USC / Marshall MBA News

The USC Marshall School of Business full-time MBA Class of 2022 profile is an example of how the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic are not always apparent on the surface. While this year’s incoming students numbered 217—nearly identical to the 2019 class size—the student demographics are far different. Here are some key elements of the profile: USC MBA Class Profile: Undergraduate Background Average Undergraduate GPA 3.55 Percent majoring in arts, humanities, social sciences 29% Percent majoring in science, technology, engineering, and math 17% Percent majoring in business 33% USC Marshall Class of Read more

I was interviewed by Elaine. Very similar experience as what has been reported here. She was very nice, and the interview was casual and straightforward. The questions she asked me took about 15 min, then I filled up the remaining time with questions to ask her. I would prepare 5 – 7 questions to save for the end. She was happy to hear that I had connected with current students, so definitely try to do that prior to interviewing. Questions: Tell me about your undergrad/ Why did you choose your undergrad major? Resume walk through. Why MBA? Read more

As others have already written, the interview was very laid-back and casual. Elaine was very kind and started with some small talk, which put me at ease. The questions were exactly as others have already posted, very straight-forward: resume walk-through, why MBA, why Marshall, what are you most proud of?, what do you do in your free time?, do you have any questions for me? The questions she asked only lasted about 15 minutes and the rest of the time was spent with me asking her my questions. It was a very positive experience! Read more

Let’s get ready to… fundraaaaaaaise!  The MBA Battle Royale, a virtual game show featuring students from leading business schools, will raise funds for Doctors Without Borders this Saturday, May 16th at 8 p.m. EST.  Tickets are on sale now for $12, $25, $50 or however much more you’d like to donate—100 percent of proceeds go to Doctors Without Borders.  If you purchase a ticket, expect a link and password to the Zoom event shortly before it begins this weekend. Support Your School and Watch the Fun MBA Battle Royale Participation Tracker by LeverEdge Read more

The U.S. News & World Report Best Business Schools rankings are out and there are a few surprises, especially within the top 10.  For those of you who have yet to see our announcement of the ranking, the top 25 schools in this year’s edition (with last year’s rankings included for reference) are as follows: School 2021 Rank 2020 Rank Stanford University 1 (tie) 2 University of Pennsylvania (Wharton) 1 (tie) 1 Northwestern University (Kellogg) 3 (tie) 6 University of Chicago (Booth) 3 (tie) 3 Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Sloan) 5 3 Read more

While Wharton held the #1 spot of the Best Business Schools list from U.S. News & World Report last year, it is now joined by Stanford GSB at the top of the 2021 rankings. Northwestern Kellogg shot up three spaces to join Chicago Booth at #3.  Then, MIT Sloan rounds out the top 5.  Harvard Business School, which usually appears in the top 5 of any b-school ranking, Read more

Interviewer: Elaine Padilla Questions: 1. Tell me about your undergrad (I think this was just the ice breaker, because we then chatted about the state I live in) 2. Why did you choose your undergrad major? 3. Walk me through your resume 4. (She was referring to the ECs on my resume) What is the most meaningful EC you’ve done on this list? 5. What are 3 things your peers would say about you? 6. What is your weakness? 7. What type of person are you on a team? Do you step up? Read more

Tune into another podcast episode of Wire Taps, in which Clear Admit’s admissions experts offer advice on the MBA application and decision-making processes.  Graham Richmond and Alex Brown review profiles of prospective MBA applicants as well as an admitted candidate. This week, they dig into three entries from MBA ApplyWire and MBA DecisionWire, including an MBA hopeful who applied to five schools with a 317 GRE. They also advise a prospective applicant who needs to compensate for a low GPA. Read more

We head to sunny California for our latest profiles in Real Humans: MBA Students. The University of Southern California’s Marshall School of Business boasts both the oldest entrepreneurship program in the U.S. and the first immersive international MBA experience of its kind. They were also the first top-tier MBA program to reach gender parity. Moreover, the USC Trojan brand is a powerful professional asset to both its current students and alumni, making USC Marshall a stand-out choice for MBA education. The 214 members of Read more

List of interview questions: Tell me about yourself. What is something I wouldn’t know about you from just reading your application? Why USC? Why LA? What do you hope to gain from the program? What do you hope to gain academically? What would you contribute to the student body? Why an MBA? Why now? What questions do you have? What else? Anything else? What more? What else are you curious about? What else can I help you uncover about the program? Did you receive your admissions decision? Yes. What did you think of the interview? Very casual. Read more

