The Leading Independent
Resource for Top-tier MBA
Candidates

News

Keep up with the latest events and news on MBA programs, Part-Time and Executive Programs, and rankings.
Published: July 22, 2015
Introducing the New and Enhanced Clear Admit Website
We are thrilled to announce the launch of our new and enhanced Clear Admit website, which includes a range of interactive features, exclusive content and improved navigation to help prospective MBA applicants quickly and easily find resources to guide them through the admissions process for the top MBA programs. This comprehensive site redesign reflects our mission as the leading independent resource for top-tier MBA applicants and helps us share the admissions expertise we have developed over the past 14 years. Read more
Published: July 21, 2015
Darden’s Dean Is Bullish on School’s Future as He Prepares to Depart
We had the distinct pleasure of speaking recently with Bob Bruner, who for the past 10 years has served as dean of the Darden School of Business at the University of Virginia. He will step down at the end of this month, when Scott Beardsley becomes the ninth dean of the school. In the wide-ranging interview that follows, Dean Bruner reflects on his time at Darden, the strengths his successor will bring in his role as Darden's dean, the state of graduate management education and why he is optimistic about Darden’s future. As always, he was thoughtful and engaging, with valuable insights for anyone considering business school, whether at Darden or elsewhere. We are so grateful to him for making the time to speak with us. Read more
Published: July 20, 2015
Citi CIO Debby Hopkins Named Haas’ Newest Executive Fellow
This post has been republished in its entirety from its original source metromba.com.  The Haas School of Business at the University of California at Berkeley recently named Citi Chief Innovation Officer (CIO) Debby Hopkins as Haas’ newest executive fellow. Hopkins, who is also CEO of Citi Ventures, is returning to Haas in this new role after speaking as part of the Haas Dean’s Speaker Series in 2012. “Debby is a trailblazer, continuing to question the status quo in her industry,” Haas Dean Rich Lyons said in a statement. “Her views on innovative leadership and social enterprise deeply resonate with our school's identity—we're thrilled to welcome her back.” Read more
Published: July 19, 2015
New Associate Dean to Spearhead Growing Entrepreneurship at Yale SOM
As a reflection of the growing importance of entrepreneurship at the Yale School of Management (SOM), the director of the school’s entrepreneurship initiatives has been appointed associate dean, the school announced earlier this month. Kyle Jensen joined Yale SOM last year as the inaugural Shanna and Eric Bass ’05 Director of Entrepreneurship. Under his leadership, the school’s Program on Entrepreneurship added seven new entrepreneurship courses last year, drawing students from the entire university. Read more
Published: July 17, 2015
MIT Sloan Admissions to Host Women’s Week, August 3rd – 6th
The MIT Sloan School of Management admissions team has planned a week of events in early August designed to showcase the diverse paths and accomplishments of its women students and graduates to prospective female applicants. The week, which will take place from August 3rd through 6th, will include a Google Hangout open to prospective applicants anywhere in the world, as well as alumnae panels in five U.S. cities. “Our female students bring unique backgrounds, perspectives and beliefs to MIT Sloan, building a diverse campus community filled with opportunity,” reads an announcement about the events on the school’s website. “Their collective experiences create a rich educational experience and fuel the experimentation and transformation that develop principled, innovative leaders who improve the world.” Read more
Published: July 13, 2015
Admissions Director Offers Advice on Kellogg’s New Essay Questions
We caught up with Director of Admissions Beth Tidmarsh late last week to discuss the new essay questions posted by the Kellogg School of Mangement on July 8th. Though the wording and order of the questions has changed slightly this year, applicants are asked, like last year, to respond to two required prompts and given 900 words in which to provide their answers. As in past years, applicants also have the opportunity to respond to an additional optional essay with no word limit. Leadership and collaboration once again factor prominently into Kellogg’s new essay questions this year, but Tidmarsh and her team hope the prompts provide applicants with a great deal of latitude in how they respond. Read more
Published: July 12, 2015
Entrepreneurship at Ross Gets Major Boost with $60 Million Alumni Gift
A generous new pledge from longstanding benefactors to the University of Michigan will supercharge entrepreneurship studies at the Ross School of Business, the school announced today. The $60 million gift, from the Zell Family Foundation, will provide endowed support for the Samuel Zell and Robert H. Lurie Institute for Entrepreneurial Studies. The institute was originally established in 1999 with a $10 million gift from the Zell Family Foundation and the Ann and Robert H. Lurie Family Foundation. This newest injection of cash will support continued development of entrepreneurship programs for students and alumni, including $10 million dedicated to a new fund that will invest in new student business ventures. Read more
Published: July 10, 2015
UCLA Anderson Entrepreneurship Bootcamp Helps Kick Start Vets
This post has been reproduced in its entirety from its original source metromba.com. On Saturday, July 11th, a group of disabled veterans will use their military abilities of resilience, focus and leadership to learn the basics of business ownership at the Entrepreneurship Bootcamp for Veterans with Disabilities (EBV) at UCLA Anderson. The event, co-hosted by the Institute for Veterans and Military Families at Syracuse University (IVMF) and the Harold and Pauline Price Center for Entrepreneurial Studies at UCLA Anderson School of Management, helps post-9/11 veterans with service-connected disabilities develop skills and tools needed to launch, grow and lead successful businesses. Read more
