UMD / Smith MBA News

When getting your MBA, it’s easy to get caught up in the herd mentality. With hoards of classmates heading off to meet with top consulting firms or pursuing careers in investment banking, it can be tempting to simply go with the flow. But while many business school students do choose careers in finance or consulting, those industries are not your only options. Tech opportunities are exploding in a big way. In fact, 12 percent of MBAs accepted a job in the industry in 2015, according to the Graduate Management Admission Council’s (GMAC) annual Global Management Education Read more

In response to our readers’ interests, we are excited to have recently added a handful of new schools to the line-up of MBA programs we cover regularly on Clear Admit. The University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business is one of them. As part of our expanded coverage of Smith, we caught up recently with Full-Time MBA Admissions Director Maria Pineda. A 10-year veteran of the Smith School’s admissions office, Pineda worked in undergraduate admissions in New York City before that. “I wanted a change of scenery, so I was initially attracted to the Smith School’s location, with its traditional campus setting nestled next to a metropolitan city,” she says. She’s also a big believer in Dean Alexander Triantis’s vision of cultivating students to experience transformative change and then applying lessons learned to the workforce. Read more

The following U. Maryland / Smith MBA interview report was submitted to Clear Admit by a Round 2 applicant who was admitted. Congratulations to them! I interviewed early January and have since been accepted and awarded 61K in scholarship but thought better late than never in providing feedback. Students were on winter break and for that reason I did not get to get meet with students and in retrospect would like to have interviewed once semester had started up. I interviewed with Adcom. She had read my entire application. We bonded over Brazil my home country and one of her favorite destinations. The Read more

Current female MBA students and alumni have come out in droves this year for the 2015 Forté Foundation MBA Women’s Leadership Conference, taking place now at Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business. Kicking off with a sponsors meeting on Thursday for school and company representatives, followed by a career-focused day of programming yesterday and a day centered around professional development today, the conference this year has welcomed 459 MBA women and alumni, in addition to more than 100 speakers and presenters. For those who don’t know Forté, it is a nonprofit consortium of leading companies and top business schools devoted to launching women into successful business careers. “I think we have pulled together some really interesting topics that a lot people want to hear about,” says Elissa Sangster, Forté Foundation executive director, when asked what contributed to this year’s record attendance. “We are excited to see it all come together.” Read more

The following U. Maryland / Smith MBA interview report was submitted to Clear Admit by a Round 1 applicant who was admitted. Congratulations to them! Recently received the admission decision with $47k scholarship! So I just thought I should share my experience. Following questions were asked: 1. Tell me about yourself, professionally and personally. 2. What are your short term and long term goals. 3. Name 3 things you attribute your success to. 4. How do you motivate a team? 5. What is your brand? 6. What job locations are you looking for post-mba? Read more