MBA Feature

With the 2019-2020 Round 1 and early admissions deadlines on the horizon, many MBA hopefuls are posting to Clear Admit’s ApplyWire, a platform for feedback from our community of top-tier applicants to help inform your final choice of schools and approach to admissions. This week, we take a closer look at an experienced entrepreneur interested in Harvard Business School, MIT Sloan, Stanford GSB, U. Chicago Booth, and UPenn / Wharton: Clear Admit’s resident expert, Alex Brown, kicked off the conversation: Read more

The business school experience crams so much into such a short timeframe, it’s easy to blaze right through those two years.  Given the combination of coursework, internships, case studies, networking, and extracurriculars—not to mention exploring your surroundings—it’s understandable why many students find it difficult to stop and take stock of the once-in-a-lifetime experience an MBA offers when they’re in the thick of it. To encourage current students to reflect, recent Chicago Booth graduate Monisha Shivakumar took to the Booth Experience Blog to share a timeline of the first year of her MBA degree. Tune in next week for Monisha’s summary of her second year. The following piece has been republished in its entirety from its original source, the Booth Experience Blog. Read more

As the world increasingly moves toward the digital, why is it essential to invest in physical spaces? HBS Dean Nitin Nohria Last fall Harvard Business School opened its newest building Klarman Hall. It’s a gigantic space that joins several recently opened facilities, including Tata Hall and the Ruth Mulan Chu Chao Center. These three buildings constituted a significant upgrade for the HBS physical campus, but was it necessary? According to HBS Dean Nitin Nohria, the answer is unequivocally yes. “I believe the buildings that make up our campus are more than just physical structures,” she Read more

There is a ray of hope shining through the recent clouds of uncertainty of post-MBA residency (and access to work visas) in the U.S. The U.S. House of Representatives will vote on lifting the per-country cap on issuing green cards. Known as the Fairness for High-Skilled Immigrants Act (HR 1044), the bill would increase the per-country cap for family-based immigrant visas from seven percent to 15 percent. It would also eliminate the seven percent cap for employment-based immigrant visas and a prior block on visas for the Chinese. Read more

Each week, we collect all the MBA news that’s fit to print and provide a quick overview of the latest updates from top business schools around the world. Here’s your MBA News You Need digest for the week of July 8, 2019. Read more

In this MBA DecisionWire Spotlight, which highlights MBA candidates’ choices as shared in Clear Admit’s DecisionWire, we highlight an MBA candidate looking for a potential career in the manufacturing/automotive/aerospace industries, with a lot of choices on their mind. Despite already earning enrollment in Indiana/Kelley, the OP has some primary concerns—namely, their desire to work in the northeastern United States. However, the candidate notes that the University of Florida Warrington College of Business also offers some undeniable allure, potentially altering their geographic preferences. In addition, they have also Read more

When Ashley Fox and DeAndrea Staes were MBA students at UT Austin’s McCombs School of Business, they both served in various leadership capacities within The Consortium. As students, they intentionally worked to advance diversity and inclusion across the campus, in line with the mission of The Consortium.  Their efforts culminated in a new annual event, the Elevate: Diversity and Inclusion Conference, which they plan to continue supporting although they graduated in May. Read more

In our ongoing new series, MBA Admissions Brief, we bring you tips and insights from leading business schools about the MBA admissions process. We are going international with this installment, as we hear from the prestigious institution, INSEAD; namely, Virginie Fougea, who is the Global Director of Admissions and Financial Aid for INSEAD Degree Programmes Department. She has been with INSEAD for the last 20 years. Virginie Fougea, Global Director of Admissions and Financial Aid, INSEAD Degree Programmes Dept. Before that she had been studying in the US and working in Brazil. She is an admission professional with 15+ years of file evaluation and selection of MBA students from diverse multi-cultural and professional backgrounds. She enjoys promoting INSEAD and the various programmes during Information Sessions on and off campus and meeting prospects. INSEAD offers a 10-month MBA program beginning either in January or September.  Their main campuses span continents, with one based in Fontainebleau, France, and the other in Singapore. Read on for Fougea’s advice about applying to INSEAD and more. What would you say to someone who’s applying next fall and just getting started in the MBA application process now? I would recommend to anyone who is considering either applying to the January or the September intake to prepare some sort of retroactive planning. It is important to not rush and submit a clumsy application. Applicants may want to give themselves the time to prepare for the GMAT or the GRE. It also takes time to select who can submit insightful letters of recommendation as well as prepare genuine and honest essays. The essay part can be seen as cumbersome but this is where applicants can really describe who they are, their passions and their values and it gives the Admissions Committee a chance to “meet” the applicant. What’s the one thing MBA candidates should know about selecting a recommender? Candidates need to select recommenders who know them well. Our questions in the letter of recommendation are related to skills people demonstrate in a professional context: team collaboration, creativity, communication style, etc. Someone who does not know the applicant well may struggle to find examples of these skills. Read more

