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Fuqua Expels Students Over Copied Tests

2007-05-02T15:32:00.000-07:00

Over 30 first-year MBA students at the Fuqua School of Business at Duke Unviersity are now facing severe penalties for having collaborated on the written answers for a take-home test and other class assignments.

The punishments meted out by the School's Judicial Board include expulsions for 9 students and one-year suspensions for 15 others. 9 other students will receive a failing grade for the course the work was for, and 1 will receive a failing grade on the exam in question.

The students have until mid-May to appeal the Judicial Board rulings.

The students got into trouble when one of their professors noticed that the wording of the answers on a number of the take-home tests were almost identical. That discovery prompted a wider review of other class assignments, some of which were also so similar that they suggested students had collaborated on what were supposed to be individual assignments.

Source: "Cheating Incident Involving 34 Students at Duke Is Business School's Biggest Ever," the Chronicle of Higher Education, April 30, 2007

Study Names Wharton Top B-School in Research Productivity

2007-03-27T13:24:00.000-07:00

Wharton is the top business school in the country in terms of research productivity, according to an annual survey by the School of Management at the University of Texas in Dallas.

This is the third year in a row that Wharton has topped UT Dallas' b-school productivity rankings.

This year's top five schools are:

The University of Pennsylvania - Wharton
New York University - Stern
Harvard Business School
The University of Chicago GSB
Duke University - Fuqua

UT Dallas itself ranked 32nd in the overall rankings, which consider research productivity in all areas of business. It ranked 5th in research on Information Systems and 7th in research on Operations Management.

Source: "Business School Research Productivity Rankings Put Wharton on Top." Press Release, School of Business, the University of Texas at Dallas (Richardson, Texas), March 27, 2007.

Ross Application Numbers Rise By a Third

2007-03-20T13:58:00.000-07:00

The University of Michigan's Ross School of Business received almost one-third more MBA applications this year than it did in 2005-2006, according to an article in the School's newspaper.

This year's application volume was 31 per cent higher than last year's. The quality of applications increased as well, with the average GMAT score for all applicants and for accepted applicants rising by several points.

Employment Stats for Stanford GSB Class of 2006

2007-02-07T13:58:00.000-08:00

97 per cent of MBA students who graduated from the Stanford GSB in 2006 had received full-time job offers within 3 months of graduation.

The median base salary for the 87 per cent of Class members who provided that data was $110,000.

60 per cent of Class members reported receiving a signing bonus, worth an average of $20,000.

Source: "Employment Report - Class of 2006," the Stanford Graduate School of Business

Financial Times Rankings for 2007

2007-01-31T15:21:00.000-08:00

The Financial Times has released its 2007 rankings of the world's top MBA programs.

According to the FT, the 10 best MBA programs in the world are:

The Wharton School
Columbia Business School
Harvard Business School
Stanford GSB
London Business School
The University of Chicago GSB
INSEAD
NYU – Stern
Dartmouth – Tuck School of Business
Yale SOM

Kelley Named Best MBA for Entrepreneurs

2007-01-24T15:00:00.000-08:00

Indiana University's Kelley School of Business has won the 2007 National Model MBA in Entrepreneurship award. The U.S. Association of Small Business and Entrepreneurship gives the award each year to the business school that offers aspiring entrepreneurs the best preparation for the unique challenges they will face. Kelley's program won high marks for its educational quality, comprehensiveness, innovation, and its impact on the national and global level.

Source: "Kelley School of Business' MBA Entrepreneurship Program, Director Earn Top National Honors," press release, Kelley School of Business (Bloomington, IN), January 18, 2007

Sloan Students Win Yahoo! Case Competition

2007-01-03T13:28:00.000-08:00

A team of MBA students from MIT's Sloan School of Management will take home $5000 from California, have won first place in a business case competition sponsored by Yahoo! and held at UC Berkeley's Haas School of Business.

A team of 4 second-year MBA students from the University of Michigan's Ross School of Business took second place. Students from UCLA's Anderson School of Management won third prize.

Competitors were asked to devise a business plan for a Yahoo! television channel that would make Yahoo! as strong a brand in broadcasting as it is on the Internet.

Student teams from nine schools took part in the competition. In addition to Sloan, Ross, Anderson, and Haas, the schools represented were: Cornell University's Johnson School; the Columbia Business School; the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School; and Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management.

Source: "Ross Students Win Second Place in Yahoo! Case Competition," press release, Ross School of Business, the University of Michigan (Ann Arbor, MI), January 3, 2007

Kellogg Gets $1M for Derivatives & Capital Education

2006-12-26T15:19:00.000-08:00

The Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University will use a $1 million grant from The Chicago Mercantile Exchange Trust to support its derivative and capital market education activities.

The grant, which will be used over four years, will be used for several programs, including the new Asset Management Practicum that Kellogg is launching for a select group of MBA students this month. Another program that will benefit from the funding is Kellogg's new PhD course and fellowship focus on derivatives and capital markets. Funds will also be used to strengthen a newly created undergraduate certificate program in finance.

Source: "Kellogg School Finance Department Receives $1 Million Grant," press release, the Kellogg School of Management (Evanston, IL), December 19, 2006

Yale SOM Students Head Overseas

2006-12-19T12:19:00.000-08:00

Eight groups of first-year MBA students from the Yale School of Management will travel abroad for two weeks in January as part of the School's newly-instituted International Experience requirement.

Part of the new curriculum introduced at Yale this year requires MBA students to study abroad. The two-week programs are led by Yale SOM faculty and include lesson plans incorporated with the MBA curriculum.

Different groups of students will examine economics, business, and industry in China, Japan, Singapore, India, Argentina, Costa Rica, England and Poland, and Tanzania and South Africa.

Source: "Yale School of Management MBA Students Gain International Exposure Through Study Abroad," press release, Yale SOM (New Haven, CT), December 18, 2006

Columbia Students Design Products for Luxury Brands

2006-12-14T09:58:00.000-08:00

For the twelfth year in a row, MBA students from the Columbia Business School have teamed with students from the Parsons School of Design to propose new products for designer labels including Louis Vuitton, Saks Fifth Avenue, Lalique, and Hermes.

Students submitted their projects through the Product Design and Design Management course, a collaborative program supported by the Luxury Education Foundation and taught by Columbia Business School and Parsons faculty.

The student teams are asked to design a product and marketing plan in response to a challenge posed by a participating firm. Their experience helps them understand the relationship between creating and marketing luxury goods.

This year, student creations include an updated version of the classic Vara women's shoe from Ferragomo; Louis Vuitton travel cases for DJ equipment; and new variations on Hermes bags and belts, meant to make those products more appealling to younger buyers.

Source: "Parsons Partners with Columbia Business School to Design Innovative Product and Marketing Concepts for Leading Luxury Goods Companies" - press release, Parsons The New School of Design (New York, NY), December 11, 2006

Wharton Dean Harker Named U. of Delaware President

2006-12-05T11:21:00.000-08:00

The University of Delaware has selected Wharton School Dean Patrick Harker to serve as its next president. Dean Harker will leave Wharton to take up his duties at the University of Delaware on July 1. The Wharton School has not yet announced plans to identify his sucessor.

Kellogg Launches Asset Management Program

2006-11-29T12:35:00.000-08:00

Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management has announced the launch of a new asset management program that will give MBA students practical experience in applying theoretical concepts and analytical tools to a financial portfolio.

Students selected for the program will spend a year managing a financial portfolio under the supervision of a Finance professor and taking prescribed courses. A designated faculty member or student will monitor portfolios for students who temporarily leave campus for summer internships or other MBA-related activities.

The first asset management practicum will be launched this spring. Admission to the program is expected to be highly competitive.

Source: "New Asset Management Program a Kellogg Priority," Kellogg World magazine, Winter 2006

Profile for Columbia GSB's Class of 2008

2006-11-21T09:18:00.000-08:00

The Columbia Graduate School of Business has released this profile for its MBA Class of 2008:

Applications received: 5,372
Admitted: 925 (17.2%)
Matriculated: 726

GMAT range (middle 80% of admits): 660 to 760
GPA range (middle 80% of admits): 2.9 to 3.8

Women: 35%
Minority: 21%
International: 42%
Age range: 21 to 43
Average work experience: 5 years

Wall Street Putting Profits Into MBA Recruitment?

2006-11-14T09:51:00.000-08:00

Investment banks and trading firms have had a very profitable year in 2006. Some of those profits are likely to go into bigger bonuses for bankers and traders -- the Wall Street Journal reports that even entry level analysts at some firms can expect year-end bonuses of $130,000 or more this year. But some of those profits are likely to go into increased MBA recruitment and hiring as well.

