Posts by Graham Richmond

While business schools require candidates to submit anywhere from one to three recommendations as part of the regular admissions process, we’re devoting this admissions tip to a lesser known relative of the formal MBA recommendation: the letter of support. The letter of support is very different from a typical letter of recommendation, in ways that we will detail below. In fact, we’ll use this admissions tip to share the following information: What is a letter of support? Who can author and submit such letters? When should a letter of support be submitted? What should a letter of support cover in Read more

There are many factors that go into deciding whether to apply to a specific school, one of which is the physical place where you’ll be spending 1-2 years, which is why we’ve rounded up some campus visit tips. Whether speaking with current students or touring the campus for yourself, it’s helpful to approach these information-gathering experiences with as clear a sense of what matters to you as possible. Campus Visit Tips: Factors to Consider 1. Facilities Are state-of-the-art classrooms and impressive new architecture a priority for you? Would you prefer a school that is headquartered in a single building to Read more

While there are many elements to the MBA application, there is one that candidates often underestimate: volunteer experience. Why volunteer experience is important in your MBA application In order to understand why this category is important, candidates should keep in mind that the adcom is responsible for crafting a dynamic class each year. The aim is to admit individuals who will support a vibrant campus community and step into leadership positions. In other words, as admissions officers consider each applicant, they ask themselves, “What’s in it for our school?” An applicant who has previously demonstrated a talent Read more

You’ve decided the MBA is the next stop on your career path. What now? The smartest applicants are those who take the time to create an informed MBA application strategy—a well thought-out game plan that can help you obtain your goals as effectively as possible. This includes making a list of your target business schools. One of the first tasks you’ll need to tackle is school selection: strategically choosing which schools to apply to, while considering how your experience and stats compare to those of current students (or, how “competitive” your application will be at each program). How many MBA Read more

Pre-MBA courses offer applicants a chance to bolster their academic records, prepare for the rigor of business school and more. As you prepare for the MBA admissions process, you might want to consider whether you should undertake additional undergraduate-level coursework before you apply. Who Should Take Additional Pre-MBA Courses? There are two reasons that it might benefit a candidate to complete additional coursework as part of their MBA application strategy. If your undergraduate transcript is devoid of quantitative coursework, the admissions committee might be concerned about the lack of data points as they assess whether you’re prepared for an MBA Read more

Many successful MBA applicants face the enviable – but often agonizing — decision of choosing between programs. Though we know that those of you in this position will already be juggling an overwhelming amount of information about the schools on your short lists, we wanted to offer a few pointers to consider as you identify and evaluate the most important facts and factors in choosing between business schools. Immerse yourself. Due to COVID-19, business schools moved most of their admissions events and student chats online. However, some have started welcoming visitors back to campus. If you have not yet participated Read more

U.S. News will release their MBA Rankings for 2019 on Tuesday, March 20, 2018. For those of you currently navigating the admissions process, we thought it would be timely to look at rankings and the value they provide for MBA candidates.  So how can b-school applicants use rankings to discover the “best” schools—for them?  Read on for 5 key tips… U.S. News is one of many organizations that rank top MBA Programs, the list also includes BusinessWeek, the Financial Times and the Economist. However, because business schools receive different rankings depending on the sources’ criteria, it can be difficult to understand Read more

This is the second in a two-part series on MBA application strategy. In case you missed the first, check it out here. In terms of application strategy, one of the biggest questions prospective MBA applicants wrestle with is whether to apply in Round 1 or Round 2 to the school they most want to attend. As you might imagine, based on our years of advising applicants to top-tier business schools, Clear Admit has some thoughts on the matter. Overall, if you are an outstanding candidate and have had adequate time to prepare your candidacy, then you should apply as part of Read more

As November has transitioned to December we have now reached ‘decision season’ for R1 applicants. By the third week of December the majority of leading programs will have released MBA admissions decisions for candidates who applied during Round 1. INSEAD and London Business School were first out of the gate several days ago, and Chicago Booth is scheduled to release its decisions on Thursday, December 8, after which we will hear from a host of top schools in rapid succession. Accordingly, MBA LiveWire should witness a significant increase in activity over the next few weeks, as candidates share Read more

With Round One already under way for a number of programs, it’s the time of year when many applicants are working hard on their application essays and learning more about their target programs in the process of rounding out their “why are you pursuing an MBA/why [insert school name here]” discussions. Keeping this important component of the MBA admissions process in mind, we wanted to take the time today to offer some advice on how to polish this element of one’s file and get the most mileage out of this section. MBA Admissions is Personal Schools look for applicants who seem Read more

As Round 1 deadlines approach, applicants are coming to understand that applying to business school is an incredibly demanding process. In addition to taking the GMAT, assembling academic transcripts and providing recommendation letters, candidates are required to draft multiple essays, job descriptions, lists of activities and more. With the obvious incentive to save time wherever possible, it’s understandable that many applicants simply cut and paste content from an existing resume and write about their work in the manner that comes most naturally. However, in doing so, countless candidates each year assemble their materials without ever asking a Read more

With August soon approaching, it’s the time of year when many applicants are beginning to work on their application essays and learning more about their target programs in the process of rounding out their “why are you pursuing an MBA/why [insert school name here]?” discussions. Keeping this important component of the MBA admissions process in mind, we wanted to take the time today to offer some advice on how to convince the MBA admissions committee of your love for them and get the most mileage out of this section. MBA Admissions is Personal Schools look for applicants who seem genuinely excited about Read more

Recently, 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, as well as the advice that the adcom member provides, may be added to your file and come to bear on your candidacy next year. Taking Read more