Since we know some of you may be waiting anxiously in the next few weeks for MBA interview invitations, we wanted to remind you about two key resources that can help you through this busy—and often stressful—time: MBA LiveWire: Live reports from real candidates throughout the admissions process. Find the profiles of other applicants who applied to your target schools. Get live updates of those who have received an interview invitation or an admissions decision. Sort by school, admissions round, and the status of each entry to find the information you’re looking for. MBA Chats: Chat Read more

As MBA hopefuls consider their chances at the leading business schools, many are posting to Clear Admit’s ApplyWire, an admissions tool for feedback on candidacy, school choice and more.  This week, we shine the spotlight on two candidates. The first has some room for improvement with their academic stats while applying to Berkeley / Haas, Columbia, Michigan / Ross, NYU Stern, UCLA Anderson, USC / Marshall, and Yale SOM.  Read on for the details. Resident expert, Alex Brown, took the stage, so to speak: Read more

For busy career professionals who can’t afford to take time off of work or who travel or live away from a world-class university, an Online MBA program is a viable option. The latest programs offer incredible flexibility, rigorous curriculum, and a very comparable experience to an in-person MBA. So, it should be no surprise that the online MBA is growing in popularity exponentially. To better understand the landscape of the online MBA and to follow up on our first piece, The Online MBA: Which Programs Matter?, we reached back out to USC Marshall, UNC Kenan-Flagler, Michigan Ross, Indiana Kelley, and CMU Tepper. They allowed us to pick their collective brains even further to unravel the mystery around the online MBA. Read more

As you may have heard, the Dean of the Wharton School, Geoff Garrett, is leaving for the USC Marshall School of Business next year.  After Penn announced the news, Garrett also reached out to bid farewell to alumni. Penn Announces Garrett’s Departure with High Praise Earlier this month, Penn President Amy Gutmann and Provost Wendell Pritchett released the following statement about Garrett’s departure: “We write to inform you that Dean Geoff Garrett will be leaving Penn at the end of the 2019-20 academic year to become Dean of the USC Marshall School of Business, starting July 1, 2020. Read more

While many business school hopefuls are just starting their maiden run of MBA applications, there is another group dusting themselves off from last year’s rejections and tackling the admissions process once again: re-applicants.  As we’ll see in this post to MBA DecisionWire, this MBA applicant is not the only one who had to re-apply to garner admission. After identifying target programs… …the candidate explained what happened with each program, including U. Chicago Booth, CMU / Tepper, Dartmouth / Tuck, Duke / Fuqua, Michigan / Ross, Northwestern / Kellogg, UVA / Darden: Read more

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to earn your MBA online? We wanted to take an in-depth look at the advantages of an Online MBA program and what it looks like to complete your graduate business education online—how long it will take, what activities will be available to you, and how it will enhance your career. To that effect, we interviewed the admissions staff at some of the top brick and mortar business schools with leading Online MBA programs: CMU Tepper, Indiana Kelley, Michigan Ross, UNC Kenan-Flagler, and USC Marshall. Here’s what we learned. Read more

In this MBA DecisionWire Spotlight, which highlights MBA candidates’ choices as shared in Clear Admit’s DecisionWire, we take a closer look at a candidate interested in tech and accepted to Georgetown / McDonough and USC / Marshall. The candidate laid out their situation: Initial comments brought up relative brand strength: Read more

Last fall, USC Marshall became the first top-tier MBA program to reach gender parity with the full-time MBA Class of 2020 having as many women as men. It was a massive 20-point percentage increase from the previous year when women made up just 32 percent of the class. Now that almost a year has gone by, we wanted to reach back out to USC Marshall to see how reaching gender parity has affected this year’s class, the new recruiting season, the business marketplace, and more. To gain insight into what’s happening at the school, we spoke with Evan Bouffides, assistant dean and director of MBA admissions, as well as Mark J. Brostoff, the assistant dean and director of graduate career services. They both offered unique perspectives on the impact of gender parity on USC Marshall. Read 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 MBA News You Need digest for the week of April 1, 2019. Read more

As reported here this morning, the Wharton School has claimed the number one spot—for the first time on its own—of the U.S. News and World Report 2020 rankings of full-time MBA programs. Before we get to other noteworthy shifts and positions, here’s a quick rundown of this year’s top 10, in order of their 2020 rank (2019 rank in parentheses): Read more

