Kellogg's new head of the Career Management Center in coming weeks. Michael Malone came to Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management to serve as managing director of the Career Management Center in January 2012 after serving as director for career education and advising at Columbia Business School (CBS) for six years. Describing himself as a “lifelong student-focused professional,” he explains that he has spent the past 20 years in higher education in roles that have helped him understand the different pressure points faced by both student and employer. “I am able to bring a level of understanding from both the student and employer sides to help them understand the other’s needs and build empathy between them,” he says. Read more

Published: August 27, 2013

Columbia Business School Launches Redesigned Core Curriculum Emphasizing Entrepreneurship, Leadership

Incoming first-year MBA students at Columbia Business School (CBS) will discover a redesigned core curriculum, part of the school’s efforts to keep pace with a changing business marketplace. The school unveiled 12 new videos today explaining the changes, which include a greater emphasis on entrepreneurship and leadership. Students in the Class of 2015 will encounter one of the most significant changes to the core beginning in orientation. As part of the redesign, the core’s leadership course will be pushed forward, to take place in the weeks before regular classes start, rather than in the first semester, as has been the case in the past. Students will also have more electives to choose from during the first year, a shift intended to give them greater ability to customize their MBA course to fit individual career goals and better prepare for summer internships. Read more

Published: August 26, 2013

Consortium for Graduate Study in Management to Host MBA Application Preparation Seminars

Are you an African American, Hispanic American or Native American who is considering business school? If so, mark your calendars for the Consortium for Graduate Study in Management’s MBA Application Preparation Seminars (MAPS), which will take place in cities around the country over the next month. The Consortium is a nonprofit organization committed to increasing the representation of African Americans, Hispanic Americans and Native Americans in American business schools and corporate management Through its MAPS series, the Consortium aims to provide prospective applicants with “insider” knowledge to help them navigate and excel in the admissions process for both the Consortium Fellowship and MBA programs at the Consortium’s 18 member schools. Read more

Published: August 26, 2013

Career Services Director Q&A: Sheryle Dirks of Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business

~ A CLEAR ADMIT EXCLUSIVE ~ This week we’re learning about career services at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business. We had a great interview with Sheryle Dirks, associate dean of career management, who leads Fuqua’s Career Management Center (CMC). Dirks has been at Fuqua since 1998 and in her current role as associate dean since 2005. She came to career services from the MBA admissions world, having worked in MBA admissions in the Chicago area. “I loved the intermingling between the corporate world and the education world” that career services offered, she says, so when she landed a job in career management at Fuqua she was thrilled. Dirks manages the CMC’s 30 full-time staff members, as well as a small group of executive coaches and more than 90 part-time student career counselors. The CMC provides career services to all of the degree programs that go through the business school, which include the full-time MBA program as well as three executive-style programs in which students continue to work while in school and a one-year degree program for slightly younger students. Read on to learn how the CMC was reorganized last year to better align with the school’s strategy and resources. Dirks also shares her perspective on how the recruiting process has become less linear and more fragmented in the wake of the economic crisis, why passion is one of the most crucial elements of the job search process and more. Read more

Published: August 25, 2013

Columbia Business School Hosts Two Fall Series for Prospective Applicants

Columbia Business School will launch two on-campus event series this fall for prospective MBA applicants looking to learn more about what CBS has to offer. The first series – “Why an MBA?” – will feature a panel of CBS alumni and students sharing what led them to pursue either a full-time or executive MBA. The second “Spotlight On:” series will convene professors, alumni and current students to provide a view of CBS and its opportunities in several different areas of study. The events, which will take place on CBS’s Morningside Heights campus, are free to all, but RSVP is required. Two “Why an MBA?” panels will be held as part of that series, each on Tuesday evenings at 6:30 p.m. in CBS’s Uris Hall. The first will be held on September 17th and the second on September 24th. Read more

Published: August 22, 2013

MBA Graduates from U.S. Business Schools See Rise in Wall Street Job Offers

MBA graduates from U.S. business schools this summer are landing more interviews and more job offers from Wall Street firms – particularly investment banks – than in recent years, according to the newest survey by a company that provides corporate training to Wall Street firms and business schools. As part of its latest annual MBA Employment Survey, Training the Street (TTS) interviewed 200 students over the past few months, discovering that 19 percent of students had more than 10 first-round interviews. Another 12 percent of surveyed students had more than eight interviews in the first round, 40 percent had between four and seven interviews and 23 percent had between one and three, according to the TTS survey. Read more

