Posts by Jonathan Pfeffer

About

Jonathan Pfeffer joined the Clear Admit and MetroMBA teams in 2015 after spending several years as an arts/culture writer, editor, and radio producer. In addition to his role as Contributing Writer at MetroMBA and Contributing Editor at Clear Admit, he was also a co-founder of the Clear Admit MBA Admissions Podcast. He holds a BA in Film/Video, Ethnomusicology, and Media Studies from Oberlin College.

Published: September 9, 2018

What Do Employers Want from MBAs? Financial Times Employer Survey Finds Out

The Financial Times recently published the results of its second annual survey of top employers regarding the skills they think are most important when recruiting for MBA talent—as well as those that are hardest to find. According to the Financial Times employer survey published last week, these are the top five most important skills among business school graduates: The ability to work in a team The ability to work with a wide variety of people The ability to solve complex problems The ability to build, sustain, and expand a network of people Time management and the ability to prioritize As for Read more

Published: September 7, 2018

MBA News You Need: HBS Welcomes First Joint MS/MBA Class, Chicago Booth Students Highlight Courses, LBS Announces Real Innovation Award Nominees, and More

Each week we collect all the MBA news that’s fit to print and provide a quick overview of the latest trending topics from top business schools around the world. Here’s your quick MBA News You Need digest for the week of September 5, 2018. HBS Welcomes Inaugural MS/MBA Class Students from Harvard Business School (HBS)’s new joint two-year MS/MBA program kicked off their first-year courses at HBS following an intensive System Engineering course. In a blog post, HBS Managing Director of Admissions and Financial Aid Chad Losee praised the “talent and diversity of backgrounds we have represented in the Read more

Published: September 6, 2018

Fridays from the Frontline: Leslie Clift Hruby, Trailblazer Who Brought More Women to MIT Sloan

Fridays from the Frontline Sloan Women in Management (SWIM), an organization at MIT Sloan School of Management that “works to increase opportunities for all women through networking events, speaker series, professional development workshops, and mentorship programs,” recently honored alumna Leslie Clift Hruby, SM ’73. SWIM paid tribute to Hruby for her pioneering efforts to promote “gender diversity in MBA programs in the mid- 70s by helping Sloan become one of the most gender diverse programs in the United States.” According to Hruby’s Linkedin profile, she “increased the number of women attending the MIT Sloan School of Read more

Published: September 4, 2018

Berkeley Haas Welcomes Record Number of MBA Students in Incoming Class of 2020

Last week, UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business unveiled stats for the incoming students that comprise its full-time MBA Class of 2020. At 291 full-time students (along with 276 evening and weekend students), the Haas Class of 2020 is larger than any before, even as it remains one of the smallest classes among the world’s elite business schools. It is also one of the most academically accomplished classes in the school’s history. Average GPA for this year’s first-year class is 3.66, off just .05 from last year’s. But an increase in average GMAT offset the tiny Read more

Published: August 30, 2018

Fridays from the Frontline: Calculating the MBA’s Return on Investment

Fridays from the Frontline Marjorie DeGraca, executive director of admissions for Berkeley MBA Programs for Working Professionals Before officially taking the plunge, many prospective b-schoolers no doubt spent many late nights perusing the Clear Admit archives to weigh the pros and cons of pursuing an MBA. It’s practically an age-old pastime at this point. While the value of elite programs is undisputable when it comes to networks, prestige/social capital, and of course the world-class skills you accrue, none of those dividends come cheap. In fact, many of the real rewards of an MBA can be difficult to quantify. What is Read more

Published: August 29, 2018

Incoming Johnson Cornell MBA Class of 2020 Features More Women and URMs, Fewer International Students

The MBA Class of 2020 kicked off the fall semester in style earlier this month at Cornell’s Johnson Graduate School of Management. To formally welcome the new recruits to the Cornell community, Johnson Business Feed published a comprehensive class profile, shedding light on the students who make up the incoming class. There are 280 students in the incoming students (up just slightly from last year’s 277), and they boast an average GMAT score of 699 and an average undergrad GPA of 3.4. That’s pretty similar to the Class of 2019, where average GMAT score was Read more