For our next installment of MBA Admissions Brief, which brings you application advice and program insights directly from leading business schools’ admissions, we hear from Bruce DelMonico, Assistant Dean of Admissions at the Yale School of Management in New Haven, CT. Bruce Delmonico, Assistant Dean of Admissions DelMonico has been at the school for close to 15 years, and has been running the Admissions Office for roughly 13 of those years. He explains, “During that time, I have seen the school grow both in size and in stature, and look forward to its continued momentum under the leadership of incoming Dean Charles. I was drawn to the school because of its mission to educate leaders for business and society and have stayed because the school is one where the mission really matters, which is an uplifting and inspiring place to be.” Read on for his insights into the MBA application process, the Yale MBA program and more. What would you say to someone who’s applying next fall and just getting started in the MBA application process now? First of all, I would start by acknowledging that the MBA application process can seem a bit daunting at first – there are multiple elements to the application that you need to manage at the same time that you are trying to learn about multiple schools and understand their various processes. This is an area where a little advance planning can go a long way. Take just a little time at the outset to think about when you want to apply, and then work backward to think about when you need to focus on the different elements of the application–e.g., speaking to your recommenders, studying for and taking a standardized test, working on your essays, etc. Now is also the time you’ll want to be doing research on various schools as you narrow down the list of schools to which you plan to apply. There are many resources to help you learn more about schools–seemingly too many at times, I’m sure–and every school has ways for you to connect with their communities. I would suggest taking advantage of these school resources–for example, we have a list of Student Ambassadors on our website who are available to talk about their experience here at Yale–to find out more about our culture and values. Ask each school the same questions as you do your research so that you can more easily compare them. The process of learning about schools and going through the application process can seem like a major investment–and it is–but it is one that is well worth it, and one where a little time spent up front mapping out a plan can make a big difference. Read more

Dr. Costis Maglaras will assume the role of dean of Columbia Business School, effective July 1st.  This appointment comes about a year after Glenn Hubbard, who served as dean for 15 years, announced he would be stepping down. High Praise from the President Dr. Costis Maglaras, 16th Dean of Columbia Business School Columbia University President Lee Bollinger said in his announcement: “Costis is a talented educator and a generous colleague, beloved by his students and peers. An expert on probability and operations management, he has taught in the Business School’s MBA, PhD, and Executive Education programs, and is known for his thoughtful and probing approach to business pedagogy, grounded in real-world examples, experience, and analysis.” A Bright History at CBS Maglaras kicks off his service as dean shortly, but has a long history with CBS.  Maglaras first joined the CBS faculty in 1998, and went on to fill several roles, including Director of the PhD Program (2011 to 2017); Chair of the Decision, Risk, and Operations Division (2015 to 2018); and member of the Executive Committee of Columbia University’s Data Science Institute (2016 to present). In 2018, he received the Dean’s Award for Innovation in the Curriculum for his design and launch of the School’s Technology and Analytics curriculum.  The new dean is also credited with the launch of Columbia’s Master of Science in Business Analytics, a joint program offered by Columbia Business School and Columbia Engineering. Read more

