Application Tips

You’ve got your grades and (maybe) your test scores. You’ve put in the time and effort at work, and have accomplishments and skills to show for it. You’re active and involved in your community, however you define it. You have the raw materials. So how do you put them together into a compelling MBA application? Join us for our Application Overview Event Series to get answers to just that question! We’re hosting two events next month – on May 5th & May 12th @ 12pm ET (both Wednesdays) – each with representatives from five leading business schools. We’ll start with 60-minute roundtable panel. Read more

Sponsored Content  Two women very familiar with what it takes to be successful in MBA admissions, particularly at HEC Paris, offer advice on each stage of the admissions process at the leading program. The HEC Paris MBA Director of Marketing, Sara Vanos, and a star MBA applicant, Kendra Bills, share their experiences in this special feature. Sara Vanos (left) & Kendra Bills (right) Sara Vanos joined HEC Paris in 2014, following her roles in MBA recruiting at Toronto Rotman. Sara currently serves as the Director of Marketing, Recruitment and Sales across the MBA programs at Read more

As a college senior or graduate student, your path up until this point has likely been laid out relatively clearly for years—course schedules, weekly assignments, credit requirements, etc.  Now, with graduation finally in sight, what will be your next step?  What will you need to thrive in a global economy—not to mention, adapt to the ups and downs of one?  Deferred enrollment MBA programs offer the ideal mix of real-world experience and advanced management education to give you greater freedom in your career choice, increased salary potential and more.  For deferred enrollment, you secure your acceptance to business school now, Read more

Through the toughest of times, business education can provide answers and solutions that not only heal economies, but uplift societies.  The skills offered through an MBA—from finance and analytics, to leadership, management and more—can also empower you to be nimble in times of uncertainty, and prepare you for any business career of your choice. The journey to and through an MBA begins with reflection: Personally or professionally, what is your destination?  An MBA can help you develop your skills, provide freedom in your job and career choice, and expand your network.  Due to COVID-19, many MBA programs have extended Read more

The Duke Fuqua School of Business admissions team recently hosted a chat on Clear Admit about all things Round 3.  Read on for admissions advice, tips and more from Allison Jamison, the assistant dean of admissions; Meghan Pollard, Sr. associate director of admissions; Morgan Griffin, assistant director of admissions; and Jessica Brown, associate director of admissions.  The chat transcript has been edited for clarity and content. What are the chances for an international applicant in Round 3? We admit international students in every round including Round 3. We look forward to receiving your application! As with Read more

The list of requirements for MBA admissions can be extensive—test scores, recommendations, essays and, of course, work experience.  College seniors and graduate students may be well on their way to checking off all the boxes for an application to business school, but missing that final piece of full-time professional work experience. Enter: Deferred enrollment MBA programs. If you are a college senior or graduate student without work experience, you can apply to leading business schools through their deferred enrollment MBA programs.  These offerings allow students to enroll two to five years after they graduate from school, Read more

Yale SOM is one of the most sought after business schools in the world that any MBA candidate should consider, but what is Yale looking for in a candidate?  Join us for this free chat with representatives from Yale SOM to learn more about what Yale SOM looks for in a candidate! Whether you are already considering Yale or just want to learn more, this chat gives you unparalleled access to the Yale SOM team to get an inside look of what types of candidates they look for.  Get your questions answered on August 22nd right here on clearadmit.com! Read more

Are you planning on applying to The Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth this admissions season? If so, it may be helpful to know that they have made some exciting innovations to the application process. We’ve just made the “A Walk Through the Tuck Application” webinar we conducted with Valeria Wiens, Associate Director, Evaluation / Admissions & Financial Aid & Lesley Nesbitt, Associate Director, Yield with the Tuck MBA Admissions Team available online – and we highly recommend that you give it a listen as it brings valuable insight into applying to tuck! The webinar covered: What a Tuck MBA Read more

The Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth’s MBA Application for Round One has a deadline on October 7th.  Are you planning on applying in Round One?  If so, this session will be beneficial to you as Amy Mitson, Director of Admissions, Recruitment & Marketing at Tuck will be discussing 5 tips she has to prepare you for Round One applications. Join Clear Admit and Tuck for a free chat about some of the tips and best advice for filling out the Tuck MBA Application.  Whether you’re planning on applying or just beginning to consider an MBA and wonder Read more