Published: August 29, 2018

MBA News You Need: Wharton and INSEAD Renew Strategic Alliance, Georgetown Institutes Receive $1 Million BoA Grant to Fund Women’s Economic Mobility Initiatives, and More

Each week we collect all the MBA news that’s fit to print and provide a quick overview of the latest trending topics from top business schools around the world. Here’s your quick MBA News You Need digest for the week of August 29, 2018. Wharton, INSEAD Renew Strategic Alliance Through June 2021 Thomas S. Robertson, Whaton professor and executive director of the Wharton-INSEAD Alliance (left) and Gavin Cassar, research director of the INSEAD-Wharton Alliance at INSEAD Wharton and INSEAD, two of the most esteemed business schools in the world, recently announced a renewal Read more

Published: August 26, 2018

Wharton Rolls Out Welcome Mat for MBA Class of 2020

With students in Wharton’s MBA Class of 2020 now settled in on campus, Wharton Deputy Vice Dean Maryellen Reilly took to the school’s MBA Admissions Blog to welcome the new class and share details about its composition. Though application volume was down, average GMAT score returned to the school’s record high of 732, matching the Class of 2017. “This class is an impressive collection of leaders from all walks of life, backgrounds, nationalities, industry experiences, and ambitions,” Reilly wrote. “These newest members of the Wharton community bring with them a wide-range of perspectives to enrich their shared experiences Read more

Published: August 22, 2018

MBA News You Need: Tuck Launches New Center for Entrepreneurship, Simon Rochester Receives STEM Designation for MBA, LBS Announces New Masters Program in Analytics, and More

Each week we collect all the MBA news that’s fit to print and provide a quick overview of the latest trending topics from top business schools around the world. Here’s your quick MBA News You Need digest for the week of August 22, 2018. These Nine African Startups Are Working Toward a More Inclusive World MIT Sloan recently announced the nine African startup finalists of the Initiative on the Digital Economy’s Inclusive Innovation Challenge, all of which use technology to “reinvent the future of work.” Initiative Director Erik Brynjolfsson writes, “If we employ inclusive innovation globally, Read more

Published: August 9, 2018

Fridays from the Frontline: 5 Lessons from the Field from Kelley MBA Summer Intern at 3M

Fridays from the Frontline Did you scour the Clear Admit archives for any and all advice that might help you narrowly squeeze into a coveted slot at Wharton, Kellogg, Stanford, or another leading business school? If so, and you were successful, it’s now time to start considering the next phase of mission MBA: your summer internship. The internship you land after your first year of business school is as crucial to your career—if not more so—than the MBA program you worked so hard to get into. Beyond the internship’s value as a networking environment and a stepping stone to a Read more

Published: August 2, 2018

Fridays from the Frontline: Ready to Rumble, Olin MBA Student Leaders Form Strategic Plan

Fridays from the Frontline At Olin Business School at Washington University in St. Louis, the Graduate Business Student Association (GBSA) is a three-pronged “governing body that serves students of the full-time MBA program [and] facilitates the planning and implementation of student activities.” In June, the GBSA announced a three-point strategic plan for the upcoming 2018-19 year. The GBSA plan comes on the heels of Olin Dean Mark Taylor’s announcement of a school-wide strategic plan he described as a “catalyst for change” that “sets Olin on a course to realize its full potential.” GBSA President Angela Read more

Published: July 22, 2018

GMAT Score, International Students Both Up for NYU Stern Class of 2020

NYU Stern School of Business last week shared a preliminary profile of its incoming class of full-time, two-year MBA students, the Class of 2020. Even amid some declines, the school showed gains in the diversity of its class and added a few points to the average GMAT score for incoming students. This year saw 3,781 applicants—down from 3,927 for the Class of 2019. Of this year’s applicants, 876 applicants were admitted (23 percent) and 375 enrolled. Last year, 822 applicants were admitted (21 percent), yielding 402 enrolled students. Although the percentage of women dropped slightly year Read more

Published: July 22, 2018

The Lauder Institute’s Joint Degree with Wharton Is the Globally-Focused MBA Program You Need

Sponsored Content Wharton is to business school as Nike is to sportswear—they are synonymous with what they sell…Wharton is one of the consummate elite brands, a marker of success coveted by applicants and employers alike. The 2018 U.S. News & World Report’s Best Business Schools and the Financial Times Global MBA Ranking place Wharton as third in the world while the Economist ranks the Wharton Full-Time MBA program fourth globally. Despite Wharton’s universal acclaim and worldwide prestige, it might be news to some that the MBA program’s offerings Read more