In fact, according to the WSJ, current Wall Street staff may see somewhat smaller bonuses than they might otherwise because firms have stepped up their hiring this year, meaning there are more employees to distribute profits to.

Some of this hiring is being done at the top U.S. business schools, where on-campus recruiting is more energetic than it has been in years. A personnel consultant told the WSJ that he expects to see that hiring continue into 2007. Financial firms were slow to hire additional staff following the cut-backs that took place between 2001 and 2003, but managers now realize that they need more talent on hand to take advantage of current opportunities for growth.

Source: "Bonuses to Rise on Wall Street," by Randall Smith, the Wall Street Journal, November 8, 2006

LBS Names New Dean

2006-11-09T11:20:00.000-08:00

The London Business School has named Robin Buchanan, currently the Senior Partner in the UK for Bain & Company, as its new dean. He will assume his duties at LBS by July 1.

Buchanan will succeed Laura Tyson, who will return to the University of California - Berkeley's Haas School of Business as a Professor of Business Administration and Economics.

In accepting the appointment, Buchanan noted LBS' commitment to excellence and its drive to be the world's preeminent global school of business. "My priority willbe to ensure that London Business School delivers on those promises," he said.

Source: "London Business School Appoints Robin Buchanan as Dean," press release, London Business School (London, UK), November 7, 2006.

Kellogg Students Win Cornell Stock Pitch Competition

2006-11-07T12:58:00.000-08:00

A team of first-year MBA students from Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management won this year's "MBA Stock Pitch Challenge," organized and hosted by Cornell University's Johnson Graduate School of Management.

The Kellogg students competed against teams from Cornell (Johnson), the University of Virginia (Darden), Carnegie Mellon (Tepper), Columbia, Duke (Fuqua), Dartmouth (Tuck), the Chicago GSB, the University of Michigan (Ross), and other top business schools.

A team of judges from UBS, Fidelity Investments, Wellington Management, BlackRock, Morgan Stanley, and State Street Global Advisors listened to the teams' present their arguments for or against investing in a particular stock. Teams were judged on the quality of their analysis and presentation.

The winning Kellogg team won a $3,000 prize. A second prize of $1,500 went to the team from Carnegie Mellon University's Tepper School of Business.

Source: "Northwestern Wins Cornell's Johnson School MBA Stock Pitch Competition," press release, the Johnson School (Ithaca, NY), November 3, 2006

Wharton, HBS, Other Top Schools Post '06 Career Reports

2006-11-03T12:03:00.000-08:00

Several of the top U.S. business schools have posted statistical reports on the career placement outcomes of their 2006 MBA graduates.

The average (median) annual salary reported by Harvard MBAs was $105,000, supplemented by bonuses and other compensation worth an average of $33,250.

Wharton graduates reported an average total compensation package of $137,000.

The average (median) annual salary for Stanford MBAs responding to the '06 salary survey was $110,000, with signing bonuses worth an average of $20,000.

Haas Adds Leadership Course to Core Curriculum

2006-10-27T13:45:00.000-07:00

UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business has added a leadership assessment course to its core curriculum.

Starting this fall, first-year MBA students will use the course to conduct a “360-degree review” of their leadership style and skills, drawing on self-assessments, reviews from former supervisors, co-workers, and clients, and feedback from fellow students.

The purpose of the course is to help students understand how others see them as leaders and managers and to improve their leadership performance based on those insights. Faculty designed the course partly on the basis of their experience teaching executives at the London Business School and in the EMBA program at Haas.

Source: "Haas School of Business Adds New Leadership Course to MBA Core Curriculum," press release, UC Berkeley Haas School of Business (Berkeley, CA), October 26, 2006

Profile of Stanford's Class of 2008

2006-10-24T09:42:00.000-07:00

The Stanford Graduate School of Business has provided this statistical profile of its most recent full-time MBA class:

Applications received: 4,868

Entering class size: 379
Women: 32%
Minority: 17%
International: 37%
Average work experience: 4 years
Average GMAT: 720 (ranges from 530 to 800)

Previous work experience in:
Consumer products (manufacturing & service): 25%
Investment management: 21%
Consulting: 19%
High-tech: 11%
Government: 8%

Undergraduate degrees in:
Humanities and social sciences: 43%
Engineering/mathematics/natural sciences: 36%
Business: 21%

Jack Welch Shares Insights with Sloan Students

2006-10-19T15:03:00.000-07:00

Former General Electric CEO Jack Welch began teaching an 8-week-long course for MBA students at MIT's Sloan School of Management this week. The course, called "Conversations with Jack Welch," is meant to give its approximately 30 students a chance to learn about leadership and management from Welch's insights and experience.

The lessons that Welch has shared with students so far include:

- Beware of becoming overly committed to your employees. When you employ a large number of people, some of them are bound to be poor performers who should be fired.

- Don't invest large amounts of time or money in trying to help low-performing employees. Some people are simply in the wrong job. It's better for the company and the employee to help them move on to a more appropriate position.

- Having a single senior employee serve as mentor to someone younger is a bad idea because the senior person "may be a turkey." It's wiser to have young employees work with a variety of more senior staff.

- You should open negotiations by making your objectives and goals clear at the start. Your bluntness will put your opponent off-balance, and you will save time that would otherwise be used jockeying for position.

Source: "MIT Gives Welch Lectern to Air Opinions," by Mark Jewell, Associated Press (Boston), October 14, 2006.

Recruiters Woo MBA Students with Time-Sensitive Bonuses

2006-10-17T12:19:00.000-07:00

Competition for top MBA talent is so keen that some companies have started to use 'time-sensitive' signing bonuses to try to win high-performing students early in their second year of classes.

The New York Times reports that companies like Mercer Management Consulting, Microsoft, and Kraft are offering the incentive bonuses, usually to students who performed well in summer internships.

Typically, the bonuses are worth their full value -- which is reported to range up to $45,000 -- only if the student accepts a job offer by a set date. The bonuses either decline in value or are withdrawn if the student misses that deadline.

Certain schools, including Harvard Business School, do not allow companies to make incentive bonuses to their students, saying that the practice puts too much pressure on students to commit to an employer too early in their final year.

The NYT notes that October has typically marked the peak of on-campus MBA recruiting activity. This year, however, a number of schools are finding that many of their students had already accepted job offers by that time. Dartmouth's Tuck School of Business, for example, says that approximately 4 out of 5 of its second-year MBA students received a job offer from their summer internship employer.

Source: "Clock Ticks, Bonus Ebbs for Recruits," by Louise Story, the New York Times, October 13, 2006.

BWeek and The Economist Release 2006 Rankings

2006-10-13T13:08:00.000-07:00

Both BusinessWeek and The Economist released their 2006 b-school rankings this week. The top 10 schools from each list are:

BusinessWeek's ranking of the top US b-schools:

Chicago GSB

Wharton

Kellogg

Harvard

Ross (U. of Michigan)

Stanford

Sloan (MIT)

Haas (UC Berkeley)

Fuqua (Duke)

Columbia

The Economist's list of the top b-schools worldwide:

IESE (Spain)

Tuck

Stanford GSB

Chicago GSB

IMD (Switzerland)

Kellogg

Harvard

NYU - Stern

The University of Michigan – Ross (US)

UC Berkeley – Haas (US)

Harvard Round I Deadline Extended by 24 Hours

2006-10-10T15:11:00.000-07:00

Due to technical problems with its website, the Harvard Business School has extended its deadline for Round I applications by one day.

Round I applications must now be submitted no later than 5 p.m. (1700 hours) EST on Thursday, October 12.

The HBS website has been offline for much of today, meaning some applicants were unable to access the link to the application website.

Numbers Aren't Enough to Get You Into Wharton

2006-10-09T13:36:00.000-07:00

Do you think your strong undergrad GPA, stellar GMAT score, and solid job history are enough to get you into Wharton?

Think again.

According to Wharton's admissions office, between 75 and 80 per cent of its annual pool of MBA applicants are eligible for admission on the basis of academic and professional experience.

That means that academic and work accomplishments alone are not enough to make an applicant stand out from the rest of the applicant pool -- or to persuade the admissions committee that a particular applicant is right for Wharton.

What does make a difference in individual applicants' outcomes?

According to Wharton's admissions office, it is personal qualities such as leadership, initiative, communication skills, managerial talent, integrity, and a commitment to the community.

And where does the admissions committee look for evidence of these qualities?

In the applicant's letters of recommendation, their overall application package -- and in their essays.

For more on this, read "MBA Admissions Essential #3: Look Beyond the Numbers," posted October 5, 2006 to Wharton's MBA Admissions Blog!

Simon Students Adopt Credo

2006-09-26T15:35:00.000-07:00

MBA students at the University of Rochester's Simon Graduate School of Business have adopted an ethical creed formulated by a team of 2006 graduates.

