Weekly Columns

Keep up with the latest school facts and news from your fellow MBA applicants.

Published: June 2, 2016

Friday from the Frontlines: Tuck’s Global First-Year Project

This week’s Friday from the Frontlines comes to us from Nicholas Ritter, a second-year MBA student at Dartmouth’s Tuck School of Business who is spending the summer interning with IBM Watson’s Life Sciences team in New York. Prior to business school he worked as an electrical and product engineer for Nabsys, a biotech startup developing genomic sequencing technology. In his free time he is a Tripod Hockey Captain, a Revers Energy Fellow, an admissions associate and hard at work to form a Tuck Toboggan Club. In the post that follows, Ritter shares about his global first-year project with scaffolding manufacturing firm Read more

Published: May 26, 2016

Friday from the Frontlines: Kellogg’s Efforts to Infuse Design Thinking into the MBA

For those of you not yet familiar with the MMM Program at Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management, it is an immersive dual-degree program that pairs the rigorous business education of the MBA with a strong foundation in design thinking and innovation. Graduates of the MMM Program receive an MBA from Kellogg and an M.S. in design innovation from the Segal Design Institute at the McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science. The first degree-granting program of its kind, the MMM program was designed to help students become innovation experts capable of driving the entire innovation lifecycle of a product, service or business strategy. In addition to its unique curriculum, the program also features an annual MMM Innovation Council, drawing together business innovation leaders, including many MMM alumni. Read more

Published: May 19, 2016

Fridays from the Frontline: Recent HBS Alum Turns Down Google to Found His Own Startup

Tim Chaves, a graduate of Harvard Business School’s Class of 2015, snagged a coveted internship at Google during the summer following his first year at HBS. His performance led Google to offer him a full-time job after graduation. He turned it down. Who turns down Google? He turned it down to found a startup. And here’s the real kicker: He has three young kids. “That’s so risky,” said basically everyone. But in the post that follows, you’ll see why he thinks it was absolutely the right choice. His startup, ZipBooks, is a free small business accounting software platform Read more

Published: May 12, 2016

Fridays from the Frontline: Welcome Weekend at Vanderbilt Owen

Continuing our series of posts from applicants sharing how they arrived at a decision on where to enroll for business school, this week we hear from Dylan Bright about the admitted students’ weekend he attended at Vanderbilt University’s Owen Graduate School of Management. As you’ll read, the well-planned weekend helped him know that the Nashville school was the one for him. If you’ve recently decided on where you’re heading in the fall, we’d love to have you share your decision-making process with us in a subsequent post. And if you haven’t already, remember to submit via MBA DecisionWire! Read more

Published: May 5, 2016

Fridays from the Frontline: Having to Decide Between Multiple Schools

In last week’s Fridays from the Frontline, we circled back with an applicant who’d shared his admissions journey with us earlier in the process to see how it concluded. For this week’s post we did the same, checking in again with Natalie Neilson, who shared her application process here back in December. What we didn’t plan on was the fact that both of these applicants would reveal that they're heading off to the same school in the fall! (For anyone not heading to Wharton, we’d love to have you share your decision-making process with us in a subsequent post. And if you haven't already, remember to submit via MBA DecisionWire!) But though both applicants ultimately chose Wharton, the processes they followed in arriving at that decision took different turns. Neilson, for her part, was in the enviable spot of having to decide between multiple schools—eight of them. While perhaps one of the better stressors to face—you’ll see that it was indeed stressful. Read on to learn her advice for narrowing your list, making peace with your decision and making plans for the next two years! Read more

Published: April 28, 2016

Fridays from the Frontline: Why I Chose Wharton

Decisions, decisions. Some lucky applicants have been wrestling with decisions over the past many weeks, with acceptances to multiple MBA programs giving them tough choices to make. Along the way, we’ve seen an uptick in submissions to MBA DecisionWire, giving us some insight into where candidates have decided to go based on where they were admitted. One applicant, Preston Landers, had three top schools to select from when all was said and done. Landers wrote a post for Fridays from the Frontline earlier in the application process, and we circled back to see if he would Read more

Published: April 21, 2016

Fridays from the Frontline: Reapplying to HBS

Earlier this week, Harvard Business School (HBS) released interview invitations for applicants in Round 3, as well as for undergraduate applicants to its 2+2 Program. (This deferred admissions program guarantees a place for admitted undergrads in the HBS class after they graduate from college and successfully complete two years of approved work experience.) As expected, MBA LiveWire lit up with submissions as the decisions rolled in—but unfortunately red rejections far outnumbered interview invites. If you were among those “released” from consideration on Wednesday, don’t despair. As HBS itself notes, the school receives roughly ten applications for every available spot in the class, and every year it must turn away many qualified candidates. Not only that, reapplicants—people who were rejected on the first try—claim 94 spots in the Class of 2017. That’s almost a full tenth of the class! Read more

