MBA News
A collection of news items from MBA programs and about the business school admissions process.
Published: January 10, 2017
HBS Round 2 Deadline Has Passed—Now What?
First, a hearty congratulations to all of you who got your Round 2 applications into Harvard Business School by last week's deadline. We know what you spent your winter holiday doing. According to Chad Losee, HBS managing director of admissions and financial aid, a conveniently timed snowstorm over the past weekend has set him and his team up nicely to sit by the fireplace, sipping hot cocoa and reading all about you.
HBS Managing Director of Admissions and Financial Aid Chad Losee
While Losee is sipping cocoa and lingering over applications—how are you spending your time? First of all, we realize that HBS is but one of many schools you may be applying to—and that some deadlines haven’t even yet arrived. So, to those of you still at work perfecting applications for other schools, good luck.
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Published: January 10, 2017
Discover How the Smith School Promotes Women in Business
What were more than 200 Girl Scouts doing at the University of Maryland R.H. Smith School of Business? They were attending Cookie College, of course!
On December 10, 2016, more than 225 Brownies and Juniors from kindergarten to fifth grade headed to the UMD Smith School of Business to learn about the business of selling cookies. "The girls learned life skills like goal setting and money management that will help them in all aspects of life,” Sara Tyler, program specialist at the Girl Scout Council of the Nation’s Capital, said in a news release. “It sets them up for life.”
The girls also received additional benefits, such as learning about higher education and meeting female role models. It was an empowering event that was women-led and girl-attended, and it was all a part of the R.H. Smith School of Business’ broader initiative: 50/50 by 2020.
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Published: January 9, 2017
MIT Sloan 2016 Employment Report Reveals Slightly Slipping Salaries
MIT Sloan School of Management late last week released its 2016 MBA Employment Report, revealing slightly slipping salaries year over year and slightly lower percentages of graduates heading into consulting and technology than in prior years. The pharmaceutical/healthcare industry drew the third largest percentage of graduates—5.8 percent—knocking investment banking out of the top three for the first time—perhaps ever. Investment banks drew just 4.7 percent of the 2016 class, down from 6.1 percent last year, 6.8 percent in 2014 and 8.1 in 2013.
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Published: January 8, 2017
Oxford Saïd MBAs Beat 1,300 Applicants to Win Creative Shock 2016
Imagine joining a competition against 1,300 applicants and 182 teams, and then taking home first place. That’s exactly what happened during Creative Shock 2016; four MBA students from the University of Oxford’s Saïd Business School took home the grand prize—€1,500 and airfare from Turkish Airlines.
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Published: January 8, 2017
Foster School Professor Discusses Charitable Giving
There’s no doubt that the holiday season is one of the biggest times of the year for charitable giving. That’s why one University of Washington Foster School of Business professor, Ann Schlosser, decided to research why we give to charitable organizations and causes. According to Schlosser, people don’t give because they’re trying to “keep up with the Joneses”—they give depending on how they feel they’re doing compared to others.
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Published: January 8, 2017
Forward Focus MBA: Diversity & Drive at W. P. Carey
SPONSORED CONTENT Imagine gaining a high-caliber business education without the burden of student debt. ASU’s W. P. Carey School of Business is pioneering a new MBA program that offers students just that. The Forward Focus MBA, a full-time, 60-hour program, provides a scholarship to cover the full cost of tuition for the entire incoming class. With financial barriers removed, the Forward Focus MBA attracts a diverse group of students with a wide breadth of interests and experiences. Attracting Great Students from Around the World Forward Focus MBA students come from diverse socioeconomic and cultural
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Published: January 5, 2017
Fridays from the Frontline: Are You My Alma Mater?
Chicago native Sabrina Lakhani’s pre-MBA career took her—literally and figuratively—all over the map. From Babson College in Boston she headed to a small Connecticut marketing consultancy for a couple of years before volunteering as a full-time project coordinator at a hospital for children in Kabul. From there it was on to East Africa, working first on a network of hospitals and later on a network of schools. She then returned to work for her family’s businesses in Chicago before joining a decision heuristics science‒based marketing firm as director of client services. In choosing an MBA program, she wanted one that
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Published: January 4, 2017
3 Rotman Grads Named Canada’s Most Powerful Women
If there’s one thing that everyone can agree on, it’s that women are necessary for business. In fact, companies with women on the board of directors, on average, have a 53 percent higher return on equity. The issue is that though women represent 47% percent of the workforce, they only represent 17 percent of boardrooms, and 4.8 percent of CEOs among the Fortune 500 companies, according to the Forté Foundation. That’s why University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management has made it a priority to promote women in business. And their efforts have recently been
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Published: January 4, 2017
Holiday Debt Hangover: The Dangers of Contactless Payment
The holidays may be over, but for many they are far from forgotten. For kids, the holiday joy continues with toys and games, but for adults, the holiday hangover might not be as pleasant. In fact, according to Niro Sivanathan, associate professor of organizational behavior at London Business School (LBS), the holiday hangover could mean an unprecedented amount of festive debt. The truth is that in 2016, more people than ever used touchless payment to make their holiday purchases, and that comes with some consequences: the holiday debt hangover.