The credo, inspired by the pledge that Johnson & Johnson has long asked its employees to adhere to, is as follows:

The Simon Graduate School of Business represents the center of my deeds. It is my responsibility to uphold its good name among my colleagues and the world at large.

Integrity is my watchword. I will endeavor to fulfill my promises, to say what I mean, and to mean what I say.

I recognize that I am an important member of the Simon community.

I will take responsibility for my actions and omissions at all times.

I will conduct myself with nobility in private and in public at all times.

Printed copies of the credo were included in the orientation packets for this year's incoming students. A panel of last year's students also gave a presentation on the development of the credo to the new first-year students.

Source: "Simon Students Script a New Credo," by Matthew Daneman, the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle, September 26, 2006

WSJ Survey Gives Ross Top Rank

2006-09-20T14:57:00.000-07:00

The Wall Street Journal has just released its annual business school rankings for 2006. As in past years, the rankings are based on corporate recruiters' assessment of U.S. and international b-schools as sources of management talent.

The WSJ ranks the top 5 national b-schools as:

1. U. of Michigan - Ross
2. Dartmouth - Tuck
3. Carnegie Mellon - Tepper
4. Columbia Business School
5. UC Berkeley - Haas

The top 5 international b-schools named are:

1. ESADE
2. IMD
3. IPADE
4. London Business School
5. Thunderbird - Gavin

Columbia and MIT - Sloan are also named among the top 10 international b-schools.

Recruiters also named top schools for particular recruiting goals:

Harvard - top school for general business and strategy
Kellogg - top school for marketing
Wharton - top school for finance
Chicago - top school for accounting
Stanford - top school for entrepreneurship
MIT / Sloan - top school for information management

Ross, Howard, Harvard, Columbia, and Haas were named the best schools for companies seeking to recruit minority MBAs. Columbia, Kellogg, Haas, Harvard, and Ross were named the top schools for recruiting women MBAs.

Fisher and Krannert '07 Apps Coming Soon

2006-09-18T09:45:00.000-07:00

Ohio State University's Fisher College of Business and Purdue University's Krannert School of Management both say that they will have application sites for fall 2007 MBA admissions up and running shortly.

For more information see:

For Krannert - www.krannert.purdue.edu/programs/masters/home.asp

For Fisher - fisher.osu.edu/prospective/graduate/mba/admissions

Simon Launches B-School Blog

2006-09-12T09:54:00.000-07:00

The William E. Simon Graduate School of Business Administration at the University of Rochester has launched a new blog to promote the School and its programs.

One of the blog's main purposes is to inform prospective MBA students about Simon's highly-ranked MBA degree programs.

To view the blog, go to:
simonschool.typepad.com/communicationsblog/

GMAT Average for Tuck Students Hits Record High

2006-09-08T13:35:00.000-07:00

This year's incoming MBA class at the Tuck School of Business has an average GMAT score of 710, marking the highest average GMAT score of any class in the School's history.

The average GMAT for members of Tuck's Class of 2007 was 699, and for the Class of 2005, 696.

GMAT scores for members of Tuck's Class of 2008 range from 560 to 790.

Tuck's incoming MBA class also set records for the percentage of women students (33 per cent) and international students (30 per cent).

All of this year's entering students have full-time work experience, with 5 years being the average. Approximately 30 per cent of the class worked in investment banking, private equity, or finance. 16 per cent worked in technology, 15 per cent worked in marketing, retail, consumer goods, or manufacturing, and 11 per cent worked in consulting. 12 per cent served in the military or worked in the governmental, educational, or nonprofit sectors.

The average undergraduate GPA for the students who attended U.S. colleges is 3.6. 20 per cent of the students already hold advanced degrees.

These numbers reflect the large size of Tuck's 2005-2006 applicant pool, which was almost a third larger than the applicant pool in 2004-2005. The growth in application volume was driven in part by Tuck's efforts to increase its outreach to prospective international students.

Profile of Haas' Class of 2008

2006-09-07T11:39:00.000-07:00

UC Berkeley's Haas School of Business welcomed 242 new students to its full-time MBA program this August.

Haas offered admission to 17 per cent of the 2,727 applicants for its Class of 2008. The 242 students matriculating at Haas represent 36 different countries and come from a wide range of professional backgrounds. Students include a former Navy SEAL, a regional press secretary for the Kerry/Edwards presidential campaign, a marketing specialist for the Portland Trail Blazers, several social entrepreneurs, and an economist who served on an advisory team for former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan.

A statistical profile of the class includes the following:

Average GMAT score: 707
Average age: 29
Average years of work experience: 5.9
Women: 34%
Minorities: 34%
International: 30%

2007 Deadlines & Essays for Stern

2006-09-07T11:38:00.000-07:00

NYU's Stern School of Business has released its deadlines and application for fall 2007 admissions.

Stern's deadlines are:

1st Round: Apply by December 1, receive initial notification by February 15
2nd Round: Apply by January 15, receive initial notification by April 1
3rd Round: Apply by March 15, receive initial notification by June 1

An initial notification consists of either an admissions interview invitation, an offer of a place on the waitlist, or denial of admission.

To view the essays and other components of Stern's application, go to:
http://w4.stern.nyu.edu/admissions/fulltime/
applyingtostern.cfm?doc_id=837

UCLA's Anderson School Releases Application & Essays

2006-08-31T14:36:00.000-07:00

The 2007 application website for the Anderson School of Managment at UCLA has gone online. Essay prompts are unchanged from last year.

To access the application, go to:

http://www.anderson.ucla.edu/x5544.xml

Tuck Brings CEOs to Strategy Classes

2006-08-30T12:02:00.000-07:00

Tuck students will hear about corporate strategy from some of the world's leading executives this year, as more than 20 top officers of companies like Boston Scientific and Colgate-Palmolive give guest lectures to Tuck's second-year strategy classes.

The CEOs and chairmen will speak to the 'Global Strategy and Implementation' and 'Advanced Competitive Strategy' classes taught by Professor Richard D'Aveni, who has advised Fortune 500 CEOs on strategy and spoken at meetings of the World Economic Forum. D'Aveni began including high-profile guest speakers in his classes last year. Speakers included the CEOs of ITT Industries, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Motorola, and Monsanto. The guest speakers were so well received that D'Aveni decided to expand the program this year.

This year's guest speaker schedule includes chairmen and CEOs from Cardinal Health, ConAgra, Corning Glass, Federated Department Stores, Hanover Insurance, Hewlett-Packard (Americas), Office Depot, United Health Group, WR Grace, YUM! Brands, and more. Many of the speakers will also meet Tuck students through small group meetings and lunches and dinners.

Source: "CEOs Visit Tuck Strategy Classes" - press release, The Tuck School of Business (Hanover, NH), August 24, 2006.

Goizueta Essays for 2007

2006-08-28T10:53:00.000-07:00

Emory University's Goizueta Business School has published its essay questions for fall 2007 admisisons.

To see the essay questions, go to the appropriate links on Goizueta's admissions webpage:

www.goizueta.emory.edu/degree/apply.html

2007 Application & Essays for Yale SOM

2006-08-28T08:50:00.000-07:00

The Yale SOM has released its 2007 application, including essay questions.

A print version of the application can be downloaded for reference purposes from this URL:

http://mba.yale.edu//MBA/admissions/
apply/how_to/pdf/application.pdf

Actual applications must be made through the SOM's online application website.

Owen Deadlines & Essays

2006-08-23T12:09:00.000-07:00

Vanderbilt University's Owen Graduate School of Management has published its application deadlines and essay questions for fall 2007 admissions.

The deadlines are:

First Round - Apply by November 14, receive decision by January 15
Second Round - Apply by January 15, receive decision by March 15
Third Round - Apply by March 1, recieve decision by April 1

Applicants who want to be considered for Dean's Scholarships must apply by the Second Round (January 15) deadline.

Owen's essay questions are available in its on-line application form. To begin an application, go to:

www.owen.vanderbilt.edu/vanderbilt/Programs/
mba/mba-admissions/index.cfm

Tepper Essays for 2007

2006-08-22T09:55:00.000-07:00

Carnegie Mellon University's Tepper School of Business has released the print version of its 2007 application, including essay questions.

To download or view the form, go to:
business.tepper.cmu.edu/files/
tepper_school_of_business_mbaapp1_0607.pdf

Tepper's online application site is scheduled to go online by September 1.

2007 Deadlines for Cornell

2006-08-16T14:16:00.000-07:00

Cornell University's Johnson Graduate School of Management will hold 4 application rounds for fall 2007 admissions, one fewer round than in previous years.