Published: April 14, 2016

Fridays from the Frontline: Tackling Trash at Yale School of Management

With Earth Day just around the corner, we are excited to feature a tale of tackling trash at Yale School of Management (SOM) as our Fridays from the Frontline post today. Andrew Greaves, a first-year MBA student at SOM—together with another SOM first-year, Andy Beck—recognized a problem on campus. Despite the fact that recycling and composting presents clear environmental and economic benefits to the school, too many recyclable and compostable materials were ending up in the trash. As Greaves and Beck began to investigate the situation, they learned some interesting things. For starters, the Dining and Facilities teams at SOM Read more

Published: March 31, 2016

Fridays from the Frontline: So You Want to Live in a French Villa for Business School?

A few weeks back in this space we included tips from a Harvard Business School (HBS) student on where to live on campus. This week, an INSEAD MBA student shares her dream of living in a French villa for business school and how she made it come true. Much like INSEAD itself, the villa sounds like an international melting pot, home to 11 students speaking 15 different languages. As you might expect, Fontainebleau offers a range of accommodations for INSEAD students, but snagging a villa or chateau takes a little more work. Have no fear: In the post that follows INSEAD December ’16 MBA student Winnie Van tells you exactly what steps to follow. Read more

Published: March 24, 2016

Fridays from the Frontline: A Recent HBS Alumna Reflects on Her Business School Experience

The paths that people follow to business school can be remarkably diverse—as can those they follow once they’re done. Mallory Dwinal’s interesting course to Harvard Business School (HBS) and beyond caught our attention. The recent HBS alumna (pictured above, far left) wound her way to the Boston business school only after picking up a PhD in education from the University of Oxford and working for Teach for America as a middle and high school Spanish teacher at a charter school in Washington, DC. The former Rhodes Scholar is now hard at work founding a school of her own—Oxford Day Academy—a Read more

Published: March 17, 2016

Fridays from the Frontline: An INSEAD Student Shares the Diverse Start to His MBA

With so much buzz around this week’s release of the 2017 U.S. News ranking of top business schools, we decided to devote this week’s Fridays from the Frontline to a student perspective from one of the schools not even mentioned. Because U.S. News ranks only U.S. business schools, some great schools elsewhere in the world get left out of the conversation. Case in point: INSEAD. INSEAD, with campuses in France, Singapore and Abu Dhabi, boasts a remarkably diverse class made up of more than 70 nationalities. Its accelerated 10-month program also appeals to students looking to gain an MBA skill set without taking a full two years out from the work force. While not perfect for every prospective MBA applicant, current student Rayan Dawud shares in the following post some of why INSEAD, so far, feels just right for him. Read more

Published: March 10, 2016

Fridays from the Frontline: HBS MBA Shares the Skinny on On-Campus Living

If you are heading to Harvard Business School in the fall, you’re thinking about where to live, yes? This week’s Fridays from the Frontline—from first-year HBS student Gil Gerstl—sheds light on why he chose to live on campus and the multiple advantages it has presented for him. Thanks to Gerstl for granting permission for us to share his views here! The following post has been republished in its entirety from its original source, “MBA Voices,” the HBS Admissions Blog. Living in an Apartment at HBS HBS is 40-acre residential campus, one that was built on the understanding that Read more

Published: March 8, 2016

MBA Admissions Mashup: Recommendations, Careers, and Off-Campus Housing

Every Wednesday, we share a round-up of the latest news from admissions blogs at the top business schools. As Round 2 interview invitations are being finalized, we turn our focus to Round 3 admissions tips as well as what MBA admissions blogs are posting regarding preparing for housing for the year(s) ahead in addition to how b-schools prepare their MBAs for the career search. In her admissions video update, assistant dean of admissions Sara Neher expressed excitement about the makeup of the Round 1 candidates who have already submitted their deposits to attend UVA / Darden: “Class as Read more

Published: March 3, 2016

Fridays from the Frontline: Kellogg Student Reflects on MBA Recruiting Process

This week’s Fridays from the Frontline comes to us from Kellogg School of Management second-year MBA student Rohan Rajiv, a regular contributor to Kellogg’s full-time MBA student blog. In a series called MBA Learnings, Rajiv has chronicled his progress through Kellogg’s MBA program. In today’s post, he shares candidly about MBA recruiting, which he says “is probably the single hardest piece of the graduate school puzzle.” Peer pressure and self doubt can combine to make the process of landing a post-MBA job fraught with stress. Read on to learn some of Rahiv’s tips for staying cool under pressure. Read more