Published: July 9, 2015
Seven Schools Join Forces for Events Focused on Women in Business School
Starting next week, seven leading business schools will host a series of events around the country designed to showcase the value of the MBA for women and the experiences of women in business school. Participating schools include Michigan’s Ross School, the Haas School at UC Berkeley, Cornell Johnson, UVA’s Darden School, Duke’s Fuqua School, NYU Stern and the Yale School of Management. Admissions representatives and alumnae from all the schools will gather for each of five events, scheduled for Chicago, Washington, DC; New York City, Boston and San Francisco. The events will each feature a panel discussion in which female alums from each school will discuss the implications and value of an MBA degree for women in business today. Participants will also have an opportunity to meet fellow prospective applicants, network with alumnae, get tips on the application process and learn more about life on campus and recruiting. Read more
Published: July 8, 2015
New HEC Paris Dean Appointed to Succeed Outgoing Bernard Ramanantsoa
Leading French business school HEC Paris yesterday announced a new dean to succeed Bernard Ramanantsoa, who steps down at the end of August after 20 years in the role. Respected researcher and professor Peter Todd will take Ramanantsoa’s place beginning September 1st, serving as the school’s first-ever non-French dean. The Canadian-born Todd, an expert in the fields of innovation management and information technologies, also brings significant experience managing MBA programs. Until 2014, he served as dean of the Desautels School at Canada’s McGill University, where he himself obtained his undergraduate degree. Read more
Published: July 7, 2015
Harvard Business School Case Method Video Slated for Makeover
If you’ve looked at the new essay prompt for Harvard Business School (HBS) this year, you may have noticed that applicants are encouraged to view a video before starting to write. If you hadn’t noticed, you’re welcome. HBS Managing Director of Admissions and Financial Aid Dee Leopold is passionate about applicants watching this video, which brings to life the signature HBS case method. “I am a nut about that,” she confesses. “If I could require that applicants watch it, I would.” Read more
Published: July 5, 2015
Chicago Booth Gears Up to Welcome Summer Business Scholars
Want to test drive an MBA? The University of Chicago Booth School of Business provides an opportunity to do just that through its Summer Business Scholars Program (SBSP). This unique program convenes participants from around the globe on Booth’s campus for three weeks during the summer to study accounting, finance, marketing and leadership while gaining valuable career development insight and networking opportunities with Chicago-based companies. The goal of the SBSP is to give participating scholars a unique opportunity to learn business principles and gain hands-on experience before starting their careers. This year, Chicago Booth has carefully reviewed applications to assemble a diverse group of 65 participants from 25 different countries. Beyond their international diversity, the group also represents a wide range of undergraduate majors, from economics to art history to biomedical engineering. Read more
Published: July 1, 2015
A PEEK Is All It Takes: HBS’s Innovative Initiative to Woo Women
HBS Professor Youngme Moon teaching PEEK students Photo credit: Evgenia Eliseeva For Priyanka Krishnamoorthy, a 2015 Mt. Holyoke graduate working in investment banking at Bank of America, a recent weekend at Harvard Business School (HBS) helped set her sights on pursuing an MBA. The Sri Lankan native majored in economics and minored in math and had been thinking about business school for a while. She originally read about PEEK—an innovative weekend program HBS debuted last month for students from women’s colleges—in an article in the paper. She decided to apply after attending an information session HBS held at neighboring Smith College. “They pitched it really well as a way to see what HBS is like,” she recalls. “On campus you hear a lot about PhD programs and law school, but not about business school.” For Krishnamoorthy, the highlight of the weekend was getting to meet current HBS students and alumnae and hearing about the decisions they made both before and after business school. Just a few weeks into her own first job, she found their choices really eye-opening. “I thought there was a set path to it, but they all said, ‘No, you can come from anywhere.’” She was encouraged multiple times throughout the weekend to think of the MBA more as a master’s in leadership than a master’s in business administration. Read more
Published: June 30, 2015
NYU Stern Ranked Number One in Support of LGBTQ MBA Students
Last week’s momentous Supreme Court ruling on marriage equality helped more people than ever before feel like the United States is a great place to be part of the LGBTQ community. Maybe it got you wondering about which business schools are the best places to be part of that community? As it turns out, there’s a ranking for that. And this year, New York University (NYU) Stern School of Business soared to the top, winning recognition for getting more of its student body involved to help foster an LGBTQ-inclusive campus culture than any other top business school. The MBA Ally Challenge rankings, released in June, are the culmination of a year-long competition launched by nonprofit organization Friendfactor as part of an effort to encourage straight people to become visible and active allies in their workplace and campus communities. Twenty-three schools participated this year, shattering prior records. Together, the business schools involved 9,000 students as allies—more than double last year’s participation of 4,300—and hosted more than 280 events and activities. Collectively, the schools improved LGBTQ inclusiveness on campuses by 30 percent based on measures taken at the beginning and again at the end of the school year, Friendfactor reports. Read more