As the new admissions season kicks off, we know many of you are thinking about crafting essays, filling out data forms, and perfecting your résumés. Before you do anything else, check out the latest episode in the Clear Admit MBA Admissions Podcast series, which tackles the written components of the MBA application head on. Clear Admit’s Alex Brown Our guest this week is Clear Admit’s own Alex Brown, who worked for several years as part of the admissions team at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School. He’s also the Read more

Moving right along in our new series, MBA Admissions Brief, we hear from Chad Losee (HBS MBA 2013), the Managing Director of MBA Admissions and Financial Aid at Harvard Business School. HBS Managing Director of Admissions and Financial Aid Chad Losee Losee knows what it’s like to be on the applicant side of the process, having gone through it himself not too long ago.  Moreover, he has a storied history with the school and passion for education that shines through his professional choices.  After a couple of years at the management consulting firm Bain & Company, he headed to HBS— inspired by MBAs from Bain & Co, drawn to the case study method. While on campus, he volunteered as an admissions ambassador and spent the summer between his first and second MBA years working as an associate in the office of former HBS Dean Kim Clark.  Upon graduating HBS, he spent a year working as a fellow for HBS Dean Nitin Nohria. The latter post was initially intended to be a few months, but stretched into a full year as a leadership fellow and later assistant director of HBX (now known as Harvard Business School Online). He also sat on the HBS Board of Admissions during that time, providing an up-close look at what became his every day in May of 2016. Over the past three years heading up admissions at HBS, he’s helped shaped the exceptional classes, overseen a shift to two admissions rounds, welcomed an inaugural cohort of MS/MBA students and taken the time to talk to Clear Admit about interviews, financial aid and more—to mention just a few. Read on for Losee's insights into HBS, their admissions and what actions applicants can start taking now. Read more

Looking to get an early start on your MBA applications for the 2019-2020 application season? Clear Admit’s Co-Founder Graham Richmond outlines a 12-step program for early bird MBA applicants in this podcast. By getting the ball rolling this far in advance, you’re already setting yourself up for success. Richmond’s suggested steps can help ensure that you stay on track and take full advantage of your great head start. Clear Admit MBA Admissions Podcast Episode 11 Replay: Clear Admit's 12-Step Program for Early Bird MBA Applicants Play Episode Pause Episode Mute/Unmute Episode Rewind 10 Seconds Read more

Laurel Grodman, Managing Director of Admissions, Analytics and Evaluation, and Bruce DelMonico, Assistant Dean for Admissions at Yale SOM Have you applied to the Yale School of Management or are you planning to apply?  You may be wondering about that something extra in your Yale SOM application checklist—the Behavioral Assessment.  The admissions team implemented this new, innovative tool to help them bring together a strong MBA class.  To get the skinny on what the Behavioral Assessment is and how it’s being used in the Yale SOM admissions process, we caught up with Laurel Grodman, managing director of admissions, analytics and evaluation, and Bruce DelMonico, assistant dean for admissions.  Read on for in-depth insights from Laurel and Bruce regarding how this tool plays a part in your MBA admissions experience. Could you start by explaining what the Behavioral Assessment is and how it now fits into the Yale School of Management MBA admissions process? The Behavioral Assessment is an online admissions tool that measures a set of interpersonal and intrapersonal competencies associated with business school success.  It’s administered by the research division of ETS, and takes about 20 to 25 minutes for an applicant to complete.  The test itself is a forced-choice module, in which you are given 120 pairs of statements and you have to choose the statement that is more like your own behavior.  You don’t need to do anything in advance to prepare for the assessment, nor does it require any specialized knowledge or information. Read more

If you're preparing for a Round 2 MBA admissions interview, we wanted to remind Class of 2020 hopefuls that Clear Admit can help with the final hurdle to acceptance: the interview. The Clear Admit Interview Archive is a repository of first-hand accounts shared directly by MBA applicants after they have interviewed with one or more of their target top-tier business schools. The details shared in these reports—from the questions asked to what the applicant would do differently if he or she had it to do over—provide invaluable information as you prepare for your interviews. Read more