Published: February 25, 2016

Fridays from the Frontline: Goizueta MBA Student Shares Emory’s Many Healthcare-Focused Opportunities

Earlier this week, we featured an article highlighting some of the best MBA programs for students interested in the intersection between business and healthcare. In reporting that piece, we came across a terrific recent blog post by a student working concurrently toward her MBA at Emory University’s Goizueta Business School and her Master of Public Health (MPH) at Emory’s Rollins School of Public Health. Claire Cooper (MBA/MPH ’17) with classmate on a trip to visit Genentech That student, Claire Cooper, has generously given us permission to republish her piece here for the Clear Admit audience. Read Read more

Published: February 23, 2016

MBA Admissions Mashup: Diversity & Inclusion

Every Wednesday, we share a round-up of the latest news from admissions blogs at the top business schools. This week’s MBA Admissions Mashup takes a look at what business schools and MBAs are doing to promote diversity and inclusion on campus and we’ve sprinkled in several admissions tips...just in time for your MBA interview or a Round 3 target deadline. Read more

Published: February 18, 2016

Fridays from the Frontline: Ross MBAs Get Investment Tips from Warren Buffett

How would you like to trade investment tips over lunch with Warren Buffett? A group of MBA students from the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business had just that opportunity last month. Two of them, Cazzie Palacios Brown (MBA/MS ʼ18) and Michelle Gross (MBA/MS ʼ17), shared their experiences and some of what they learned from the value investing giant in a recent post on the Ross Student Voices blog. They have generously allowed us to repost their piece here for the benefit of Clear Admit’s readers. Read on to learn how Buffett classifies investments, his views on social impact investing, Read more

Published: February 11, 2016

Fridays from the Frontline: An MBALauncher Shares Her Round 2 Application Process

Today’s Friday from the Frontline features an interview with Lisa Atufunwa, a 29-year-old Denver native who submitted applications to five schools as part of Round 2. Business school has always been a part of her plan, and she’s hoping the MBA will help her pivot her career. Currently working in communications for a range of tech companies, startups and public holding companies, Atufunwa is targeting schools with strong programs in marketing. Her post-MBA goal is to become an assistant brand manager in the personal beauty sector, working for a company like L'Oréal, Sephora or Estée Lauder. “That’s always been a personal passion of mine,” she says. Read more

Published: February 4, 2016

Fridays from the Frontline: Kellogg MBAs Gear Up for Super Bowl Ad Review

It’s time for the Super Bowl—and at Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management, that means it’s also time for the Super Bowl Ad Review. Brands spend more than $2 billion each year to advertise their products through Super Bowl commercials, some more effectively than others. For the 12th year running, Kellogg marketing students will apply their unique framework for evaluating an ad’s brand-building potential as part of the 2016 Kellogg Super Bowl Ad Review. As the players take the field on Sunday, more than 50 Kellogg MBA students will team up with marketing professors Tim Calkins and Derek Rucker to determine the winners and the losers in the battle of the brands. They’ll us the ADPLAN framework to evaluate each ad according to six critical criteria: Attention, Distinction, Positioning, Linkage, Amplifications and Net Equity. Read more

Published: January 28, 2016

Fridays from the Frontline: Yale SOM MBA Student Tests His Mettle on Shark Tank

This week in Fridays from the Frontline we’re featuring an exclusive interview with Shaan Patel, a 26-year-old, second-year MBA student at Yale School of Management (SOM) who tonight will appear on ABC’s Shark Tank. Patel, who is taking a two-year leave of absence from medical school to get his MBA, also runs a company on the side that helps high school students prepare for the SAT and ACT college entrance exams. The Las Vegas native launched the company—called 2400 Expert SAT Prep—to teach others the strategies that helped him achieve his own perfect 2400 SAT score. In the interview that follows, he shares how business school prepared him for Shark Tank and why he thinks the MBA is a valuable path for entrepreneurs. He also offers tips for business school students who want to try their hand at getting on the show. (Even thought he had to wait in line for nine hours for the casting call—missing a pitch competition taking place back on campus as a result—he thinks it was worth it.) Read more

Published: January 21, 2016

Fridays from the Frontline: Triumphant Reapplicant Gains Admission at UCLA Anderson