Published: June 29, 2015
Fuqua Admissions Dean Dishes on Essays and Life
It’s not every admissions director who will make time during her vacation to discuss how prospective business school applicants should approach their essays. And yet Liz Riley Hargrove, associate dean for admissions at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business, did just that. Speaking from North Carolina’s Outer Banks this morning, before the kids woke up ready to head to the beach, she shared insights with Clear Admit on the essay prompts released last week. Not a lot has changed this year in terms of Fuqua’s application, it turns out. Applicants will find they have twice as much space in which to answer three short-answer prompts—one on short-term goals, one on long-term goals and one on an alternative plan should that first short-term goal not pan out. This year candidates get 500 characters for each response, up from 250 last year. “We wanted to give candidates a little more opportunity to expand upon their responses,” she says of this year’s doubled answer field. Read more
Published: June 24, 2015
New Certificate Program at NYU Stern Lets Working Professionals Sample the MBA
Not sure you’re ready for a complete MBA? Why not try out a quarter of an MBA? A program introduced earlier this year at New York University (NYU) Stern School of Business lets you do just that. The new Advanced Professional Certificate (APC) program lets participants take five courses in either finance, marketing or general business taught by Stern’s world-class faculty, alongside students in the school’s part-time MBA program. Upon completion of any of the three tracks, participants receive a certificate registered with the New York State Department of Education. The program is great for working professionals who want to quickly build knowledge in a specific area as well as for those who already have an MBA but want to refresh or supplement their expertise. Qualified candidates can apply for admission to the program and take courses on a part-time basis in MBA classes where there is capacity. Enrolled students will have up to two years to complete the five courses, or 15 credits, required for certification in any of the three tracks. Read more
Published: June 23, 2015
MBA Provides Both Immediate and Lasting Value, Say Graduates
Type “the MBA is” into Google, and the autocomplete box fills with inauspicious indicators of the degree’s value. “The MBA is losing its magic” is followed by “the MBA is worthless” and “why the MBA is a waste of time and money.” Students graduating with an MBA disagree—and quite emphatically—according to a survey report released today at the annual Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC) Conference in Denver. “Business school graduates are clear in their judgment that their degrees not only provided immediate value, but lasting value,” Bob Alig, GMAC’s executive vice president for school products, said in a statement announcing the results. Indeed, nine out of 10 of the more than 3,000 graduating business school students who responded to the GMAC Global Management Education Graduate Survey (GMEGS) rate the value of their degree as good to outstanding, and 88 percent would recommend their program to others considering a graduate business degree. Read more
Published: June 22, 2015
Today’s Mobile Generation Wants Business School Admissions on the Go
Business schools that aren’t meeting prospective applicants on their mobile devices and via social media may need to rethink their strategy—and fast. This according to a recent survey measuring how today's mobile generation consumes media as part of the MBA admissions process. Results of the survey, conducted by Southwark Consulting and the Graduate Management Admissions Council (GMAC), were released last week. “Everyone has read stories and surveys about this newest generation shifting its media consumption habits,” says Southwark consultant Alex Brown, who co-authored the study. “The interesting thing about this study is that it is the first one to specifically target people applying to or considering business school.” The survey’s 743 respondents from around the world were all registered on mba.com, the official website of the Graduate Management Admissions Test (GMAT), which is the primary entrance exam for business school applicants. Read more
Published: June 21, 2015
Stanford GSB Admissions Gears Up to Host East Coast Information Sessions
Are you considering Stanford Graduate School of Business (GSB) but unable to head to Palo Alto now to see the campus first hand? We’ve got good news for prospective applicants on the East Coast: Members of the Stanford GSB admissions team will be joined by Stanford MBA alumni for a series of events from Washington, DC to Boston between now and September. Get an overview of the MBA program from admissions representatives, hear about student life from those who have experienced it and ask any questions you have about the school or its admissions process. On tap are both general information sessions and sessions designed specifically for female prospective applicants and for prospective applicants of color. Advanced registration is required—sign up now to reserve your spot. Read more
Published: June 19, 2015
Cornell’s Johnson School Admission Director Shares Excitement about Forté Conference