Cornell's deadlines are:

Round 1 - Apply by October 9, 2006 - receive decision by November 17
Round 2 - Apply by November 9, 2006 - receive decision by December 18
Round 3 - Apply by January 9, 2007 - receive decision by March 23
Round 4 - Apply by March 9, 2007 - receive MBA decisions by April 27 and TMO decisions by April 20

Applicants who want to be considered for Park Leadership Fellowships or other scholarships must apply by the Round 3 deadline.

International applicants are advised to apply no later than Round 3, to allow adequate time for visa processing.

Cornell will release its 2007 application and essay questions later this month.

Corporations Work Harder to Recruit B-School Stars

2006-08-16T11:52:00.000-07:00

Top U.S. corporations have to work harder to woo and win the loyalty of graduates from the country's top b-schools these days -- and that's good news for a certain type of MBA candidate.

Fortune 500 firms have always recruited from the top business schools. Even during years when the economy was slow and hiring was down, students could count on a number of top corporations sending recruiters to the most elite b-schools to identify and interview up-and-coming management talent.

That task has become more difficult for employers as b-school demographics have changed. More students are selecting part-time, EMBA, or online programs, meaning that potential career candidates are spread across a greater number of schools and programs. Moreover, b-schools are enrolling a larger number of international students -- who may not be interested in U.S. employment, or may not have the visa needed to work in the U.S. -- and younger students -- who lack the work experience that top employers want in addition to an MBA degree.

As a result of these trends, recruiters have had to become more inventive and more energetic in wooing suitable job candidates. Companies are putting on more recruiting events, earlier in the school year. In some cases, students are being signed up during the summer before their MBA program even begins. In other cases, schools have drawn the line and forbidden employers to begin recruiting until new students have had several weeks to settle into their programs and adapt to their classes.

This is good news for MBA candidates who seek a career with a U.S. corporation and who have the work experience and b-school record to draw recruiters' attention. They should be able to count on their MBA investment paying off in attractive internship and job offers -- if they attend a program that recruiters draw from. Grads from less high-profile programs can expect a strong hiring market, too, but they will have to go an extra mile to make contact with employers and to sell them on their potential as managers.

No one can ever safely say that this is the year to go for an MBA, or guarantee that someone's investment in a business school education will pay off. That said, the degree of competition we're seeing to hire MBA talent makes an MBA a more attractive option than ever for candidates who aspire to a corporate career.

Source: "New Talent Identification Improves MBA Recruiting for Fortune 500" - a press release from MBA Scouting Report, dated August 16, 2006, as distributed by Business Wire

More People Signing Up for the GMAT

2006-08-15T14:00:00.000-07:00

The worldwide number of GMAT registrations for the first seven months of 2006 is 4.2 per cent higher than registration volume for the same period in 2005, the Graduate Management Admission Council says.

GMAT registration volume inside the U.S. grew by 3.51 per cent. Outside the U.S., volume rose by 5.72 per cent.

U.S. registration volume is higher than it has been since 2003. Some people see this as another indication of renewed interest in MBA programs by U.S. students and professionals following several years of declining application volume.

GMAT registration volume is fairly reliable as a general indicator of upcoming business school application trends. Registration volume tracks the number of GMAT exams that are being scheduled. It should not be read as an indication of the number of people interested in MBA programs, since a single applicant might register for the test several times. However, in the past, a rise in GMAT registration volume has usually been followed by a rise in business school application volume. It's not unreasonable to expect that the current increase in registration volume will be followed by a rise in b-school applications this fall and winter, especially in light of other signs of growing interest in MBA programs.

2007 Deadlines for Yale SOM

2006-08-15T13:32:00.000-07:00

The Yale School of Management has released its application deadlines for 2007. They are:

Round I - apply by October 25, 2006; receive decision by January 19
Round II - apply by January 10, 2007; receive decision by April 5
Round III - apply by March 14, 2007; receive decision by May 18

Yale's online application, with the essay questions for 2007, will go online later this month.

Ross and Fuqua Release Essays for '07

2006-08-11T14:20:00.000-07:00

The University of Michigan's Ross School of Business and Duke University's Fuqua School of Business have released their application essay questions for 2007.

Ross' essays can be read online, at:

http://www.bus.umich.edu/pdf/2007_MBAEssayQuestions.pdf

(It looks like Ross forgot to include word limits on its required essay questions this year. In past years, 500 words was a typical limit for Ross essays.)

Fuqua's essays are available at:

http://www.fuqua.duke.edu/mba/daytime/apply/#ess

Application Deadlines for Wharton

2006-08-08T11:50:00.000-07:00

The Wharton School has released its 2007 application deadlines. They are:

Round I - Apply by October 12, 2006; decisions released December 21
Round II - Apply by January 4, 2007; decisions released March 22
Round III - Apply by March 1, 2007; decisions released May 17

For more information about applying to Wharton, visit the the School's admissions webpage:

http://www.wharton.upenn.edu/mba/admissions/index.cfm

2007 Deadlines for Tepper

2006-08-08T10:22:00.000-07:00

Carnegie Mellon University's Tepper School of Business has posted its application deadlines for 2007. They are:

Round 1: November 6, 2006 (decisions will be mailed by December 22)
Round 2: January 8, 2007 (decisions will be mailed by March 12)
Round 3: March 19, 2007 (decisions will be mailed by April 30)
Round 1: April 30, 2007 (decisions will be mailed by June 4)

International applicants must apply by the Round 3 (March 19) deadline. Applications received from U.S. applicants after April 30 will be considered on a rolling basis.

Tepper's complete application, including essay questions, will be released around September 1. For more information, go to Tepper's MBA admissions webpage:

http://business.tepper.cmu.edu/default.aspx?id=141024

B-School App Volume "Surged" in 2006, GMAC Says

2006-08-07T10:17:00.000-07:00

2 out of 3 full-time MBA programs received more applications for 2006 entry than they did for 2005, the Graduate Management Admisssion Council (GMAC) reports.

This marks a sharp turn-around from the previous year, when only 21 per cent of full-time programs saw application growth.

Applications for part-time and EMBA programs grew from 2005 to 2006 as well. 62 per cent of part-time programs saw application volume grow in 2006, compared to 46 per cent in 2005. 69 per cent of EMBA programs saw an increase in applications, whereas only 38 per cent did the year before.

3 out of 4 U.S. MBA programs received more applications from international applicants in 2006, compared to just 28 per cent in 2005. International application volume was up at non-U.S. schools as well, with 62 per cent of international b-schools reporting an increase in international applications.

A growing number of women applicants are applying to MBA programs as well. Approximatley 64 per cent of full-time MBA programs received more applications from women this year. 47 per cent of part-time programs and 50 per cent of EMBA programs reported a similar trend.

If this trend continues this year -- and employers' continuing demand for MBA grads suggests that it will -- b-school applicants are likely to face more competition than they have in years for the limited number of seats in any MBA class. Increased competition makes it more important than ever to submit thoughtful, well-planned, and well-written essays that will persuade an admissions committee that you're the kind of student they're looking for.

Source: "Business School Applications Jump Across the Board in 2006" - press release, Graduate Management Admission Council (McLean, Virginia), 7 August 2006

More Deadlines & Essays: UNC, UT Austin, G'town

2006-08-03T10:52:00.000-07:00

2007 application deadlines and essay questions are available online for the UNC's Kenan-Flagler Business School, for UT Austin's McCombs School of Business, and for Georgetown's McDonough School of Business.

Links to Kenan-Flagler's essay questions are posted to this webpage:
http://www.kenan-flagler.unc.edu/Programs/MBA/
Apply/requirements.cfm

Kenan-Flagler's 2007 application deadlines are:

Early Action - October 27, 2006 (decisions by December 11)
Round 1 - December 1, 2006 (decisions by February 5)
Round 2 - January 5, 2007 (decisions by March 12)
Round 3 - March 2, 2007 (decisions by April 27)

McCombs' essay questions are posted to this webpage:
http://mba.mccombs.utexas.edu/admissions/adm/essays.asp

McComb's recommended deadlines for submitting fall 2007 applications are:

Round 1 (Early) - November 1, 2006
Round 2 - February 2, 2007
Round 3 - April 1, 2007

The McDonough School's essay questions can be read in the .pdf version of its 2007 application:
http://msb.georgetown.edu/images/mba/
2006/07/gtown%20final%20appl.pdf

McDonough's application deadlines are:

Round I - December 1, 2006 (decisions by January 25, 2007)
Round II - February 9, 2007 (decisions by March 29)
Round III -April 20, 2007 (decisions by May 24)

MBA Salaries Rise - So Do Expectations

2006-08-02T14:42:00.000-07:00

MBA hiring is hitting a level that grads have not enjoyed in over five years, BusinessWeek reports.