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Published: January 3, 2017
A Look Inside Tuck’s 2016 MBA Employment Statistics
Shortly after ascending to the top five in Bloomberg BusinessWeek’s latest annual ranking of best U.S. business schools, Dartmouth’s Tuck School of Business released its 2016 employment statistics. Contributing to its strong showing in the Bloomberg BW ranking was the annual salary reported by Tuck grads. According to the latest employment stats released by the school, graduates of the Class of 2016 pulled down an average annual starting salary of $123,934. More than a third of
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Published: January 2, 2017
Last-Minute Round 2 Advice from Harvard Business School Admissions Director
With a whole extra day to recover after New Year’s Eve festivities, we trust that those of you working toward the Round 2 application deadline for Harvard Business School (HBS) are only too aware that your remaining time is fast ticking away. HBS Managing Director of MBA Admissions and Financial Aid Chad Losee took to his Director’s Blog today to offer a few things you might want to keep in mind. Round 2 Deadline: Tomorrow, January 4th, 12 p.m. EST. Round 2 Notification Day: Wednesday, March 22nd Losee comes off as a quite nice,
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Published: December 29, 2016
UNC Kenan-Flagler’s Top 5 Reasons to Apply for Jobs During the Holidays
Taking a little time off never hurt anyone. But while many people use the holidays as an opportunity to relax and recharge, it also has become a sneaky-good time to start looking for a new job. Elizabeth Wallencheck, UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School director of alumni career management, and Kris Hergert (MBA ’09), associate director of the school’s Center for Entrepreneurial Studies, recently shared a handful reasons to seek work during the holidays: “Business doesn’t stop during the holidays—nor does the need to fill an open position.”
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Published: December 29, 2016
Stanford 2016 MBAs Have Banner Year for Employment
Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business (GSB) recently revealed data that cemented 2016 as a banner year for MBA graduates when it comes to both employment and salaries, demonstrating how in demand the talent and flexibility of its graduates are in the marketplace. The mean compensation for graduating MBAs from Stanford's most recent class was $179,345, a figure that includes the mean $23,636 starting bonus reported by 55 percent of the class and the record-breaking mean other guaranteed compensation of $74,665 reported by 35 percent of the class.
Median total compensation, meanwhile, was $163,827. This figure puts Stanford GSB grads ahead of Class of 2016 Harvard Business School graduates, whose median total compensation was $158,080, as well as every other leading business school that has reported its 2016 employment figures.
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Published: December 28, 2016
Johnson Welcomes Vets as Part of Annual Military Preview Event
With an ever-increasing enrollment of military veterans at the Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management at Cornell University, the school recently welcomed a new group of distinguished prospective applicants on campus.
Johnson hosted 30 military veterans last month, part of its annual Military Preview event held each year on or close to Veteran’s Day.
Johnson Dean Mark Nelson welcomed them. “We are committed to maintaining and growing that proportion,” Nelson said. "Veterans bring a wealth of leadership experience and capability to Johnson and are a great fit to the culture of the school."
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Published: December 28, 2016
Top 10 MBA LiveWire Threads of 2016
As the new year approaches, those of us here at Clear Admit can’t seem to resist getting on the “Best of 2016” list bandwagon. Forgive us! Looking back on the year, we thought we’d take this opportunity to highlight some of the best conversations that have ensued between applicants on MBA LiveWire. Though not immune to occasional trolling, the activity on LiveWire has been overwhelmingly positive, with applicants from all over the world asking one another for admissions intel and decision advice or simply commiserating about how torturous it can be waiting to hear word from your top choice school.
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Published: December 27, 2016
$2.1M Gift to Goizueta Promotes Study of Business and Government
The best business schools continually seek to improve what they can offer their students, whether that be by adding courses, hiring new professors or providing new opportunities. For the Goizueta Business School at Emory University, the latest improvement came in the form of a $2.1 million pledge from the Robson Foundation, set up by former Dean John E. Robson to establish the “John Robson Endowment for the Study of Business, Public Policy and Government.” The gift will allow the school to develop a program focused on the growing complexities of business and civics.
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Published: December 27, 2016
Trump Appoints Controversial UC Irvine Professor Peter Navarro
Peter Navarro, a professor of economics at UC Irvine's Paul Merage School of Business and one of the nation’s harshest critics of China, has just earned a seat on President-elect Donald Trump’s cabinet.
As a professor with the business school for more than 20 years, Navarro penned nine books, most of which unmistakably mark China as a threat to the United States and the world at large. Several of his published works include The Coming China Wars, Death by China: Confronting the Dragon—A Global Call to Action and Crouching Tiger: What China's Militarism Means for the World.