Women comprise the majority of students who earn graduate degrees—except when it comes to MBAs.  While  Forté Foundation reported that women’s enrollment at full-time MBA programs reached 38 percent on average in 2018, the figure hovered closer to 30 percent women on average just a few years ago. The absence of women in MBA programs ricochets out into the boardrooms, as women hold far fewer positions of power within the business world than men. MBA programs have recognized this problem and begun making efforts to change the narrative. Although some programs like Northwestern Kellogg (46 percent), Dartmouth Read more

The following USC Marshall MBA interview report with questions was submitted to Clear Admit by a Round 2 applicant. Interviewer: Elaine Padilla Tell me about your job. She asked lots of details about my job because I have a non-conventional background: R&D in clinical diagnostics Why MBA / What do you hope to get out of your MBA? Goals Why Marshall Three attributes your coworkers will say about you Something people don’t know about you Hobbies Any questions for me? Read more

2018 was a big year for female MBA students. According to the latest membership school data from the Forté Foundation, women’s enrollment at full-time MBA programs reached 38 percent on average. In addition, one Forté school reached gender parity (50 percent male/female enrollment) for the first time, and more than one-third of schools reached 40 percent enrollment. “While the number of Fortune 500 women CEOs has declined in the last year, it’s heartening to see women’s enrollment in business school continues to increase, albeit at a slower pace than last year,” Elissa Sangster, Forté Foundation CEO, said in a press release. “We continue to aim for 40% women’s enrollment by 2020 at our member schools as an MBA provides an economic mobility engine for women, and helps build the pipeline of women leaders. And countless research shows that having more women in senior leadership improves corporate financial performance.” Read more

The Stanford Graduate School of Business is no stranger to a top spot, but this is their first time claiming #1 on the Bloomberg Businessweek Best B-School list for U.S. programs. There are more familiar faces in the lead, with Wharton holding steady in second and Harvard Business School placing third.  MIT / Sloan and Chicago Booth round out the top five, and then some greater shake-ups hit the standings, such as Berkeley / Haas jumping five spots and UVA / Darden a whopping eight positions. This can be attributed to Bloomberg Businessweek’s change in methodology—which was such a departure from last year’s approach, that they did not even include prior rankings for comparison. Before we dig into our key takeaways, here is a quick glance at this year’s top 10 (with the addition of 2017 rankings in parentheses): Read more

413! That's how many full-tuition scholarships the Consortium for Graduate Study in Management awarded in 2017 to promising MBA applicants through its Consortium Fellows program. The Consortium, a nonprofit organization established in 1966 to increase access for diverse candidates in America, offers merit-based, full-tuition scholarships to any of its 19 member business schools. The Consortium Fellowship is open to MBA applicants with strong academic records who demonstrate a commitment to the Consortium's mission of expanding access for African Americans, Hispanic Americans, and Native Americans in American business. Since its founding, the Consortium has awarded more than $390 million in scholarships. But in addition to covered scholarship dollars, Consortium Fellows also benefit from recruitment events, webinars and chats, networking opportunities, and more. The Consortium's October 15th early application deadline is fast approaching, so don't miss today's post covering everything you need to know about the application process. The regular application deadline to apply to the Consortium is January 5, 2019. Inside the Consortium Application Process The representation of minority students in MBA programs has long been an area of concern. Though African Americans account for 12 percent of the U.S. population and 10 percent of bachelor’s degree earners, they make up only 8 percent of people who sat for the GMAT in 2015. For Hispanic Americans the numbers are even lower: They comprise 17 percent of the U.S. population, but only 10 percent of bachelor’s degree earners and 7 percent of GMAT examinees, according to Understanding Underrepresented Populations in the Business School Pipeline, a research report produced by the Graduate Management Admission Council. Fortunately, groups like the Consortium for Graduate Study in Management are working to change this reality. The Consortium is a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping more underrepresented minority candidates earn an MBA degree and become corporate leaders. It does this by providing access to merit-based, full-tuition fellowships, recruitment events, webinars and chats, networking opportunities, and more. Think of the Consortium as a thriving network of leading graduate schools, corporate partners (including Fortune 500 companies), MBA students and alumni (9,000 total), government agencies, and entrepreneurial ventures. With the first application deadline for the Consortium approaching on October 15th, we wanted to cover the details of applying. The Consortium typically recruits a class of 400 students each academic year, asking that those who apply demonstrate a commitment to increasing the ranks of African Americans, Hispanic Americans, and Native Americans in business education and corporate leadership. You do not have to be an underrepresented minority yourself to apply, just committed to the Consortium vision. Read more