Current MBA students and alumni from leading schools around the country and the globe convened yesterday and today for the 2015 Forté Foundation MBA Women’s Leadership Conference, held this year at Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business. Representatives from Forté’s sponsor schools are as important a part of the conference as the student attendees. Admissions directors and others from Forté’s 48 sponsor schools attend in order to meet students, learn from speakers and network with sponsor companies. They also share their own challenges and triumphs as they relate to enhancing the experience of current and prospective female MBA students. Judi Byers, executive director of admissions and financial aid at the S.C. Johnson Graduate School of Management at Cornell University, shared her excitement via Twitter about attending this year’s conference. Clear Admit caught up with Byers, who joined the Johnson School earlier this spring, to learn a little more about what she most hoped to gain from the event. Read more
Published: June 19, 2015
Forté Foundation Women’s Leadership Conference Draws Record Attendance
Current female MBA students and alumni have come out in droves this year for the 2015 Forté Foundation MBA Women’s Leadership Conference, taking place now at Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business. Kicking off with a sponsors meeting on Thursday for school and company representatives, followed by a career-focused day of programming yesterday and a day centered around professional development today, the conference this year has welcomed 459 MBA women and alumni, in addition to more than 100 speakers and presenters. For those who don’t know Forté, it is a nonprofit consortium of leading companies and top business schools devoted to launching women into successful business careers. “I think we have pulled together some really interesting topics that a lot people want to hear about,” says Elissa Sangster, Forté Foundation executive director, when asked what contributed to this year’s record attendance. “We are excited to see it all come together.” Read more
Published: June 18, 2015
A European MBA: Right for You?
IESE in Barcelona, Spain With the dollar reaching a 12-year high against the euro earlier this spring, much ink has been spilled about how the time is right to head to Europe for an MBA. Indeed, pursuing a graduate management education abroad can present a range of advantages for American students—with cost savings chief among them, especially given the recent relative strength of the dollar. That said, the decision of whether or not to head to one of Europe’s top business schools is a highly personal one best made after careful consideration of many factors that extend well beyond any savings tied to currency rates. “Oh yes, I definitely did benefit from the exchange rate,” says Alexander Eldred, a Washington, DC native currently completing his MBA at France’s HEC Paris. As luck would have it, Eldred paid the bulk of HEC’s 52,000 euro tuition in March, right as the euro dipped to 1.05 to the dollar. Had he paid the entire tuition then, it would have amounted to $54,600 for a degree that just a year earlier would have run him $72,280. Add to that living expenses, which are similarly lower than they have been historically thanks to the exchange rate, and the savings stack up.   Read more
Published: June 18, 2015
Berkeley Haas Center Expands Social Sector Leadership Focus
A new name and a new logo help trumpet the expanded mission of a center devoted to advancing social sector leadership at the UC Berkeley Haas School of Business. Previously known as the Center for Nonprofit and Public Leadership, the renamed Center for Social Sector Leadership (CSSL) seeks to help develop a new generation of business leaders focused on fostering social impact across the public, private and nonprofit sectors, the school reports. “The future requires collaboration between these sectors, and Berkeley-Haas is arguably the best place to define how this next generation of problem solving works,” Ben Mangan, executive director of the rechristened Center for Social Sector Leadership, said in a statement. The center focuses on training MBA students to become multi-sector leaders, helping them build skills that will serve them as corporate leaders, public advisors and members of nonprofit and social enterprise boards. Read more
Published: June 17, 2015
The Value of the European MBA: Meet Top Programs in New York Next Week
The following content was provided to Clear Admit by our partners at The MBA Tour. Have you considered pursuing an MBA degree in Europe? In a world that has become increasingly global, studying abroad can offer many advantages for applicants seeking a diverse student body, a faster-paced program and smaller class sizes focused on collaborative teamwork. Hear the experiences of students and faculty from European MBA programs: Diversity As a continent, Europe is inherently multicultural, representing a vibrant mix of nationalities, customs and languages. European MBA programs reflect this diversity, frequently boasting classes made up Read more
Published: June 16, 2015
Stanford GSB Students Single Out Marketing Professor for Distinguished Teaching Award
As part of commencement exercises last week, MBA students at Stanford Graduate School of Business (GSB) celebrated an associate professor of marketing for his contributions in teaching and student impact, the school reports. Jonathan Levav, who joined Stanford in 2011, teaches a management foundation class entitled “Project Launch,” in which students learn how to analyze market situations to determine whether a product launch makes sense. He also teaches an elective called “From Launch to Liquidity,” which calls on students to examine the challenges start-ups face in achieving liquidity from the perspectives of organizational behavior, marketing and finance. His research—which combines laboratory and field experiments with secondary data analysis—focuses on consumer behavior and behavioral decision theory. Read more