BW cites a survey by WetFeet Research & Consulting that found that over two-thirds of '06 MBA grads received multiple job offers, and that 80 per cent of MBAs had secured jobs by the end of May.

MBAs' salary expectations are rising along with recruiting activity. The average base salary that grads said they expected was $98,650. By contrast, the average value of actual salary offers was only $95,781.

The five most popular employers among this year's crop of b-school grads were McKinsey & Co., Goldman Sachs, Bain & Co., Google, and The Boston Consulting Group.

Source: "MBA Job Market Remains Strong," from "Heard on Campus," by Lauren Lavelle and Janie Ho - BusinessWeek, August 2, 2006

Kelley & Simon Release '07 Applications

2006-08-02T12:40:00.000-07:00

Indiana University's Kelley School of Business and the University of Rochester's Simon Graduate School of Business Administration have released their 2007 applications.

Kelley's online application for 2007 will be available in September, but the printed application can be downloaded from the School's website now. Look for the link on this webpage:
http://kelley.iu.edu/mba/admissions/howtoapply.cfm

Simon's online and print applications are available at:
http://www.simon.rochester.edu/mba/apply_now.aspx

2007 Deadlines for Ross & Anderson

2006-08-02T12:13:00.000-07:00

The University of Michigan's Ross School of Business and UCLA's Anderson School of Management have announced their application deadlines for 2007.

Ross' deadlines are:

Round 1- November 1, 2006, w/notification by January 15, 2007
Round 2 - January 7, 2007 , w/notification by March 15
Round 3 - March 1, 2007 , w/notification by May 15

Ross will release its essays early this month. For more information, go to:
http://www.bus.umich.edu/Admissions/ApplyNow.htm

Anderson's deadlines are:

Round 1 - October 25, 2006, w/notification by January 19, 2007
Round 2* - January 3, 2007, w/notification by March 29
Round 3 - February 21, 2007, w/notification by May 18
Round 4 - April 25, 2007, w/notification by June 15

* Applicants who want to be considered for UCLA fellowships should apply no later than Round 2.

UCLA applicants also have deadlines for submitting SAT and TOEFL scores, and for completing on-campus interviews. For more information, go to:
http://www.anderson.ucla.edu/x5544.xml

Goizueta Posts Deadlines for 2007

2006-08-01T14:13:00.000-07:00

rpEmory University's Goizueta Business School has published its application deadlines for 2007.

Key dates are:

Round 1 - Apply by November 1, receive decision by January 1
Round 2 - Apply by December 15, receive decision by March 1
Round 3 - Apply by February 1, receive decision by April 1
Round 4 - Apply by March 1, receive decision by May 1

The final deadline for Goizueta's One-Year MBA program is February 1.

Applicants who want to compete for scholarships should apply by Round 3 (February 1).

International applicants should apply no later than Round 2 (December 15). If we remember correctly, that's several weeks earlier than the date that was specified last year. International applicants who think they might have trouble completing their application by mid-December should contact Goizueta's office of admissions and ask for guidance.

International applicants should also look at the "Guidelines for Applicants from India" that Goizueta has posted to its website. Look for the link at the bottom of this webpage:

http://www.goizueta.emory.edu/degree/fulltimemba
/application_process.html

These guidelines explain how Goizueta assesses 3-year undergraduate degrees and go over the criteria Goizueta uses in making admissions decisions. Although the guidelines are (obviously) written for Indian applicants, the information they provide might be useful for applicants from other countries as well.

Application Deadlines and Essays for Darden

2006-08-01T11:50:00.000-07:00

The Darden School of Business has released its application deadlines and essay questions for 2007.

Deadlines are:

Round 1 (Early Action) - Complete application and interview by October 19; receive decision week of December 8

Round 2 - Complete application and interview by December 5; receive decision week of February 9

Round 3 - Complete application and interview by January 11; receive decision week of March 23

Round 4 - Complete application and interview by March 1; receive decision week of April 20

Darden has posted the text of its essays for 2007 to this webpage:
http://admissions.darden.virginia.edu/criteriaEssay.htm

We were somewhat surprised to see that Darden has introduced word limits on essay length this year. In the past, Darden simply asked applicants to use their best judgment to determine how long their essays needed to be to say what they wanted to say in them.

This change is a plus for applicants in that it's easier to write an essay when you know exactly how long it can be. It also presents a challenge, however, as the word limits Darden gives are tight -- 500 words for two of the required essays, and just 250 words for one required essay and for the optional essay. This year's Darden applicants will have to make sure that every word in their essays counts.

2007 Application Deadlines for Fuqua

2006-07-31T09:49:00.000-07:00

Duke University's Fuqua School of Business has released its application deadlines for 2007. They are:

Round 1 - Apply by November 1, 2006 and complete interview by November 23. Decisions are released on December 19.

Round 2 - Apply by January 8, 2007 and complete interview by February 23. Decisions are released on March 8.

Round 3 - Apply by March 21, 2007 and complete interview by April 17. Decisions are released on May 4.

Fuqua will publish its 2007 essay questions sometime in early August.

For more information, go to Fuqua's MBA application page:
http://www.fuqua.duke.edu/mba/daytime/apply/

Kellogg Application Deadlines & Essay Questions for 2007

2006-07-27T11:13:00.000-07:00

The Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University has released its MBA application deadlines and essay questions for 2007 admissions.

To see the deadlines, go to this webpage:
http://www.kellogg.northwestern.edu/admissions/
apply/deadlines.htm

To see the essay questions, go to this webpage:
http://www.kellogg.northwestern.edu/admissions/
apply/FAQ.htm#Essays07

Writing Skills a Plus in MBA Hiring

2006-07-25T00:09:00.000-07:00

CNN reports that a growing number of hiring managers are looking for something special when they interview MBAs for corporate positions. The extra 'something' they are looking for is writing skills.

Technology is one of the forces driving this trend. A recent report by Robert Half International found that 71 per cent of executives now use email as their primary means of communication. The increasing amount and importance of email requires business professionals to be able to write messages quickly, clearly, and accurately. The enormous amount of email that most professionals deal with each day requires professionals to be able to write concisely as well.

Earlier this year, a joint Wall Street Journal - Harris Interactive poll found that inadequate communication skills were corporate recruiters' most common complaint about MBA graduates. In another Robert Half International survey, over one in three recruiters said that grammatical mistakes and typing errors were the most common flaw they saw in resumes and cover letters.

Source: "Employers Want 'The Write Stuff,'" CNN, July 21, 2006

Kellogg Launches 'Post-MBA' Program for Seasoned Executives

2006-07-21T08:35:00.000-07:00

The Kellogg School of Management has created a three-week, 'post-MBA' program designed especially for mid-career managers who earned an MBA prior to 1995. The program is meant to teach students material that has been added to MBA programs since the mid-1990s, such as managing with information technology, doing business in an increasingly globalized world, branding, and coping with non-business forces such as news media and political and social activism.

Brenda Ellington-Booth, academic director and principal designer of the Kellogg Renaissance Program, said in a Kellogg press release that the program's goal is to provide students with "a much deeper and critical background, especially focusing on research findings, the latest thinking, and how to apply these new ideas to their organizations."

The first session of the Renaissance Program will commence on September 17 at the Northwestern University campus. The three-week program consists of an initial two-week session, followed five months later by a final one-week session. To learn more about the program, see this webpage:
http://www.kellogg.northwestern.edu/execed/
programs/MGMT08/index.htm

2007 Application Essays for Tuck

2006-07-20T08:33:00.000-07:00

Dartmouth College's Tuck School of Business has released its application essay questions for 2007.

To view the questions, go to this webpage:
http://www.tuck.dartmouth.edu/pdf/app_essays.pdf

Wharton Releases 2007 Essay Questions

2006-07-18T22:20:00.000-07:00

Wharton has published its application essay questions for 2007. To see the questions, go to:
http://adcomblog.wharton.upenn.edu/admissions
/2006/07/fall_2007_whart.html

Wharton's online application, including its recommendation forms, should be available online by September 1.

2007 Essay Topics for Stanford GSB

2006-07-12T10:53:00.000-07:00

The Stanford Graduate School of Business has posted its essay questions for 2007 admissions to its website.

This year's application differs from last year's by asking applicants to write four essays instead of two. The two additional essays are both short -- 1 to 2 pages -- and require the applicant to describe a recent life experience that illustrates a point about his or her personal values, character, or interpersonal skills.

To read Stanford's essay questions, go to this webpage:
http://www.gsb.stanford.edu/mba/admission/essays_activities.html

LBS Essays for 2007

2006-07-11T09:23:00.000-07:00

London Business School has released its application form, with essay questions, for 2007 admissions.

