General
News items that we think are relevant and potentially of interest to MBA applicants and anyone interested in business school.
Published: October 22, 2018
7 Tips from 7 Top-Tier Business Schools to Help You Choose the Right MBA Program for You
Sponsored Content Choosing where you want to attend business school for your MBA program is not an easy decision. First, you have to consider how your top picks rank on the 2018 U.S. News & World Report’s Best Business Schools, the Financial Times Global MBA Ranking, and the Economist. But that’s just a piece of the puzzle. You also need to consider what each MBA program is synonymous with, whether that’s experiential learning, exceptional career management, world-class faculty, or something else entirely. Then, you have to decide how all of those distinct aspects fit your needs, wants, and plans. For example, one school might
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Published: October 21, 2018
Real Humans of the UVA Darden MBA Class of 2020
MBA LiveWire has seen a streak of green recently with plenty of reports of candidates gaining acceptance at the University of Virginia Darden School of Business as part of its inaugural early action decision round. If this means you—CONGRATS! Understanding the current first-year class makeup at Darden provides a glimpse of what next year might be like. And that’s true whether you’re already in, applied as part of Round 1, or are still contemplating applying as part of a later round. If you fall into any of those categories—or even if you’re just curious
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Published: October 18, 2018
Fridays from the Frontline: 10 Things I Learned During My First Month in the MS/MBA Program
Fridays from the Frontline Dual-degree master’s programs are incredibly enticing to students looking to distinguish themselves in their career pursuits. The combination of an MBA and a specialize master’s degree in engineering is proving particularly hot right now. Harvard Business School (HBS) welcomed its inaugural MS/MBA class to campus this fall as part of a program designed for future tech venture leaders who want to gain foundational business skills alongside design skills and deeper engineering knowledge. As Managing Director of Admissions and Financial Aid Chad Losee shared in a recent podcast with
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Published: October 10, 2018
Real Humans of the Cornell Johnson MBA Class of 2020
Did you hit “submit” on an application to Cornell’s Johnson Graduate School of Management this week? If so, congrats! Or maybe you’re aiming for the November Round deadline, November 15th? In either case, a look this year’s incoming MBA class provides valuable insights into the school. 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 700 and average GPA was 3.36. Average
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Published: October 4, 2018
Fridays from the Frontline: UC Berkeley Haas Professor on How to Shape Culture to Foster Gender Equity
Fridays from the Frontline Lots of U.S. companies are focused on attracting more female employees, and yet many still struggle to create inclusive cultures that encourage those women to stick around. Today’s Friday from the Frontline comes to us from Dr. Kellie McElhaney, a distinguished teaching fellow at the UC Berkeley Haas School of Business and founding director of its new Center for Gender, Equity, and Inclusion. The center, which launched in November 2017, is focused on “agitating, activating, and fiercely turning up the volume and velocity on diversity and inclusion leadership in the
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Published: September 24, 2018
Real Humans of the MIT Sloan MBA Class of 2020
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is so renowned for the brilliant STEM minds it consistently produces that it can be easy to overlook that it’s also home to the MIT Sloan School of Management, of the world’s premier business institutions. Across disciplines, MIT seeks out only the highest caliber students. Nowhere is this more evident than in the MIT Sloan MBA Class of 2020 profile recently published by the school. Sloan received 5,560 applications this year, off slightly from the 5,798 applications that came in for the Class of 2019. But despite
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Published: September 17, 2018
Real Humans of the INSEAD MBA Class of 2019 J
INSEAD has a legitimate claim as the business school of the world. Founded in 1957 outside of Paris, INSEAD today serves students at its three campuses in Fontainebleau, Singapore, and Abu Dhabi, as well as through its alliances with various institutions around the globe. One of INSEAD’s major selling points is its academic rigor. Currently ranked as the second-best MBA program in the world by the Financial Times, INSEAD’s 10-month elite program attracts some of the best students from around to globe and gives them practical experience in multiple business markets. The school has two
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Published: September 17, 2018
U.S. H-1B Visa Premium Processing Suspension Extended
For those hoping to quickly secure themselves an H-1B visa, the wait just got a bit longer.
Last March, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that premium processing for H-1B visa applications would be suspended until September 10, 2018. That suspension, however, was extended until February 19, 2019, according to Bloomberg.
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Published: September 16, 2018
How Can You Make the Most of an Upcoming Campus Visit?
Sponsored Content While visiting campus isn’t required by most business schools, it’s still an excellent idea. An MBA campus visit will not only give you a better idea of what life would be like as a student of that school, but it also can provide you with valuable application material and demonstrate your interest in a particular program. There’s a reason why most business schools recommend a visit before you apply. The truth of the matter is that on paper and online, most MBA programs look and feel the same. They offer similar courses, experiential experiences, clubs, recruiting, career services,
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Published: September 13, 2018
Fridays from the Frontline: Embracing Entrepreneurship and the HBS Asian-American Community
Fridays from the Frontline Recent Harvard Business School (HBS) alumus Wilson Kyi (MBA ’18) hosts a popular podcast called Fish Sauce, which is dedicated to “the unique traits and viewpoints Asian-Americans bring to entrepreneurship.” According to Kyi, the podcast was a natural outgrowth of the cross-cultural community that the Asian-American Business Association (AABA) engendered at HBS. Kyi, who according to his bio “leaped into smaller tech after growing tired of big tech,” took to the HBS blog in a recent post to discuss the soup-to-nuts process behind the Fish Sauce podcast and the multifaceted role
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Published: September 11, 2018
Incoming MBA Class at Darden Boasts Record-High GMAT Score
Like many of its peer schools, the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business rolled out the red carpet in recent weeks for all 335 members of its MBA Class of 2020. Dean Scott Beardsley pledged to the students assembled in the packed Abbott Auditorium that Darden “will work to ensure that you get exactly what you want out of this 21 months—which will fly by—so that you are prepared for a lifetime of meaningful work.” Headline news regarding Darden’s Class of 2020 is its record-setting average GMAT score of 718, the highest in the
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Published: September 11, 2018
Attending an MBA Event at UC Berkeley Haas? Don’t Forget Your Follow-Up!