The MBA Tour North America: MBA & Business Master’s Conferences Our friends over at the MBA Tour are back on the road again. Meet University of Southern California, Boston University, University of Cambridge, IESE, HEC Montréal, & more top Business Programs! Join them in a city near you: Los Angeles: Saturday, January 26 San Francisco: Monday, January 28 Boston: Wednesday, Read more

Do you need help preparing for your MBA interviews? Clear Admit’s experts are here to give you advice and tips to be successful at navigating the admissions process. On Wednesday, November 7, we aired our interactive webinar “How to Prepare for MBA Interviews,” hosted by Alex Brown, Clear Admit’s long-time admissions expert and author of Becoming a Clear Admit: The Definitive Guide. The webinar covers: Different types of interviews that business schools conduct and why understanding each interview type matters for candidates. Nuances that exist across alumni, admissions committee and student-led interviews. A break down of the five most common MBA admissions interview 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

In the MBA admissions world, this week holds some of the first application deadlines for candidates looking to apply to business school for the 2019-20 academic year. Completed applications for early action at IESE were due in by Tuesday, Harvard Business School (HBS) Round 1 applications were due yesterday, and the deadline for the new Early Action round at UVA’s Darden School is tomorrow. Applications for the earliest rounds at Oxford’s Saïd Business School and Cambridge’s Judge Business School are also due tomorrow. Things are Read more

Are you planning on applying in Round One?  Clear Admit’s experts are here to give you advice and tips to be successful at navigating the admissions process. We’ve just completed both parts of our two-part webinar series available online – and we highly recommend that you watch and listen to it as it provides valuable insight into acing your Round One applications! The webinar covers: Identifying your target schools How to correctly fill in data forms The best advice for preparing your references for the recommendation forms Final touches to the application Preparing for the interview Making the decision on where to enroll Read more

With Round 1 deadlines looming, we know many of you are hard at work crafting essays, filling out data forms, and perfecting your resumes. Before you do anything else, check out the latest episode in the Clear Admit MBA Admissions Podcast series, which tackles the written components of the MBA application head on. Clear Admit’s Alex Brown Our guest this week is Clear Admit’s own Alex Brown, who worked for several years as part of the admissions team at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School. He’s also the author of Becoming a Clear Admit: The Read more

HBS Managing Director of Admissions and Financial Aid Chad Losee Earlier this summer, Harvard Business School (HBS) Managing Director of Admissions and Financial Aid Chad Losee let us know that he would be starting a summer blog series filled with application tips. He planned to share from his personal experience and tackle different elements of the application in each blog. The goal: to clear up any misconceptions applicants may have. As promised, he kicked off the series in early July, devoting one of his first posts to providing clear, no-nonsense advice about how to complete the Read more

Are you planning on applying to The Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth this admissions season? If so, it may be helpful to know that they have made some exciting innovations to the application process. We’ve just made the “A Walk Through the Tuck Application” webinar we conducted with Kristin Roth, Tuck’s Associate Director of Admissions, available online – and we highly recommend that you give it a listen as it brings valuable insight into applying to tuck! The webinar covered: What a Tuck MBA Candidate looks like How to navigate the application process at Tuck The best advice for taking on the 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 efficiently and effectively as possible. One of the first challenges you’ll face is school selection—strategically choosing which schools to target, bearing in mind the competitive mix of those schools.    In recent years, MBA applicants appear to be trending downward in terms of the total number of schools to which they apply. Research we have undertaken on data Read more

The Michigan Ross School of Business MBA application for fall 2018 is now live! MBA candidates can start applying ASAP, and for the most part, it’s the same as last year. However, there are a few notable changes and things that applicants should be aware of before they start the application process. Soojin Kwon, managing director full-time MBA admissions and program, outlined the changes and a few other general tips in a post on the Ross MBA Admissions blog earlier this week. Here’s what you need to know. Read more

Clear Admit had the pleasure of sitting down with Harvard Business School (HBS) Managing Director of Admissions and Financial Aid Chad Losee a few weeks ago when we were in Boston for the annual Graduate Management Admission Council conference. Losee shared then his plans to launch an Application Tips series on his blog. True to his word, he kicked things off earlier this month. HBS Managing Director of Admissions and Financial Aid Chad Losee “When July hits, I know from personal experience that applying starts to feel ‘real’ when you are planning to apply to HBS in Round Read more