With Round 2 results out, many candidates are now making their final decisions regarding which school to attend. We have seen an increase in decisions recently posted to MBA DecisionWire. As such, we’re dedicating this week’s admissions tip to help applicants remember what’s important when it comes to making that final decision regarding which school to attend. An MBA Degree Is A Means To An End The MBA is designed to help you accelerate or redirect your career. With that in mind it is important to select the program that will best serve your career aspirations. Examining the career reports of the schools to Read more

U.S. News is scheduled to release its rankings on Wednesday; late last week it teased out the top ten for that ranking (in alphabetical order). We decided to run a contest to allow candidates to predict the order of that top 10, the winner will be announced on Thursday. That all being said, we thought it would be timely to look at rankings and the value they provide for MBA candidates in the admissions process; how b-school applicants can use rankings to discover the “best” schools—for them. U.S. News is one of many organizations that rank top MBA Read more

Is it worth applying to business school in Round 3 or any of the late rounds? This is the question that MBA applicants have asked time and time again. With final round deadlines roughly a month away, we thought it would be worth exploring this topic in detail. Why Do Schools Have a Final Round? Why do schools bother to have a final round of admissions when the acceptance rate is typically so low? Why not just have two rounds of admissions deadlines and call it a day? Before we write off the final round or suggest that it should Read more

With MBA interview invitations from a number of programs already on their way out to Round Two applicants, and more anticipated in the days ahead (Harvard Business School will release its first batch of interview invites on Wednesday, January 27), we wanted to offer some advice on this element of the admissions process. The following are some steps one can take to prepare for the interview itself. Know what to expect. This might go without saying, but MBA interview types and duration vary across programs. For instance, nearly all invited Stanford applicants interview with alumni, while on-campus Wharton interviews Read more

Over the last couple of weeks the majority of leading programs have released MBA admissions decisions for candidates who applied during Round 1. Some programs even released decisions for their Round 2 candidates. MBA LiveWire has witnessed incredible activity as candidates shared their results. It is now time for many of our readers to start making decisions again, to select from one of the programs in which they were admitted (if they were fortunate to have multiple offers), or to submit additional applications in the coming rounds, with many deadlines in early January. This post examines the factors candidates Read more

For those of you planning to submit applications in Round 2, time is moving forward. In about one month, the majority of leading MBA programs will have their Round 2 deadlines, all squashed into about a week of the calendar. To make sure you are not caught by the rush of New Year applications, now is a good time to take stock of where you are at in the process, and commit to a timeline for the next month which, for many, will include some holiday celebrations. At this point you should have selected the schools to which you Read more

For many applicants who have applied in Round 1, now is a time of great stress and uncertainty that is likely testing your patience. This is because any of the following scenarios might apply to you: You have been denied by schools without the opportunity to interview You have interviews scheduled with schools, but not yet completed You have completed interviews with schools and are awaiting a decision You have been told that your file is competitive but will be pushed into R2 for further review (a sort of mid-season waiting list, if you will) And of course, many of Read more

For those of you who applied in Round 1, your applications are now submitted and you are ideally hearing from some of your target schools regarding interview invites. You should be feeling good about all the work you put in and are perhaps even a bit excited about any upcoming interview opportunities, but something is nagging at you. Ever since you clicked ‘submit’ in the online applications, you feel you now have less control over the process. As one applicant put it: “It’s like a black hole, an emptiness – you race to submit everything and have all this energy Read more

With MBA interview invitations from a number of programs already on their way out to Round One applicants, we wanted to offer some more advice on this element of the admissions process. Last week we posted some very basic etiquette information that will help candidates ensure that everything is in order on the big day. Today, we turn our attention to some steps one can take to prepare for the interview itself. Know what to expect.  This might go without saying, but MBA interview types and duration vary across programs. For instance, nearly all invited Stanford applicants interview with alumni, while on-campus Wharton interviews Read more

As many of our readers are aware, MBA recommendation letters are a central part of the application process. We would like to take a look at how to handle the snags that often arise for applicants in unique employment situations. The applicant who is most likely to have trouble finding a suitable recommender is either self-employed or works in his or her family’s business. First, self-employed entrepreneurs by their very nature do not have a direct supervisor.  Similarly, an applicant who works for the family business may have trouble finding a non-related supervisor, or someone who can Read more

Over the last months, we’ve focused on helping applicants prepare to answer the various questions they’ll be posed during their interviews, but there is one in particular to which we have not paid much attention.  Today, we wanted to offer a few tips in navigating the nearly inevitable interview finisher: “Do you have any questions for me?” This seems like a harmless inquiry, and indeed poses a great opportunity, but there’s actually a fine line to walk here.  You certainly want to take advantage of this opportunity to show the interviewer that you appreciate his or her time, perspective and knowledge.  In determining what to ask, however, you need to avoid those questions to which you could easily find an answer on the school’s website (remember that it’s imperative that you show you’ve done your homework), as well as those that are so specific or obscure that they will stump the interviewer.  Another sort of question to avoid are those that seem to be critical of the program or too concerned with other applicants; now is not the time to ask about application volume or the strength of the pool this year. Read more

In addition to actively evaluating the applications of Round Two applicants at this time of year, many top programs revisit their Round One waitlists and consider the strength of those individuals with respect to the new information about the pool.  While schools vary in their receptivity to correspondence from applicants, those programs that do welcome additional materials offer a great chance for waitlisted candidates to reaffirm their interest in the school and keep themselves fresh in the mind of the adcom. With the second-round notification dates for a number schools coming up in a matter of weeks, we wanted to offer some tips to students who have been waitlisted at such correspondence-friendly programs while there’s still some time to tip the balance in their favor. Read more