If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. Our Fridays from the Frontline contributor this week took these words to heart, reapplying in fall 2015 after an unsuccessful application process the year before. A young female Indian engineer, she had relatively strong scores and grades, but not a ton of experience under her belt. Read on to learn some of the steps she took to strengthen her application the second time around—gaining admission at UCLA Anderson. While happy to share her story with the Clear Admit audience, she wants to remain anonymous until she actually matriculates. So until then, we’ll just refer to her as the Pull That MBA Trigger blogger. Read more

Published: January 14, 2016

Fridays from the Frontlines: Kellogg MBAs Take Silicon Valley

Welcome back to Fridays from the Frontlines, where each week we feature the perspectives of current MBA applicants, students and recent alumni wherever they are in the trajectory of business school. Today we’re pleased to feature a post from Luke Murphy, a first-year MBA candidate at Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management, who recently led a group of fellow students on a trek to San Francisco startups. He was a good one to help organize the trip, having grown up in the Bay Area and worked there for years before business school, most recently as director of business development at Nasdaq in San Francisco. But as you’ll see in the post that follows, even he was surprised by some of what the trip revealed. Read more

Published: January 12, 2016

MBA Admissions Mashup: Admitted Students Weekends

Every Wednesday, we share a round-up of the latest news from admissions blogs at the top business schools. Congratulations to all Round 1 applications who have received positive news from their target schools! (Needless to say, we urge you to head on over to MBA LiveWire to share the good news!) Now that you’ve been admitted, you’re surely receiving invitations to attend Admitted Student Weekends where you’ll have plenty of opportunity to mix and mingle with other future MBAs. Your future classmates await! With this in mind, we’re taking a look at schools hosting admit weekends as Read more

Published: January 7, 2016

Fridays from the Frontline: Juggling Motherhood and the MBA at HBS

How many times have you heard someone liken pursuing an MBA to drinking from a fire hose? Between the coursework, student clubs, networking, recruiting—there aren’t enough hours in the day. Now imagine doing it as mom to a three-year-old. Katie Colgary is a second-year student doing precisely that—juggling motherhood and the MBA at Harvard Business School (HBS). She graciously agreed to share this recent blog post with Clear Admit’s readers, in which she reveals how she does it, as well as what resources are in place at HBS to help make doing it possible. Read more

Published: December 31, 2015

Fridays from the Frontline: The HEC Paris MBA Experience with Footnotes

Happy 2016 everyone! Today in Fridays from the Frontline, we’re featuring a post submitted to us by Prashant Khorana about his HEC Paris MBA experience. On Twitter, Khorana (@prashantkhorana) describes himself as a data scientist/mathematician who is passionate about analytics, economics, finance, leadership and investing and who hates unproductive activities. Titled “Brief Notes on the HEC Paris MBA Experience,” the post is nonetheless longer than we generally publish here—especially with the footnotes, which Khorana doesn’t want you to miss. So we’ve offered you a taste to whet your appetite and encourage you to follow the link below to read the post in its entirety. He covers everything you’ve ever wondered about HEC Paris, from getting in to settling in, from learning French to surviving St. Cyr and triumphing at MBAT. Many thanks to Khorana for sharing his experience with the Clear Admit audience. Read more

< 1 … 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 … > 26

MBA Applywire

November 20, 2024 9:42pm ET

Applying: Babson / Olin, , Carnegie Mellon / Tepper, Emory / Goizueta, Rice / Jones, Rochester / Simon, SMU Cox, UCI Merage, Washington U. / Olin

Intake Year: 2025

Pre-MBA Career: Technology - Entrepreneurship

Post-MBA Target Industry: Consulting, Technology, Entrepreneurship

GRE: 333

GPA: 2.56

Years of Work Experience: 5

Location: Lagos

Notes:

I just got rejected for WashU Olin and I have an interview invitation with Questrom. GPA continues to bother me but I addressed it in my supporting essays.

November 19, 2024 12:51pm ET

Applying: Berkeley / Haas, Cornell / Johnson, Dartmouth / Tuck, Duke / Fuqua, INSEAD, Michigan / Ross, MIT Sloan, Northwestern / Kellogg, U. Chicago Booth, UPenn / Wharton, Yale SOM

Intake Year: 2025

Pre-MBA Career: Tech in government

Post-MBA Target Industry: Consulting, Entrepreneurship Companies: Bain , McKinsey

GRE: 319

GPA: 2.9

Years of Work Experience: 7

Notes:

I got cancer when I was undergrad that's why my undergrad GPA is low. After MBA I want to work in consulting then make a social impact in Africa through entrepreneurship