Published: August 22, 2013

QS World MBA Tour Commences North American Fairs on September 7 in Toronto

In case you missed our earlier post, the QS World MBA Tour is kicking off its 2013 tour of North American cities in Toronto on September 7. During each of this year’s 21 fairs, attendees have the opportunity to meet admissions directors and alumni from top business schools around the world. Additional features of the QS World MBA Tour include: $1,200,000 (USD) of exclusive scholarships available for attendees Workshops designed to help improve GMAT scores Careers panel with MBA recruiters and alumni Women & leadership forum Here is the full schedule of September event dates and locations: Read more

Published: August 22, 2013

Fridays From The Frontline

Hello and welcome to Fridays From The Frontline, Clear Admit's weekly blog post that follows the lives of b-school applicant and student bloggers. This week a lot of first year students logged in to report on their initial weeks on campus while applicants continued to make inroads with their applications. HammO started planning his visits to campus and shared his tips on how to make a good impression. MBAJourneyGirl created a checklist to make sure she stayed on track in terms of her applications and their subsequent expenses. TimBob secured his second recommender but felt his energy levels sag. Pandey encouraged other applicants to ask for help when it comes to their applications. With only a week left before flying to L.A. Anderson '15 Alena said goodbye to many of her favorite spots in Moscow. Booth '15 Pru grew impatient with having to wait to actually get to Chicago, but gladly saw that the days were dwindling. HBS '15 TwoYears took a quick vacation after the pre-MBA program and returned to a campus transformed by the presence of freshmen. Anderson '15 Devon explained that his blog silence was due to his commitment to teaching a creative writing class at a summer camp for kids affected by HIV/AIDS and recounted some of the meaningful interactions he had while there. McCombs '15 Eric described some of his fears about joining a b-school community after years in the army, which were exacerbated by the news that he and his wife will soon be adding a new member to their family. INSEAD '15 Ulhas also shared some initial fears he had before arriving on campus, and how those fears have turned into excitement about the months ahead. Read more

Published: August 21, 2013

Career Services Director Q&A: Jack Oakes of the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business

~ A CLEAR ADMIT EXCLUSIVE ~ Our continuing series of interviews with MBA career service directors takes us this week to Charlottesville, Virginia, where Jack Oakes of the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business generously made time to speak with us. Oakes has been assistant dean and director of career management at Darden’s Career Development Center (CDC) since September 2010, leading all of the center’s activities, including developing strategy, managing a global portfolio of recruiting companies and coaching students. Oakes first joined the CDC in February 2005, but his connection to Darden dates back further, to his own time there as a student. He graduated with an MBA/MA in East Asian Studies in 1989, having come in as a career switcher looking to shift from finance to marketing. Upon graduation, he worked in a range of marketing roles, including in consumer goods at Procter and Gamble, before coming back to Darden and the CDC. “This is really just another version of marketing,” he explained, “because we help students market themselves to prospective employers, we help companies market themselves to students and we help Darden market itself to the world.” In the interview that follows, he encourages students to come to Darden having taken a close look at their own skills, characteristics and abilities so that they can take advantage right away of the resources the CDC provides to determine the right career path for them. He also gives some advice to prospective applicants preparing to approach the Darden application. “Here at Darden, what is most important is not what a student will learn but what a student will teach other students,” he says. “In the case method students are learning as much from each other as from a faculty member, so show how you will make Darden stronger.” Read more

Published: August 20, 2013

New Online Education Company Offers Free Stanford GSB Courses for Entrepreneurs

A new online education company founded by a Stanford University professor has launched a suite of entrepreneurial-focused courses from a range of U.S. business schools – many available for free – including several from Stanford Graduate School of Business (GSB), the Financial Times reports. Founded by Stanford professor of management and engineering Amin Saberi, NovoEd launched in April 2013, based on an innovative platform that supports both massive open online courses (Moocs) and collaborative, small group teaching. Between 70 and 80 percent of NovoEd’s courses are available free of charge, with the remainder offered at fees ranging from $150 to $1000. Read more

Published: August 20, 2013

GMAT Tip: The Top 5 Strategies for GMAT Reading Comprehension (Part 2)