The application form is available online, at:
http://www.london.edu/assets/documents
/Word/Essay_Template_MBA2009.doc.

HBS's 'Working Knowledge' Website Showcases Faculty Research

2006-07-10T12:45:00.000-07:00

The Harvard Business School has used its 'Working Knowledge' website to showcase published research by HBS faculty since late 1999. Beginning this summer, however, it will put more emphasis on works-in-progress, giving website visitors an early look at developing insights to business, entrepreneurship, management, finance, globalization, and other topics.

Faculty members presently featured on 'Working Knowledge' include:

Prof. Robert D. Austin, on "The Accidental Innovator." Austin, an associate professor in HBS's Technology, Innovations, and Management unit, discusses the serendipitous nature of many technological breakthroughs and how organizations can position themselves to recognize and exploit such fortuitous accidents.

Prof. Boris Groysberg, on "Why CEOS Are Not Plug-and-Play." Groysberg, an assistant professor in the Organizational Behavior unit of HBS, explains why CEOS need company-specific skills to succeed in some situations.

Stacey Childress on "Public Education Goes to School." Childress, a lecturer and senior researcher in HBS' Entrepreneurial Management unit, discusses the results to date of a joint HBS-Harvard School of Education program to apply new management concepts to 9 school districts across the U.S.

For more information, visit 'Working Knowledge' at http://hbswk.hbs.edu/.

Columbia Essays for 2007

2006-07-10T10:57:00.000-07:00

Columbia Business School has posted its application essay questions for 2007 admissions. Applicants can read the questions on Columbia's online application site, which can be accessed by going to this webpage:
http://www0.gsb.columbia.edu/mba/admissions/apply

Essays for MIT Sloan 2007 Admissions

2006-07-10T09:49:00.000-07:00

MIT's Sloan School of Management has released its essay questions for fall 2007 applications. The questions are posted to this webpage:

http://mitsloan.mit.edu/mba/admissions/
applicationinstructions.php#essays

Note that applicants to the dual-degree Leadership for Manufacturing (LFM) and Biomedical Enterprise Program (BEP) options are asked to write several additional essays.

Chicago Releases 2007 Essays

2006-07-07T09:07:00.000-07:00

The University of Chicago Graduate School of Business has released its application essay questions for 2007. The questions are posted to this webpage:

www.chicagogsb.edu/fulltime/admissions/essay.aspx

First-time applicants are asked to write five essays -- one 1,500-word essay on their reasons for wanting an MBA degree, particularly a Chicago MBA; one 500-word essay on either their personal development or on an issue of their choice; and three 100-word essays in response to specific questions ("What is the one thing that most people do not know about you?,"
"What book, play, or movie would you recommend to the admissions committee? Why?," and "It is your first day of business school and people are selecting study groups. How would you describe the value you will bring to a study group?")

Chicago's online application for 2007 is also now available. To access the system, go to:

admissions.chicagogsb.edu/admissions/app

2007 Application Deadlines for the London Business School

2006-07-06T10:21:00.000-07:00

The London Business School has released its 2007 application deadlines. They are:

Stage 1: October 20, 2006 (w/interview decisions by November 17 and admissions decision by December 19)

Stage 2: January 5, 2007 (w/interview decisions by February 9 and admissions decision by March 23)

Stage 3: February 23, 2007 (w/interview decisions by April 3 and admissions decision by May 11)

Stage 4: April 27, 2007 (w/interview decisions by May 18 and admissions decision by June 22)

Applications must be submitted by 5:00 p.m. London time (GMT) on the deadline day.

LBS' online application, including essay questions for 2007, will be released later this summer.

"Reverse Brain Drain" Drawing Students to ISB, Admissions Director Says

2006-07-04T08:52:00.000-07:00

The Indian School of Business is poised to become one of the top 10 business schools in the world by 2011, ISB's directors of admissions and financial aid said in an interview with Indian Web portal Rediff.

India's booming economy has created a huge demand for management talent in India and a 'reverse brain drain' that is attracting foreign students to the country's top management schools.

ISB Director of Admissions and Financial Aid I.V. Ranga Rao said that ISB has grown dramatically in the past few years and will continue growing in the future. The School has grown from 126 students in 2001 to 418 today and plans to expand to 560 students within a few years.

ISB already has international exchange programs with 26 schools in a dozen different countries, and is conducting a worldwide campaign to reach potential applicants from China, Korea, Taiwan, and Sri Lanka.

Mr. Rao said that ISB has received approximately 3,000 applications this year. The ratio of applicants to admits is usually about 5 to 1.

The qualities that ISB looks for in applicants are "intellectual strength, diverse background, good academic skills, leadership and, of course, good GMAT scores."

Diversity is "an ISB trademark," with students coming from a range of professional, educational, and geographic backgrounds. Current students include medical doctors, engineers, and a naval architect in addition to businesspeople.

Two of the School's current goals are to increase the number of women enrolling at the School and to attract more students from smaller Indian cities and towns where there is a strong entrepreneurial ethic based in the textile industry.

Overall, ISB's goal is to train managers whose skills will "build and nurture global companies." Given ISB's strong upward trajectory, it is not unrealistic to expect that "tomorrow's global companies will be shaped by ISB brains. "

Source: "ISB To Be in Top 10 Global B-List" - Rediff News, July 4, 2006

Owen Signs Top Faculty

2006-07-03T11:05:00.000-07:00

Several top economic and business experts will join Vanderbilt's Owen Graduate School of Management as faculty members this fall. They include:

Robert Whaley, a world-renowned expert on derivative securities, who will leave Duke's Fuqua School of Business to return to Owen, his alma mater. Whaley will teach a course on fixed income markets at Owen.

R. Lawrence Van Horn, an expert on healthcare management, will leave his current position as director of the healthcare MBA program at Rochester's Simon School to join Owen as an associate professor. He will teach healthcare management and microeconomics at Owen and will serve as faculty director of Owen's Health Care MBA Program.

Steve Hoeffler, a consumer marketing expert now at UNC's Kenan-Flagler Business School, will join Owen as an associate professor. He will teach core courses in marketing.

Corporate accounting expert and market analyst Richard Willis will leave Tulane University to join Owen as an associate professor of management.

Source: "Vanderbilt Scoops Faculty," by Della Bradshaw - the Financial Times, July 3, 2006

Fewer Employers Willing to Sponsor MBA Study

2006-07-03T10:12:00.000-07:00

Fewer employers are willing to underwrite the full costs of an employee's MBA education, educators and MBA program administrators say.

The Charlotte Business Journal reports a steep drop in the number of MBA students with corporate sponsorship at Wake Forest University. In 2000, 38 per cent of MBA students at WFU's Babcock Graduate School of Management received full tuition reimbursement from their employers. This year, only about 20 per cent do.

A similar decline in employer sponsorship can be seen at the national level, the Executive MBA Council says. In 2000, 55 per cent of EMBA students were sponsored by the companies they worked for. In 2004, the figure was only 45 per cent.

Source: "Employer Sponsorship of MBAs Shows Decline," by Julie Bird - the Charlotte Business Journal, July 2, 2006

Stanford Students Describe International Internships

2006-07-03T09:40:00.000-07:00

As we noted in a June 6 post, one of the upcoming revisions to Stanford's MBA curriculum will require all students to take part in an international internship or other learning experience at some point during their program.

Prospective applicants to Stanford might want to take a look at the May 2006 edition of Stanford Business, which includes a feature about several current Stanford students who participated in the GSB's Global Management Immersion Experince (GMIX) this year. The article gives an idea of the kinds of work that Stanford students can do through this program, and of the benefits they feel they get from it.

Michelle Chen, a second-year MBA student, did her internship with LinguaNet, a Paris-based translation services provider headed by a Stanford alumnus. She helped the company define its strategic positioning and researched whether it should try to market its services to Chinese companies. Chen, a native of China whose perspective as an Asian was especially valuable to LinguaNet, concluded that it was too early to enter the Chinese market because the price point for translation services is too low for the company to make a profit. She recommended that the firm instead target foreign companies hoping to enter the Chinese market.

Texas native Melissa Lopez interned for a small consulting firm in Sofia, Bulgaria. Lopez, whose work experience is in investment banking, was tasked with putting together an investment proposal to raise €10m for a new medical facility that will use laser technology for non-invasive treatment of cancers and other tumors. Lopez said the experience was similar to projects she had worked on for CitiGroup in the US, but involved "some interesting twists" because Bulgaria's venture capital industry is still taking shape.