MBA Applywire

6
December 22, 2024 6:32am ET
Applying: Cornell / Johnson, Michigan / Ross, MIT Sloan, UNC Kenan-Flagler, UVA / Darden, Vanderbilt / Owen
Intake Year: 2025
Pre-MBA Career: Construction & RE (2nd Gen Entrepreneur)
Post-MBA Target Industry: Technology, Investment Banking, Venture Capital, Private Equity, Asset Management, inc. HF, Commercial Banking, Family Business Companies: Citibank , Deutsche Bank , Morgan Stanley , Accell Partners , Andressen Horowitz , First Round Capital , Sequoia Capital , Bain Capital , Blackstone , Goldman Sachs Principal Investment Group , Blackrock , Goldman Sachs , JP Morgan Asset Management , State Street , Citibank , Morgan Stanley
GRE: 326
GPA: 3.80
Years of Work Experience: 5
Location: India
5
December 21, 2024 12:13pm ET
Applying: Dartmouth / Tuck, Northwestern / Kellogg, UPenn / Wharton, UT Austin / McCombs, UVA / Darden
Intake Year: 2025
Pre-MBA Career: Military/Corporate Logistics
Post-MBA Target Industry: Consulting Companies: Bain , BCG , McKinsey
GRE: 302
GPA: 3.63
Years of Work Experience: 9
Notes:

Submitting for R2, but retaking GRE after application deadline. Military Vet with Corporate experience.
8
December 20, 2024 5:17pm ET
Applying: Columbia, Duke / Fuqua, Harvard Business School, MIT Sloan, Northwestern / Kellogg, Stanford GSB, U. Chicago Booth, UPenn / Wharton
Intake Year: 2025
Pre-MBA Career: Healthcare
Post-MBA Target Industry: Consulting Companies: Bain , BCG
GRE: 332
GPA: 3.5
Years of Work Experience: 3
Location: Florida
Post MBA Location: Consulting
Notes:

25F, lgbtq, 3 years as a registered nurse. also have started working for an early stage VC in the past several months.
2
December 19, 2024 4:44pm ET
Applying: Berkeley / Haas, Stanford GSB
Intake Year: 2025
Pre-MBA Career: Insurance
Post-MBA Target Industry: Entrepreneurship
GRE: 318
GPA: 3.59
Years of Work Experience: 3.5
Location: Georgia
Post MBA Location: Southeast
Notes:

Looking to launch a tech startup post MBA, without any background in tech. Come from a quant heavy background and undergraduate coursework. I regularly attended admissions events, in person and online at my schools. I hope that focusing energy on my few top schools and spending a lot of time on essays will help me overcome the less than average test score (164 quant 154 verbal) and GPA.

Serial entrepreneur with a history of profitable small businesses. Was promoted twice in 3.5 years. Involved in many extracurricular activities in and outside of work. My background is very centered around financial services/insurance, is this a red flag for a pivot to Tech Entrepreneurship?

Transferred between two state schools in the southeast. School I graduated from is a top 25 undergrad business program. Obtained a few professionals designations post grad.
3
December 18, 2024 11:38am ET
Applying: Michigan / Ross, UNC Kenan-Flagler, Vanderbilt / Owen
Intake Year: 2025
Pre-MBA Career: Held various positions in Finance and Accounting in a healthcare institution
Post-MBA Target Industry: Consulting, Other Companies: BCG , Deloitte , Other
GPA: 3.0
Years of Work Experience: 11
Location: International
Notes:

I am passionate about healthcare enhancing patient quality care. So exploring in that field is what I would love. Got a 72k scholarship from Vandy and named Forte Fellow. UNC 50k. I'm having a hard time deciding though my heart is leaning towards Owen
View or Submit Entries

MBA LiveWire

December 22, 2024 1:36pm ET
Accepted to UT Austin / McCombs
Round: Round 1
Received via email on December 16, 2024
GRE: 319
Program Type: Traditional Two-Year
Target Career: Consulting
Application Location: United Kingdom
Note:

$20k merit scholarship offer.
December 22, 2024 12:04pm ET
Accepted to Stanford GSB
Round: Round 1
Received via phone
GPA: 3.7
GMAT: 750
Program Type: Traditional Two-Year
Target Career: Technology
Application Location: Asia
December 22, 2024 4:59am ET
Accepted to UPenn / Wharton
Round: Round 1
Received via portal
GMAT: 730
Program Type: Traditional Two-Year
Target Career: Finance
Application Location: Southeast Asia
Note:

Elated and did not expect it!
December 21, 2024 8:37am ET
Accepted to Duke / Fuqua
Round: Round 1
Received via phone on December 11, 2024
GMAT: 675
Program Type: Traditional Two-Year
Target Career: Consulting
December 21, 2024 2:38am ET
Waitlisted at Duke / Fuqua
Round: Round 1
Received via phone on December 10, 2024
GPA: 3.27
GMAT: 760
Program Type: Traditional Two-Year
Target Career: Finance
Application Location: CA
View or Submit Entries
Live
Wire