Here is the second part of the GMAT Reading Comprehension Article from Manhattan Review Germany, a provider of GMAT tutoring in Berlin, Frankfurt, and Munich. In this article, they reveal Manhattan Review’s best five strategies how to tackle GMAT Reading Comprehension questions. If you have missed the first part of this post, you can find it here. Let’s see how these tips might help. Here is a Reading Comprehension exercise from Manhattan Review’s Study Companion. The subject matter is the historic transition from classical physics to quantum physics. It is intellectually difficult; so the challenge is to read quickly AND to get a handle on the author’s central argument on the first read through: However inventive Newton’s clockwork universe seemed to his contemporaries, by the early twentieth century, it had become a sort of smugly accepted dogma. Luckily for us, this deterministic picture of the universe breaks down at the atomic level. The clearest demonstration that the laws of physics contain elements of randomness is the behavior of radioactive atoms. Pick two identical atoms of a radioactive isotope, say naturally occurring uranium 238, and watch them carefully. They will begin to decay at different times, even though there was no difference in their initial behavior. We would be in big trouble if these atoms’ behavior were as predictable as expected in the Newtonian world-view, because radioactivity is an important source of heat for our planet. In reality, each atom chooses a random moment at which to release its energy, resulting in a nice steady heating effect. The earth would be a much colder planet if only sunlight heated it and not radioactivity. Probably there would be no volcanoes, and the oceans would never have been liquid. The deep-sea geothermal vents in which life first evolved would never have existed. Read more

Published: August 19, 2013

Growing Number of Doctors Pursue Health-Focused MBA Degree at Fuqua School of Business

The number of doctors applying to the MBA Health Sector Management program at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business is on the rise, in part a reaction to the passage of the Affordable Care Act, the school reports. An average of 21 doctors has applied to the school’s fulltime healthcare-focused MBA program each year between 2010 and 2013, up from 13 per year, on average, in the six years before that. The number of doctors applying to the Executive MBA program has also increased, to an average of 25 per year between 2010 and 2013, compared to 17 per year between 2004 and 2009. Read more

Published: August 19, 2013

Career Services Director Q&A: Damian Zikakis of the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business

~A CLEAR ADMIT EXCLUSIVE~ Moving right along in our Career Services Director Q&A Series, we had the good fortune today to connect with Damian Zikakis, director or career services at the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan. Zikakis joined Ross in September 2010, bringing a range of experience that makes him the perfect person to lead the Ross Career Services team. Most recently, he served as managing director of the Michigan office of Boyden Global Executive Search, a retained search firm with 70 offices in 40 countries. Before that, he spent more than 20 years as a CPA and as a financial executive, including with Price Waterhouse in its Chicago, Tulsa and Detroit offices and at several small- and mid-sized companies in roles ranging from controller to chief financial officer. In the interview that follows, Zikakis provides a concise but comprehensive overview of his role, the career counselors who makes up his team, how the recruiting process unfolds at Ross and the resources available to help students prepare to interview. But that’s not all. If Ross is on your list of target schools, you’ll want to be sure to check out what he has to share. Read more

Published: August 18, 2013

UPenn’s Wharton School Unveils New MBA Website

Earlier this month, the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania launched a redesigned MBA website, featuring a new look, streamlined content and greater interactivity designed to enhance the experience for prospective applicants. Included among the new features are updated student profiles, a new events calendar and student discussion forums. “We hope that our new website provides you with clearer understanding of the Wharton Difference and how our program may be a good fit for you,” Wharton Director of Admissions and Financial Aid Ankur Kumar wrote in a post to her Notes from the Director blog. Read more

Published: August 15, 2013

Students from UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business Return from Summer Work around the Globe

More than 150 Haas MBA students will return to campus this fall having traveled the globe over the summer putting their business school skills to work addressing real-world challenges. China, Brazil, Germany, Mexico, Kenya and Israel are just a handful of the countries that played host to Haas students as part of the school’s summer international business offerings. As part of the school’s global management consulting course, International Business Development (IDB), almost 100 students in the full-time MBA program traveled overseas. Full-time students spent three weeks working in-country with 25 different clients. Projects ranged from examining potential funding models for the Brazilian Biodiversity Fund to creating a strategy for an innovation lab in Nairobi to helping a Silicon Valley tech firm develop team performance and fan engagement solutions for football leagues in England and Germany. Read more

Published: August 15, 2013

Fridays From The Frontline

Welcome to Fridays From The Frontlines, Clear Admit's weekly sojourn into the exciting blogging lives of MBA applicants and students. This week, applicants touched on a number of subjects related to the application process, including costs and recommendations. While current students covered topics that encapsulated the experience of orientation and how to deal with the added concerns of moving to b-school with a family. HammO reflected on how much more competitive the MBA admissions process is now than when his mentor applied, and discussed how this applies to the shifting averages of GMAT scores as reported by GMAC. MBA Journey Girl dusted off her analysis skills to run some calculations on the costs of an MBA program as well as the potential ROI on such costs. TimBob suffered through an extended heat wave in the U.K. and prepared his strategy for requesting a recommendation from his general manager. Wharton '15 MBA Over 30 provided his readers quite a thorough recounting of his first three weeks in Philly, which included moving into his loft, being taken aback by the number of smokers on the street, pre-term Wharton festivities, getting a cold and meeting his fellow cluster and cohort members. HBS '15 Sophi wrote about the value of a pre-MBA internship for applicants coming from a military background. Read more