Yoonyi Lee, a native of Korea, interned with the National Kidney Foundation of Singapore, where she was asked to analyze Korea as a potential fundraising venue. Lee researched the Korean legal system, public attitudes toward charities, media practices, and potential competitors for donors' funds. She described her internship experience as "invaluable," noting that it allowed her to "incorporate everything I learned at the Graduate School of Business and prior work experience into a well-organized plan for a fledgling charity fund with such a great lifesaving mission."

To read more about these and other Stanford students' international internship experiences, see "Hands Across the Water," by Theresa Johnston, in the May 2006 edition of Stanford Business
(http://www.gsb.stanford.edu/news/bmag/index.html).

Ross Gives Prospective Applicants a Taste of Class Online

2006-06-27T10:48:00.000-07:00

The University of Michigan's Ross School of Business is now making selected material available the public online, through ITunes U. The intitiative is meant to give prospective applicants an idea of the School and its MBA program.

The material that will be released through ITunes U includes video and audio files of Ross seminars, lectures, and events.

For more information, visit the Ross School's ITunes U page: http://itunes.bus.umich.edu/.

Indian Applications to Top B-Schools Soar

2006-06-26T12:11:00.000-07:00

U.S. and international business schools saw a dramatic rise in the number of applications from India over the past year, a leading Indian newspaper reports.

According to the Times of India, Dartmouth's Tuck School of Business had twice as many Indian applicants in 2005-2006 as in 2004-2005. The Chicago GSB and the University of Virginia's Darden School both saw application volume from India grow by more than half. Indian applicant pools grew by 23 per cent at UNC's Kenan-Flagler School of Business and by 35 per cent at UC Berkeley's Haas School of Business. Increases were also noted by INSEAD, the London School of Business, and other top international schools.

The number of Indians registering for the GMAT also increased during this period, going up by 10.4 per cent between early 2005 and early 2006.

India's booming economy has created a demand for skilled managers that is prompting many young Indians to seek MBA degrees, and recent U.S. moves to simplify student visa application procedures has revived many Indians' interest in U.S. study.

Source: "More Indians Flock to Foreign B-Schools," by Neelima Mahajan - the Times of India, June 16, 2006

Report: Stanford Will Start Accepting GRE Scores

2006-06-26T11:30:00.000-07:00

An odd piece of news caught our eye this morning: according to BusinessWeek, the Stanford GSB will allow full-time MBA applicants to submit GRE instead of GMAT scores beginning this year.

The rationale for the change is that since GRE test fees are lower than those for the GMAT, accepting GRE scores will make Stanford admissions more accessible to underrepresented minorities and to students from developing countries.

We admire Stanford's commitment to diversity, but we have to question the reasoning behind its new test score policy. From an applicant's point of view, it's not a particularly good deal.

There's no question that standardized test fees are expensive, expecially for international applicants. The $250 GMAT fee represents more money than even a manager might earn in a month in a number of countries.

But the GRE is no bargain, either. It costs $115 in the U.S. and from $140 to $175 overseas. Stanford applicants who go the GRE route would only be saving $75 to $115, which is an extremely modest sum in the context of business school costs. A Chinese applicant who pulls together $175 to take the GRE but who doesn't have the resources to apply for a U.S. visa or to travel to California hasn't saved $75 on test fees -- he's lost $175 on an investment he doesn't have the resources to follow through on.

More importantly, MBA applicants who opt for the GRE over the GMAT would be boxing themselves in on school choice. Stanford is the only top business school that accepts GRE scores. Putting all your eggs in the Stanford basket is an extremely risky admissions strategy. Realistic applicants increase their admissions chances by applying to several different schools, which would mean taking the GMAT anyway.

It seems to us that only a small number of applicants really stand to benefit from this change. Students applying to certain dual-degree programs will be spared the ordeal of taking two standardized tests, and college graduates debating between an MBA and a master of arts in another field might be more inclined to apply to the Stanford GSB and see what happens. It's hard to imagine that those are the prospective applicants Stanford has in mind when it talks about attracting a more diverse pool of MBA applicants.

Source: "Stanford Smiles on GRE Scores," by Kerry Miller - BusinessWeek, June 26, 2006

HBS Deadlines & Essays for 2007

2006-06-26T10:18:00.000-07:00

Harvard has published the application deadlines and essay questions for the 2006-2007 application season to its admissions website.

Applications must be received by 5:00 p.m. EST on:

Round 1 - October 11, 2006 (w/notification January 17, 2007)
Round 2 - January 3, 2007 (w/notification March 28, 2007)
Round 3 - March 7, 2007 (w/notification May 9, 2007)

HBS encourages applicants to apply in Rounds 1 or 2 because only a few class seats may be left by Round 3.

The essay questions for 20o7 are posted to:

http://www.hbs.edu/mba/admissions/admissionsrequirements.html

Ivey Launches 12-Month MBA Program

2006-06-23T13:36:00.000-07:00

The University of Western Ontario's top-rated Ivey School of Business has enrolled the first class of students in its new 12-month, cross-disciplinary MBA program.

The 12-month program was established in late 2005. It will will admit two classes each year, in May and October. Each intake will have about 65 students.

The 12-month MBA program is part of Ivey's conversion to a Cross-Enterprise Leadership curriculum. The program will encourage students to approach management across traditional disciplinary lines such as finance, accounting, and marketing. It will also focus on developing students' personal leadership skills. The curriculum is meant to train high-performing managers who can function beyond traditional job roles and manage their organizations as an integrated whole.

Ivey's 12 month MBA program differs from EMBA programs of similar length in that it does not require the amount of work experience that executive MBA programs do. (Ivey applicants are required to have at least two years of work experience, whereas EMBA applicants typically need a minimum of seven years' experience.)

Source: "Ivey Welcomes First 12-Month MBA Students" - press release, the University of Western Ontario (London, Ontario), June 16, 2006 (http://communications.uwo.ca/western_news/story.html?listing_id=21505)

Profile of Chicago's Class of 2008

2006-06-22T08:59:00.000-07:00

Applications to the University of Chicago's full-time MBA program increased by 36 per cent in 2005-2006, according to a post on the School's admissions blog.

Chicago's admissions office also provided this profile of this year's incoming MBA class:

Class size: 550
Average GMAT: 702
10th - 90th percentile GMAT range: 650 to 760
Average GPA: 3.5
Average work experience: 5 years
Range of work experience: 1 year to 15 years

Kenan-Flagler Students Shine in Case Competitions

2006-06-20T09:54:00.000-07:00

MBA students from UNC's Kenan-Flagler Business School scored a string of wins in national case competitions held at their home school and across the U.S. this year.

Student teams from Kenan-Flagler put together winning strategies to tackle problems related to entrepreneurship, investment mangagement, management consulting, and other fields.

Kenan-Flagler students took first place in the UNC Real Estate Development Challenge, the Wachovia Regional Case Competition, the Leeds School of Business/Net Impact Case Competition, and the IBM Business Technology Case Competition.

Kenan-Flagler MBA students also won second place in Booz Allen Hamilton's Organization and Change Team Case Competition and first and fourth place in the Deloitte Consulting Case Competition.

First-year MBA student Grant Jaax felt that Kenan-Flagler's integrated core courses and emphasis on teamwork gave him and his classmates an edge in the competitions. He also feels that Kenan-Flagler students brought better communication and presentation skills to the contests than students from other top b-schools did, according to a Kenan-Flagler press release.

Associate dean and professor of marketing Valarie Zeithaml said that case competitions are an excellent way for MBA students to apply the knowledge and skills they are learning in their programs. Kenan-Flagler itself launched three new case competition programs this year to showcase students' abilities and to give them opportunities to network with corporate executives and with students from other business schools.

The three new case competitions are:

- The Evergreen Investments Alpha Challenge, on hedge fund trading strategies
- The UNC Real Estate Development Challenge, in which students present complete development plans including site plans, financial analysis, and timelines
- The Sustainable Venture Capital Investment Competition, on applying venture capital strategies to socially and environmentally sustainable projects

Source: "UNC Kenan Flagler Business School Scores High in Case Competitions" - press release, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Kenan-Flagler Business School, June 15, 2006

Fuqua Offers School-Related Multimedia Content Online

2006-06-19T11:59:00.000-07:00

Prospective Duke MBA applicants can now get a taste of the Fuqua experience without leaving home, with the help of a computer and a digital media player.

Duke University's Fuqua School of Business has partnered with Apple's iTunes to make free video and audio files of conferences, speeches, and interviews available online. Fuqua's iTunes page also offers multimedia profiles of the School for visitors and prospective MBA students.

Next year, Fuqua may draw on its iTunes capacity to enhance delivery of EMBA course content to students taking courses online.

For more information, visit Fuqua's iTunes U website (http://www.fuqua.duke.edu/itunes/).