While finance, consulting and technology tend to dominate business school employment stats, the recruiting landscape can, in fact, support a variety of goals—real estate, energy, sports business, non-profit and more.  The MBA is a versatile degree, empowering business school students to blaze brighter professional trails. Current UCLA Anderson student Tim Maleski '20 opted to pursue an MBA to give himself a leg up in the lucrative, but unconventional, field of sports business. Maleski took to the Anderson blog to unpack how to find a job along the professional road less traveled. The following piece has been republished in its entirety from its original source, the UCLA Anderson Blog. Read more

Renee Cherubin is the new senior director of Northwestern Kellogg’s Full-Time MBA admissions. In her role, she’ll be responsible for driving applications, leading the admissions team, and bringing insight to the entire process. Cherubin’s goal is to evolve Kellogg’s Full-Time admissions work and to bring a new perspective to the Kellogg experience. Read more

Each week, we collect all the MBA news that’s fit to print and provide a quick overview of the latest updates from top business schools around the world. Here’s your MBA News You Need digest for the week of June 24, 2019. Read more

This edition of MBA Admissions Brief takes us to Durham, North Carolina, where Associate Dean of Admissions, Shari Hubert, walks us through opportunities and features of the MBA at the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University. Shari Hubert, Associate Dean of Admissions Hubert is responsible for overseeing recruitment and admissions for Fuqua's Daytime MBA, Weekend Executive MBA, Global Executive MBA, and four Specialty Masters’ Degree Programs. Prior to Fuqua, she was in charge of admissions for the Full-time and Evening MBA programs at Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business. Read on for her advice about the Duke MBA admissions process and exciting features of the program. What would you say to someone who’s applying next fall and just getting started in the MBA application process now? Think about what’s important to you in an MBA program, and tailor your questions accordingly, instead of only asking “what’s unique about your program” or “how does X program differ from Y program”  Every top MBA program will have similarities and things unique to their culture – the important question is what’s important to you and what are you hoping to get out of your MBA, that will allow you to better compare programs and have a good basis for conversations with the various representatives you meet across the different schools (Admissions, students, alumni etc…) throughout the process We look for applicants who really understand our culture, can see themselves thriving here and demonstrate that they have taken the genuine time to get to know us throughout the application process, and therefore really want to be part of our unique community. Give yourself plenty of time. There is often a lot of soul searching that can happen in the application process and you don’t want to feel rushed with your essays. You want to give yourself time to process and think through the best representation of who you are and why an MBA will help you accomplish your goals. I’d also advise making sure you build in time to visit the schools on your shortlist. This is especially important at Fuqua, if you can swing it.  You learn so much from being on campus and interacting with students and staff.  Our signature Campus Visit program will start again in the early Fall so lookout for information on our website to register.  If you feel as if you’re well prepared by the beginning of September or if you plan to apply in our Early Action Round, then take advantage of our Open interview season. We have started traveling this summer so check our calendar of events and meet us on the road. Reach out to our alumni, in your current work place or via your network Plan to join us for our various diversity weekends this Fall, 2019 – The Duke MBA Veteran’s Symposium (Oct 10-12) The Duke MBA Women’s Leadership Conference (Oct 31-Nov 2), The Duke MBA LGBTQ Weekend (Dec 5-7), The Duke MBA Workshop (Nov 21- 23) to test out the MBA, gain a first-hand experience of our culture and begin to build your network. What’s the one thing MBA candidates should know about selecting a recommender? I’m not sure there’s just one thing. Read more

In our ongoing new series, MBA Admissions Brief, we catch up with leading business schools to bring you their tips about the admissions process and insights into what to expect from their full-time MBA programs.  This week, we hear from Shelly Heinrich of Georgetown / McDonough, where she oversees the admissions team's operational strategy and marketing as Associate Dean of MBA Admissions and Director of Marketing. Shelly Heinrich, Associate Dean, MBA Admissions and Director of Marketing Georgetown University is located in Washington, D.C., which means students of the McDonough MBA program can enjoy studying at the intersection of business, government and international relations.  Jesuit values also run through the MBA program, which drives its mission to prepare "disciplined and discerning business professionals with a clear sense of purposeful leadership." Read on for more about the Georgetown MBA program at the McDonough School of Business and how you can best prepare to apply. What would you say to someone who’s applying next fall and just getting started in the MBA application process now? If you are looking to apply next fall and have already started to prepare, you are ahead and will set yourself apart from your peers. By starting this early, you can apply to round one of your preferred schools, which is a smart move. Typically, round one has a lower application volume than round two for many schools so you are able to introduce yourself to your preferred program and show them you’re interested before the large rush in round two. Additionally, applying early in round one gives you the most flexibility and time to improve your application in case you receive a place on the waitlist. At Georgetown, we offer coaching calls for candidates waitlisted in round one who were on the borderline of admission to provide feedback on how the application can be more competitive. If there are things like a standardized test or proof of quant ability that you can improve, then you have a few months to do so before we finalize our class. Read more