November 19, 2024 12:06pm ET

Applying: Duke / Fuqua, Harvard Business School, Michigan / Ross, Northwestern / Kellogg, Stanford GSB, U. Chicago Booth, U. Washington / Foster, UNC Kenan-Flagler, UT Austin / McCombs, UVA / Darden

Pre-MBA Career: Wealth Management and Military

Post-MBA Target Industry: Consulting, Asset Management, inc. HF, Other Companies: Bain , BCG , Deloitte , McKinsey , Goldman Sachs , JP Morgan Asset Management , State Street , Vanguard

GPA: 3.80

Years of Work Experience: 7

Location: San Diego

Post MBA Location: Chicago, Seattle, Minneapolis, Charlotte

Notes:

UG Degree: BBA Financial Markets at an Accredited Institution.

Civilian Work History: 3 years as Wealth Advisor under an RIA in Minneapolis and Denver. Total AUM of ~$350-400M, served as a salaried advisor in a primary and secondary capacity. Holistic services to include investment management, estate planning, retirement planning, insurance planning, tax planning, etc.

Military History: 4 years as a supply/logistics officer heading efforts for air/ground mobility, defense contracting, supply and procurement, and fiscal budget management while located at various bases within CONUS and multiple forward deployed locations.

Professional Certifications: Obtained Certified Financial Planner designation (2022) and Series 65 (2019).

November 18, 2024 12:50am ET

Applying: Columbia, Dartmouth / Tuck, Duke / Fuqua, Emory / Goizueta, NYU Stern, UNC Kenan-Flagler, Yale SOM

Intake Year: 2025

Pre-MBA Career: Consulting

Post-MBA Target Industry: Investment Banking Companies: Bank of America , Barclays , Citibank , Credit Suisse , Goldman Sachs , JP Morgan Chase

GRE: 323

GPA: 3.32

Years of Work Experience: 7

Notes:

Education:
- Combined Major in Economics and Statistics
- CFA Charterholder (passed all three levels on the first attempt)

Professional Experience:
- Manager at a Big 4 firm Specializing in capital projects and infrastructure, with a role similar to investment banking
- Seven years of experience, mainly in financial services in Ghana

Extracurricular Activities:
- Pro bono capital-raising services for SMEs
- Aspiring to run a full advisory firm for SMEs in the future
- CFA exam coaching and tutorial classes for candidates
- Founder of a travel and tour club offering affordable trips to explore beautiful and historic scenes in Ghana

Will being 32 years old affect the attractiveness of my candidacy?

November 17, 2024 9:24am ET

Applying: Columbia, , Georgetown / McDonough, Harvard Business School, INSEAD, NYU Stern, Oxford / Saïd, Stanford GSB, UCLA Anderson, Yale SOM

Pre-MBA Career: Higher Education

Post-MBA Target Industry: Consulting, Technology, Investment Banking, Venture Capital, Private Equity, Media, Undecided Companies: Bain , BCG , McKinsey , JP Morgan , Morgan Stanley , JP Morgan Chase , Apple , Google , Microsoft , Andressen Horowitz , Charles River , Sequoia Capital , Blackstone , KKR , 21st Century Fox , Comcast , Walt Disney

GPA: 3.97

Years of Work Experience: 5

Location: Denver, Colorado

Post MBA Location: New York City

View or Submit Entries

MBA LiveWire

November 22, 2024 11:27am ET

Accepted to Cornell / Johnson

Round: Round 1

Received via phone on November 20, 2024

GPA: 3.97

GRE: 324

Program Type: Traditional Two-Year

Target Career: Healthcare

Application Location: United States

November 22, 2024 11:27am ET

Accepted to NYU Stern

Round: Round 1

Received via phone November 22, 2024

GMAT: 655

Program Type: One Year Program

Target Career: Technology

Application Location: Brazil

Note:

Tech MBA, interviewed on 10/31

November 22, 2024 10:54am ET

Accepted to NYU Stern

Round: Round 1

Received via phone November 22, 2024

GMAT: 675

Program Type: Traditional Two-Year

Application Location: Taiwan

Note:

Interviewed in late Oct, really excited to get the call!

November 22, 2024 8:08am ET

Accepted to Cambridge / Judge

Round: Round 2

Received via email November 22, 2024

GMAT: 695

Program Type: One Year Program

Application Location: Asia

November 22, 2024 1:39am ET

Rejected at Columbia

Round: Round 1

Received via portal on November 14, 2024

GMAT: 695

Program Type: Traditional Two-Year

Target Career: Consulting

Application Location: India

View or Submit Entries

Live
Wire