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Published: December 26, 2016
Admissions Directors Weigh in on Data Forms
In recent weeks we’ve featured a couple of admissions tips focused on the evolving nature of data forms as part of the MBA admissions process. Specifically, we’ve noticed that data forms at many schools have grown more extensive in recent years, in some cases in tandem with a move away from requiring candidates to write as many essays. To get a better understanding of this shift—and how candidates can best approach the data forms—we turned to admissions directors at several business schools to get their input.
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Published: December 22, 2016
Fridays from the Frontline: Navigating Complex MBA Decision-Making Process
Pierre Girard, a 2016 graduate of the Weekend MBA program at the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business, shares his tips for the complex decision-making process that can accompany choosing to pursue an MBA. For Girard, a father to two small children who planned to continue working while getting his MBA, a part-time MBA program was the best way to meet all of his goals. And some of his tips—such as hiring a maid if your budget allows it—seem perhaps less geared toward traditional full-time MBA students than others.
But at its core, the bulk of Girard’s advice is applicable no matter what kind of MBA degree you’re planning to pursue. The support of your network, setting realistic expectations about your schedule, and knowing how to prioritize are just as critical for full-time, two-year MBA students as they are for full-time employees who are working toward their MBA in the evenings or on the weekends.
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Published: December 21, 2016
Parsing Round 1 MBA LiveWire Data Reveals Some Interesting Results
The last couple of weeks have been very busy indeed as the majority of schools we cover on Clear Admit released final decisions to their Round 1 applicants. MBA LiveWire saw record activity as the community chimed in to share their individual results with each other. We thought it would be interesting to do some data analysis on these results and are excited to share our findings. We should stress, though, that the data is very likely subject to response bias, by which we mean that candidates with positive results may be more inclined to share them, resulting
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Published: December 20, 2016
Calling All Recent Admits: Share Your Journey on Clear Admit’s MBA DecisionWire
The volume on LiveWire these past several weeks has been incredible as Round 1 candidates share the news they’ve received from their target schools. We’d like to offer hearty congratulations to all who gained admission to their top choices. We’d also like to remind our LiveWire devotees of a sister tool here on the Clear Admit site, MBA DecisionWire. This feature was designed to let MBA applicants, students and alumni share more information with their peers—specifically about where they decide to attend business school based on where they applied and were accepted. DecisionWire provides profile
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Published: December 20, 2016
Accepted to Wharton? Don’t Miss this Message from Maryellen Reilly
Maryellen Reilly, deputy vice dean for MBA admissions, financial aid and career management at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, took to her blog recently to give her team’s perspective on Wharton’s release of Round 1 decisions on December 15th.
Maryellen Reilly, Wharton deputy vice dean of MBA admissions, financial aid and career services
“Yesterday, we got to do our favorite part of the job—making the phone calls to let prospective students know they’ve been admitted,” she wrote in her December 16th post. “It’s a blast. The joy and excitement we heard on the other end of the line when sharing this news was exhilarating and infectious.”
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Published: December 20, 2016
UVA, Darden and Dominion Virginia Power Announce Solar Partnership
In an ongoing attempt to slash carbon emissions, the University of Virginia and its Darden School of Business have announced a 25-year solar power partnership deal with Dominion Virginia Power.
As part of the agreement—called the UVA Hollyfield Solar Project—UVA and Darden will purchase all of the electricity produced over the next 25 years at a new, 160-acre solar facility in King William County. The facility—which will be constructed, operated and owned by Dominion—is expected to produce roughly 17 megawatts of alternating current, equivalent to about 12 percent of the schools’ electric demand. Darden will assume responsibility for about a quarter of that production, putting the business school on track to achieve its long-term, carbon-zero goal.
Overall, the initiative will help Darden and its parent university cut approximately 18,000 metric tons of carbon emissions per year—part of an institution-wide goal of reducing total emissions by 25 percent by 2025.
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Published: December 19, 2016
Tech Hires Jump at Kellogg, 2016 MBA Employment Report Reveals
‘Tis the season for MBA employment reports, and one of the latest schools to share details about how its most recent class of graduates fared in their quest for jobs is Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management. Released in its entirety last week, the report shows a surge of graduates heading off toward technology firms—22 percent of the class, up from 15 percent last year.
“I do think the tech story jumps out,” says Liza Kirkpatrick, director of career management for the full-time MBA program. “But we really are very proud of this year’s employment outcomes overall.” She went on to cite the fact that 96 percent of students received an offer within three months of graduation, up slightly from 95 percent the year before. The median base salary was $125,000, up $2,000 from the year before.
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Published: December 19, 2016
Admissions Director Q&A: Vanderbilt Owen’s Christie St-John
Following up on our recent Real Humans of MBA Admissions piece with Christie St-John of Vanderbilt University’s Owen Graduate School of Management, we are delighted this week to feature a more in-depth interview with her about the admissions process she oversees. St-John describes her career as “zig-zaggy,” referring to the fact that she started at Vanderbilt back in 1997 before zigging to Dartmouth’s Tuck School of Business in New Hampshire for nine years and then zagging back to Owen, where she’s been at the helm since 2012. (As she shares below, she is not actually following
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