Published: July 19, 2018

Fridays from the Frontline: 3 Ways Marketing at Booth Led to Summer Internship Success

Fridays from the Frontline The opportunity for internships between the first and second years of business school is one of the things that sets full-time two-year MBA programs apart from other degree options. MBA students endeavor to land the best internships they can in fields they want to explore or end up in—recognizing the value of both the experiential learning and the opportunity to make an early good impression on a future full-time employer. The University of Chicago Booth School of Business has developed a reputation for helping its students not only land coveted internships but handle Read more

Published: July 17, 2018

3 Myths About Student Loans – Debunked!

Sponsored Content Whether you’re taking out student loans for yourself or for your child, odds are that you’ve heard a lot of fact and fiction about the process. Here are three of the most popular misconceptions around taking out student loans. Myth #1: Interest Starts Accruing Immediately Once You’ve Booked a Loan Interest on your student loan won’t actually start accruing until after your school disburses the funds. Schools determine their loan disbursement date(s)—which are often before the first semester begins—so check with your financial aid office as this will be the date on which interest will start to accrue, and not Read more

Published: July 16, 2018

Summer Reading: 10 Not-to-Miss Biographies of Great Business Leaders

For successful admits in the most recent MBA admissions cycle, the date to arrive on campus at business school is fast approaching. If you’re looking for ways to spend your remaining summer leisure time, check out this list of not-to-miss business tycoon biographies. From tech titans like Elon Musk and the late Steve Jobs to the Oracle of Omaha and cosmetics empire entrepreneur Mary Kay Ash, the titles below promise to provide inspiring insights for soon-to-be MBA students of every stripe. 10 Not-to-Miss Biographies of Great Business Leaders Shoe Dog: A Memoir by the Creator Read more

Published: July 12, 2018

Kathleen Hagerty Named Interim Northwestern Kellogg Dean

Following last year’s surprising announcement that Northwestern University Kellogg School of Management dean Sally Blount will step down from her role, provost Jonathan Holloway has announced that Kathleen Hagerty will serve as the interim dean while the school continues its search for a long-term replacement. Blount, one of the only female deans to ever lead an M7 business school, has left behind an extraordinary legacy of fundraising and academic development. Her replacement certainly has big shoes to fill. Holloway believes that Hagerty will do an excellent job in her new position as interim dean. Read more

Published: July 12, 2018

Fridays from the Frontline: Being Human–A Behavioral Guide to the MBA Experience

Fridays from the Frontline To say the cultural and industrial expectations of MBA graduates are demanding would be a massive understatement. MBAs must be shrewd, cunning, even omniscient when it comes to helping companies cope with change and cut through the noise to make better decisions. MBAs are also fallible human beings like the rest of us—perhaps a bit more so since new and unfamiliar situations constantly put their analytical skills to the test. In fact, many of the most complex decisions MBAs have helped companies make are rooted in the inherent volatility that comes with simply being human. Recent Read more

Published: July 9, 2018

World Cup Management Lessons: Yale SOM Deputy Dean on Germany’s Victory and Defeat

Germany came nowhere close to making it into today’s semifinals of the 2018 World Cup, but a Yale School of Management (SOM) deputy dean argues that his native country’s early elimination this year, together with its 2014 victorious finish, both offer important lessons on effective management. Yale SOM Deputy Dean David Bach In jubilation following the German team’s World Cup win four years ago, Yale SOM Deputy Dean David Bach was quick to pen a piece highlighting the ways the victory was a testament to the strength of effective management. He cited five main factors Read more

Published: July 8, 2018

How This Stanford GSB Prof Hopes to Get the VC Industry to Spill Its Secrets

To many outside the business world, venture capitalism (VC) is shrouded in mystery. The general public occasionally gets fleeting glimpses behind the curtain through podcasts like The Pitch, but sometimes these microscopic views only serve to generate more confusion. Stanford Graduate School of Business Professor Ilya Strebulaev founded the Stanford Venture Capital Initiative (SVCI) to help provide some clarity. Given that VC makes up a substantial part of the business and research and development worlds, the fact that so little is known about the industry’s internal mechanisms is disconcerting. The goal of the SVCI is to make Read more