The MBA admissions process can be a humbling one.  Many applicants to elite MBA programs seemingly tick all the boxes—an excellent undergraduate GPA, high GMAT score, robust work experience, poignant essays—but may still face rejection.  However, one round of dings does not need to completely dash one's dreams—re-applicants often find success in subsequent admissions cycles, usually after a period of self-reflection and action to improve their candidacy. This week, we hear from current HBS student Arman Keshani, who shares his experience of getting rejected by Harvard and then taking steps to re-apply successfully. The following piece has been republished in its entirety from its original source, the HBS Blog. Read more

Last week, we shared our LiveWire data-based hunch that 2018-2019 was another slow year for applications to full-time, two-year MBA programs. Based on those results, we were curious as to whether we would see this reflected in the GPA and GMAT scores of applicants who report good news from leading business schools. Specifically, we wondered if schools have needed to ease their academic standards given that they seem to have had fewer applicants to choose from over the past few years. To examine this, we again segmented LiveWire updates by admissions season, looking at results submitted Read more

Every year, the Executive Leadership Council (ELC) National Business Case Competition challenges students from the top graduate schools in the nation to offer a solution to an oil and gas industry challenge. Sponsored and hosted by Exxon Mobil, the competition offers a $35,000 cash award to the winner and an invitation to The Executive Leadership Council’s Annual Recognition Gala. This year, the challenge focused on attracting and retaining millennial and Generation Z employees. And on April 9, 2019, a Wharton team—Mino Consultants—composed of four first-year MBA students took home first place. When asked about their win, Angie Gonzalez, Kaila Squires, Mallory Smith,  and team captain Oluwayimika (Yinka) Taiwo-Peters, said it was due to teamwork and resources from Wharton. Read more

What’s summer like at Yale SOM? Bruce DelMonico, the assistant dean of admissions, offers suggestions and opportunities for students to learn more about the school and New Haven over the summer. Read more

Each week, we collect all the MBA news that’s fit to print and provide a quick overview of the latest updates from top business schools around the world Here’s your MBA News You Need digest for the week of June 17, 2019. Read more

For our next installment of MBA Admissions Brief, which brings you application advice and program insights directly from leading business schools’ admissions, we visit Columbia Business School in Manhattan. Students can begin the full-time, two-year MBA program at CBS in either August or January, and enjoy the distinct advantages of New York City. Michael Robinson, a Director of MBA Admissions at Columbia Business School Shedding light on the CBS MBA application process and CBA MBA program is Michael Robinson, a Director of MBA Admissions at Columbia Business School. Much of his 16-year tenure has revolved around advancing diversity, equity and inclusion.  Michael’s responsibilities have included expanding strategic outreach in Africa and South East Asia and managing relationships with key non-profit partners. He is a graduate of Baruch College (BBA '87) and Columbia Business School (MBA '01). Prior to his transition to higher education, Michael had a seven-year stint running a profitable music publicity firm where Buju Banton and the platinum-selling Grammy winner Shaggy were clients. An avid reader with a preference for historical biography, he is a former freelance writer and has completed three New York City Marathons. Read on for more about the CBS MBA. What would you say to someone who’s applying next fall and just getting started in the MBA application process now? Someone just getting started in the MBA application process first has to engage in thoughtful and reflective introspection.  Spend some quality time looking inward before considering schools.  I’ve heard Sheena Iyengar, one of our superstar professors, provide great career advice to our students through a three question framework that I’ve reworked a bit to make it relevant and helpful to MBA applicants as well.  Ask yourself: Read more