Published: August 14, 2013

Career Services Director Q&A: Jonathan Masland of Dartmouth’s Tuck School of Business

~ A CLEAR ADMIT EXCLUSIVE ~ In our continuing series of interviews with career services directors at top MBA programs, we recently spoke with Jonathan Masland, director of the Career Development Office at Dartmouth’s Tuck School of Business. Masland, who worked as an entrepreneur and investment banker before joining Tuck, explains that most of his team also comes from business backgrounds. For him, the role offers a perfect combination of things he enjoys. “I like counseling, working with students, business – this allows me to do a little of all those things,” he says. In the interview that follows, he shares more about some of the other members of his team and how they all pull together to help Tuck students in their career searches. In fact, even Tuck Dean Paul Danos plays a hands-on role in helping students find the jobs they want, Masland tells us. Read on to learn more, including why Masland thinks that Tuck students benefit from interacting with companies and alumni starting almost as soon as they arrive on campus as first-years. Read more

Published: August 13, 2013

Registration Now Open for Three Fall Events for Prospective Applicants to Stanford Graduate School of Business

Stanford Graduate School of Business (GSB) will host three special events in October for prospective applicants to its MBA program. Participants will have an opportunity to visit the Knight Management Center, learn more about the MBA admissions process and sit in on class, among other things. Registration is open to any prospective student, although the events will be most helpful to candidates considering submitting an application in January 2014 or later, the school notes. The first event, “Many Voices: Perspectives on Diversity,” will take place on October 12th from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. It will be hosted by the Stanford MBA Admissions Office with participation from the Black Business Students Association (BBSA), Hispanic Business Students Association (HBSA) and GSB Pride, the student club for LGBT students and allies. Read more

Published: August 12, 2013

Career Services Director Q&A: Julie Morton of the University of Chicago Booth School of Business

~ A CLEAR ADMIT EXCLUSIVE ~ This week we head to the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, where Julie Morton, associate dean of career services, gives us a glimpse into the career counseling and job search resources Chicago Booth students have at their disposal. And there are many! Morton has been leading career services at Chicago Booth since March 2000. An MBA herself – she graduated from Dartmouth’s Tuck School of Business in 1992 – she worked in retained executive search and as a financial services and strategy consultant before joining Booth. Before Tuck, she was the director of admission at Mount Holyoke College. There is a lot to learn in the interview that follows about career services at Chicago Booth. For starters, Morton shares her office’s “mantra” – that at Chicago Booth students conduct their own job searches, but that they are not alone in them – and just what that means. Indeed, students have a huge team of professional career coaches, second-year career advisors, a career resource librarian and more at the ready to help facilitate their career management process. Read on to learn about Chicago Booth’s recruiting activities, its “trifecta” of interview training and steps Morton’s team has taken to better prepare students for job searches that increasingly include interviews via videoconference and Skype and networking via Linked In. Read more

Published: August 11, 2013

Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business Launches New Energy Finance MBA Concentration

The Fuqua School of Business at Duke University last month approved a new MBA concentration in energy finance, further expanding the resources it offers prospective MBA students interested in the energy and environmental sectors. The school also features an MBA concentration in energy and environment. The new energy finance concentration is designed to give participating students a foundation in the specifics of global energy markets while allowing them to explore in greater depth issues of project finance, markets and trading, corporate finance and risk management, the school announced. Read more

Published: August 8, 2013

UCLA Anderson School of Management Hosts Summer Institute for Emerging Managers and Leaders

UCLA Anderson School of Management last month hosted 50 top students from historically black and Hispanic-serving colleges and universities as part of a program designed to expose prospective future business school students to the principles of business development, entrepreneurship and management. The University of California Summer Institute for Emerging Managers and Leaders (UC SIEML) program rotates across six UC business schools, and participating students attend classes, workshops and networking events for two consecutive summers. Beyond the benefits provided to the students, the program also helps participating business schools connect with undergraduates before they graduate and head off in other directions. . “Take a look of other graduate degree programs,” says Linda Baldwin, Anderson assistant dean of diversity and 2013 UC SIEML director. “They have a pipeline from their undergraduate departments,” she said. “With the MBA program, there’s typically a break. The students get scattered.” Read more

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