Published: July 5, 2018

Fridays from the Frontline: Preparing for the MBA Experience – 3 Things I Wish I Had Done With My Summer

Fridays from the Frontline For MBA students-to-be, the summer heat can sometimes go hand in hand with some leisure time. While the summer months are certainly useful for students of all stripes to unwind and decompress, this time leading up to the first year of business school also presents a critical opportunity for incoming MBA students to set themselves up for success in and outside the classroom. With that in mind, the Forté Read more

Published: July 1, 2018

Summer Reading: 10 Top Books on Blockchain and Cryptocurrency

Stanford Graduate School of Business, UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business, and the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania are just a few of the leading MBA programs that have been enhancing their course offerings around cryptocurrency in recent months amid increased demand from both current students and recruiters. Stanford launched a new full-time course last month taught by Economics of Technology Professor Susan Athey. Called simply “Cryptocurrency,” the new course was the school’s response to a grassroots campaign by students seeking a continuous offering to complement Read more

Published: June 28, 2018

Fridays from the Frontline: Cornell Business Education—Where the Rubber Meets the Road

Fridays from the Frontline The two-year full-tuition Roy H. Park Fellowship is one of the key ways in which Cornell’s S.C. Johnson Graduate School of Management seeks to build strong leaders. The fellowship is granted each year to “up to 25 full-time Johnson MBA candidates who have demonstrated outstanding leadership potential.” Established in 1997 by the Triad Foundation as part of its mission to carry on the legacy of American entrepreneur Roy H. Park, the Park Fellowship is awarded to outstanding MBA students based Read more

Published: June 24, 2018

Dean Judy Olian Leaves UCLA Anderson

Dean Judy Olian conferred degrees upon graduating MBA students at UCLA Anderson School of Management earlier this month, marking the end of an era. Beginning July 1st, Olian will step into a new role as president of Quinnipiac University. Describing her time at UCLA Anderson as “a privilege and a joy,” Olian addressed the crowd of 800 graduates, family, and friends. “These last 12-plus years at UCLA have been the best years of my life,” she said. The Australian-born Olian studied psychology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and industrial relations at the University of Wisconsin before beginning her Read more

Published: June 21, 2018

Fridays from the Frontline: Q&A with Tuck Student Ambassador Anchit Duggal

Fridays from the Frontline The Tuck Student Ambassador Program is a unique offering that enables second-year students to work closely with Admissions to engage prospective students. According to the program page, each second-year ambassador functions as a regional captain representing Africa, Asia-Pacific, China, Europe, India, Latin America, the Middle East, and North America. Each student ambassador acts as a “liaison between prospective students from their particular region and other ambassadors.” The Tuck 360: MBA Blog recently featured an interview with Tuck Student Ambassador and India Co-Captain Anchit Duggal T’18. The following post has been republished in its Read more

MBA Livewire

November 21, 2024 6:44pm ET

Accepted to Rochester / Simon

Round: Round 1

Received via phone November 21, 2024

GPA: 3.82

Program Type: Traditional Two-Year

Target Career: Operations Management

Application Location: Nigeria

Note:

Application submission was on the 14th of October. Interview was on the 7th of November. Admitted with scholarship.

November 21, 2024 5:41pm ET

Accepted to Rochester / Simon

Round: Round 1

Received via email November 21, 2024

GPA: 7.4/10

GRE: 321

Program Type: Traditional Two-Year

Target Career: Healthcare

Application Location: India

November 21, 2024 4:42pm ET

Accepted to Cornell / Johnson

Round: Round 1

Received via phone November 21, 2024

GPA: 3.16

GMAT: 730

Program Type: Traditional Two-Year

Target Career: Finance

November 21, 2024 4:08pm ET

Accepted to Rochester / Simon

Round: Round 1

Received via phone November 21, 2024

GMAT: 555

Program Type: Traditional Two-Year

November 21, 2024 3:42pm ET

Interview Invite to NYU Stern

Round: Round 1

Received via email on November 03, 2024

GPA: 3.2

GRE: 333

Program Type: Traditional Two-Year

Target Career: Marketing

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