Why do you want to earn an MBA? Are you looking to change careers, gain more skills and knowledge, or do you have another reason entirely? The value of an MBA is different for everyone, but there’s no doubt that graduates want to get something out of their MBA program. Most often, it has to do with their career. According to a 2019 Association of International Graduate Admissions Consultants (AIGAC) survey of nearly 1,000 MBA applicants: The number one reason most applicants (63 percent) apply to an MBA program is to “acquire new information, skills, and/or knowledge.” After that, 57 percent of MBA applicants want “access to job prospects (change career).” So, when applying to MBA programs, post-graduation outcomes should be an essential—if not the most essential—consideration. And that’s the case for Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business various MBA programs. Based on a 2018 Bloomberg Businessweek recruiter/employer ranking of full-time MBA programs, Georgetown McDonough scores first in the world for having the best-trained graduates. In fact, the school ranked in the top seven for all six categories: 1st in the world for having the best-trained graduates, 3rd in the world for having the most creative graduates, 3rd in the world for showing exceptional entrepreneurial skills, 4th in the world for the value of the school’s brand, 4th in the world for the school’s reputation for entrepreneurship, and 7th in the world for the diversity of the recruitment pool. To gain more insight into what Georgetown McDonough does to rank so well with recruiters, we interviewed Prashant Malaviya, the senior associate dean of MBA programs. Read on for his in-depth overview of how McDonough prepares their MBA students to be leaders and problem solvers in an ever-changing business world. 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

Already ranked #1 by the U.S. News & World Report, the IU Kelley Direct Online MBA has revamped its program for a more customizable experience. Now, their online program is even more robust while still offering the same flexibility and strengths that have made Kelley Direct a long-time business leader. As always, the same faculty that teach in the IU Kelley on-campus programs also teach in the Kelley Online program. The Kelley Direct Online program also still includes live case studies within every in-residence week, offers global and domestic immersions, and focuses on quality student experiences. The purpose of the revamp wasn’t to take away any of the elements that made the online MBA so great in the first place. Instead, the goal was to enhance the curriculum and offer more customization to make the program even stronger. The Kelley Direct Online MBA now offers students 50 percent electives, seven majors, and a signature integrated core experience focused on business fundamentals. It’s the next evolution of the online MBA, which goes far beyond what people typically think of for online MBAs. “The primary motivation for the redesigned online MBA was not to focus on a new market segment, but to update our product and create a significant differentiator from other competitors in the marketplace,” explains Ramesh Venkataraman, chair of the Kelley Direct Online MBA and MS programs. More Electives for a More Customized Student Experience A quick glance at the current marketplace tells you that a candidate with specialized knowledge is more valuable than a general management MBA candidate. So, it made sense for the Kelley Online MBA program to update its curriculum to match what employers want, and they did this by drastically increasing the number of electives offered. “In general, online MBA programs tend to be more core-heavy with less potential for electives,” Ramesh says. “But why should our online MBA not have as many electives as any other product? Specialized knowledge is what the marketplace wants, and our new electives allow students to gain that knowledge and use it as a launching pad in their careers.” The newly revamped online MBA, which launches this fall, requires students to complete 27 credit hours of core coursework and 27 credit hours of electives—a 50/50 split. It’s a significant change from the previous format, which allowed for just 12 elective credits. The increase—with at least ten different electives in each of seven disciplines—results in a far more customizable student experience that’s aligned with both student and employer expectations. Read more

Moving right along in our new series, MBA Admissions Brief, which brings you advice and insights directly from leading business schools’ admissions, we catch up with the MBA program at the MIT Sloan School of Management.  Located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the MIT MBA stands out for its entrepreneurship training and technological focus.  They have also been keen to support the demand for business analytics. Read on for tips and advice from Jean Ann Schulte, the Director of Employer Relations & Recruiting Services Career Development Office, and Jen Burke Barba, the Senior Associate Director of MIT Sloan Admissions. What would you say to someone who’s applying next fall and just getting started in the MBA application process now? Get to know us! Explore our new website Join us at an event online or in-person our events.  Our events are open for registration. Read our MIT Sloan student blogs Read more