Sponsored Content Have you attended an MBA event with the University of California-Berkeley Haas School of Business? No matter if it was a fair with multiple schools in attendance, an information meet-and-greet, or an information session, you had a wonderful opportunity to get to know the school and the admissions team in a personal way. This can be invaluable for informing your school decision and improving your application. However, if you really want to be sure you had the best experience possible, don’t forget to follow-up. Berkeley-Haas Senior Associate Director of Full-time MBA Admissions Liz Rosenberg
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Published: September 11, 2018
Michigan Ross Admissions Director Talks Event Follow-Up
Sponsored Content Attending a fair, meet-and-greet, or information sessions about the MBA program at University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business is a great idea. During these events, you can gain better insight into the culture of the program so that you can make a more informed application decision. It’s also a wonderful opportunity to meet the admissions team, ask your questions, and network with other applicants. But did you know that you could be missing out on the full experience if you’re not following through. Diana Economy, the Director of Full-Time MBA Admissions at Michigan
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Published: September 11, 2018
You’ve Attended an Event! What Should You Do Now?
Sponsored Content MBA events are a critical part of your MBA admissions journey. They’re ideal for gathering information about what graduate business opportunities are available. Some people attend an event with a clear idea of what type of MBA program they’re looking for, while other attend MBA events to compile a short list of schools they want to learn more about. Either way, attending an MBA event can be a great resource to gain insightful tips, hints, and advice from the admissions staff. But once you attend an MBA event—be it a fair, information session, or meet & greet for
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Published: September 11, 2018
What Should You Do After Attending an NYU Stern MBA Event?
Sponsored Content Attending an MBA Event put on by the NYU Stern School of Business is a great way to get to know the school, the MBA program, the admissions team, and the application process. Whether you attend a fair, information session, or informal meet-and-greet, the amount of information you can gather is incredibly helpful for making your MBA decision, but only if you do everything you need to do to gain the best experience. Just as you prepared to attend the event, you need to prepare to follow-up after an event. That means reaching back out
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Published: September 11, 2018
Attending an MBA Event at Duke Fuqua? Here Are Your Next Steps!
Sponsored Content We love to attend MBA events. Whether it’s a fair, meet-and-greet, or information session, there’s so much we learn about each business school and MBA program we meet in person. And it’s no different when we attend an MBA event put on by Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business. Their events offer unique insight into their culture, admissions process, and program that’s hard to find without meeting in person. Allison Jamison, Duke Fuqua’s Assistant Dean of Admissions But, if you truly want to get the most out of attending a Duke Fuqua MBA event, then you have
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Published: September 11, 2018
How to Follow-Up After Attending an MBA Event at Cornell Johnson
Sponsored Content If you’ve attended an MBA event with Cornell University’s Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management, you know you know how valuable it can be. You probably walked away far better informed about the school, it’s culture, the admissions process, and more. You may have even gotten a lot of your questions answered by the admissions team. That’s all great, but if you want the best experience possible, make sure you take it one step further with a follow-up plan. Judi Byers, Johnson-Cornell’s Executive Director of Admissions & Financial Aid Judi Byers, the Executive Director of Admissions
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Published: September 11, 2018
UVA Darden Admissions Explains What to Do After an MBA Event
Sponsored Content You’ve attended an MBA event; great! Now what? You might have prepared a set of questions, comments, and thoughts before the event and that was great, but you can’t stop there if you want to get the most out of the situation. Whenever you attend an event, meet-and-greet, or fair, there’s some necessary follow-up post attendance that you need to do. For UVA Darden School of Business that follow-up is incredibly important if you want to make the best impression possible. It’s not about throwing yourself in front of the admissions team, but about ensuring
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Published: September 11, 2018
Attending an Event at Yale SOM? Admissions Explains ‘What Now?’
Sponsored Content If you’re an MBA candidate, you’ve probably attended many MBA program events for various schools. Events are a great way to get to know a program and to meet the admissions team, alumni, faculty, and even students. There’s just one problem, too often we get so caught up in preparing to attend an event that we forget about what happens afterward. If you’ve attended a Yale School of Management event whether on-campus or off, you know how valuable it is. But have you thought about what to do now to get the most out of
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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
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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
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Published: August 29, 2018
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
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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
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The Financial Times List of Top MBAs for Finance 2018
While big tech has started to attract top MBA talent over the last few years, the finance sector is still holding its own. Although the types of jobs students are gravitating toward within the industry has shifted some. While banking is still a big draw, there are also new opportunities to work for fintech companies or as part of in-house teams developing digital strategies. And so the question on many prospective applicants’ minds remains: What’s the best MBA program for a finance-minded student? And the second annual Financial Times ranking of Top MBAs for Finance 2018, released last week,
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