Source: "Duke University's Fuqua School of Business Launches Public iTunes Site" - press release, Duke University, June 13, 2006

Haas MFE Grads Starting Out at $156,000+

2006-06-19T11:58:00.000-07:00

Are you one of those people who are debating whether to continue a career in engineering or to branch out and get an MBA?

There's another -- lucrative -- alternative you might consider: a Master's in Financial Engineering.

The Haas School of Business reports that 56 of the 59 people who completed its MFE program this year had job offers within three months of graduation. Their average first-year compensation offer was worth $156,614, reflecting a starting salary of just over $99,000 plus bonuses. That figure marks a 17 per cent increase over last year's average offer of $133,618.

Lehman Brothers was the leading employer of this year's Haas MFE grads, taking on 9 employees from the class. BGI, Citigroup, Fitch Rating, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley, and BNP Paribas hired two or more graduates each. Other employers were Bloomberg, Dow Jones, Credit Derivatives Research (CDR), LaSalle Bank Corporation, and SAC Capital Advisors.

It's important to understand that a financial engineering degree leads to a completely different career than an MBA does. To put it simply, MBAs are taught to manage organizations and their parts, processes, and resources, whereas MFEs are taught to manage investments.

MFE programs train students to apply financial theory and computer modeling to investment management. Graduates use their skills to make pricing, hedging, and trading decisions in investment banking, corporate consulting, risk management, and other financial fields.

Full-time MFE programs are shorter than MBA programs, with most lasting only a year to 18 months. Strong quantitative skills are an absolute requirement. Most programs have acceptance rates of 10 per cent or lower, with many applicants being rejected on the grounds of insufficient mathematical skills.

For more information on program options, visit these schools' websites:

University of Berkeley - Haas School of Business (Master's in Financial Engineering)
Carnegie Mellon - Tepper School of Business (M.S. in Computational Finance)
Cornell University (Financial Engineering Master's Program)
New York University (M.S. in Mathematics in Finance)
Princeton University (Master of Finance)
Stanford University (Interdisciplinary M.S. Degree in Financial Mathematics)
The University of Chicago (M.S. in Financial Mathematics)
The University of Michigan (Master of Science in Financial Engineering)

An MBA Can Boost a CIO's Career

2006-06-15T13:03:00.000-07:00

An MBA can benefit a CIO's career by improving his or her understanding of how technology impacts overall company operations and by helping the CIO work more effectively with general management, a panel of IT experts agreed.

The four IT professionals spoke at the keynote session of CIO Decisions 2006, held in Carlsbad, California, the week of June 5. Their consensus was that an MBA degree was by no means required for CIOs at most organizations, but that it could make a difference in career advancement.

Having an MBA can 'level the playing field' for a CIO dealing with management, especially outside the company, one panelist said. Having an MBA on his resume had helped him establish his credentials when he had meetings at other companies.

Another panelist noted that holding an MBA degree, especially one from a well-respected program, can make a big difference in getting called in for job interviews.

Other panelists said that their MBA educations helped them do their jobs better. One panelist said she gained a much better understanding of industry dynamics, company lifecycles, and how different departments inside a company have to work together. Another panelist said that 'learning the language' of managment helped him understand what he was hearing -- and, more importantly, helped him communicate how technology was benefitting the company.

Another panelist cautioned, however, that IT professionals should understand that MBAs don't make sense for all CIOs. The programs require "intellectual curiousity" and demand exploration of knowledge and fields that may not be relevant to everyone's interests or needs. Prospective students should ask themselves, "What will the degree help you achieve?," the panelist advised. "It will help you grow as an individual. Don't do it if you're not interested in business issues."

Source: "CIOs: MBA Worth the Effort, But Doesn't Guarantee IT Stardom," by Linda Tucci - SearchCIO.com, June 14, 2006

Stats for Yale SOM's Class of 2008

2006-06-13T09:56:00.000-07:00

The Yale School of Management says that it admissions yield for 2006 was 66% higher than that for 2005.

The average GMAT score of 2006 admits was over 700, compared to 690 for 2005 admits. Yale says the average GPA for 2006 admits is "over 3.4," compared to 3.4 in 2005.

Source: "From the Admissions Office," a notice posted to the Yale SOM website (http://mba.yale.edu/news_events/CMS/Articles/5659.shtml)

2007 Deadlines for Tuck

2006-06-13T08:32:00.000-07:00

Dartmouth's Tuck School of Business has released its application deadlines for fall 2007 admissions. They are:

Early Action - October 12 (w/notification by December 15)
November Round - November 30 (w/notification by February 2, 2007)
January Round - January 11, 2007 (w/notification by March 23)
April Round - April 5 (w/notification by May 14)

Applicants who want to be considered for scholarships are encouraged to apply in the earlier rounds. They must submit an Application for Tuck School of Business Funds by the appropriate financial aid deadline (see http://www.tuck.dartmouth.edu/admissions/dates/index.html for more information). Tuck begins awarding scholarships in the Early Action Round.

Application volume at Tuck grew by over a third last year.

A Harvard MBA Sizes Up the Value of... the Harvard MBA

2006-06-12T13:11:00.000-07:00

Is a Harvard MBA really worth the anxiety, money, and effort that people put into getting one?

As an HBS grad could tell you, there's one way to get a solid start on answering that question: quantify. That's what HBS alumnus Adam Richman has been up to for the last decade by making a series of documentary films about the the post-MBA lives of a group of his Harvard classmates.

Richman began his filming as an extracurricular project during his second year at HBS. His purpose was to determine whether a Harvard MBA was really as valuable as people said it was. To that end, he decided he would revisit the a group of 10 classmates he selected every five years and document their successes and failures, their decisions, and their changing values and priorities. His academic advisor, HBS associate professor Monica C. Higgins, was so taken with the idea that she eventually became a consultant for the series and uses the films in her classes.

Richman, with Higgins' help, selected 4 women and 6 men as the central subjects of his study. He also conducted a baseline survey of about 130 other students to gather information about post-MBA plans, salary expectations, and family status. Follow-up surveys were conducted in 2001 and 2006. Richman and Higgins plan to continue the project through 2026.

So far their research has found that most study participants and survey respondents are happy with the value of their HBS education. Richman's fellow alumni say their MBA experience gave them the knowledge and confidence they needed to pursue their dreams.

What has changed over the years is the way that study participants define their priorities and measure their success.

In 1996 and 2001, survey respondents ranked a list of life goals in the same order: life balance first, then peer respect, then a CEO or CFO position, and then a high salary.

In 2006, however, that order changed. This year's survey results indicated that life balance, financial security, and corporate success were still important to Richman's classmates, but that peer respect had become a secondary concern. Another change was that a number of respondents added another goal to the top of their lists, this one being 'to make a positive difference' in their company or in the world.

Higgins speculates that 9/11 and the dot-com collapse help explain study participants' continuing concern with quality of life issues. One of the main study subjects, a man who left a corporate career to found a company that runs charter schools and who now heads a nonprofit devoted to public education, said his decisions were shaped by a post-9/11 appreciation for public life and civic duty.

Entrepreneurship was another common theme in the lives of study subjects. Among the 10 main study subjects were people who started a consulting firm, a private equity fund, a software company, and a telephone start-up. One of the subjects took a year off from her career to pursue interests in photography and mountain climbing; another left a job with the Federal Government to write a novel before resuming her career with Google.

Overall, the quality of the MBA education that Richman's classmates expressed the most satisfaction with was the added control it gave them over their lives and careers. They knew that their degrees were seen by others as proof of their intelligence, drive, and accomplishments, and that they could always find work when they wanted it. That knowledge gave them confidence to take risks, including the risk of taking time off to pursue personal goals. "It's this big safety net," one woman is quoted in a New York Times article on Richman as saying. "It's a credential that makes it easier to get a job later."

Source: "Was Earning That Harvard MBA Worth It?," by Abby Ellin - the New York Times, June 12, 2006

96% of 2006 HBS Grads Had Job Offers Before Graduation

2006-06-09T08:50:00.000-07:00

The Harvard Business School held graduation ceremonies for its 96th MBA class on June 8th. 900 MBA candidates and 3 Ph.D. candidates received their HBS degrees at the ceremony. The top 5 per cent of the MBA candidates graduated with high distinction, as Baker Scholars. The next 6 per cent of the MBA class graduated with distinction.

Harvard's Class of 2006 did well on the job front, too. HBS reports that approximately 96 per cent of MBA graduates had received at least one job offer by graduation day. That's even better than the Class of 2005, in which 94 per cent of MBA candidates had at least one job offer by graduation, did.

Source: "Harvard Business School Celebrates 96th Commencement" - press release, Harvard Business School, 8 June 2006

Stanford Adopts New MBA Curriculum

2006-06-06T13:26:00.000-07:00

The Stanford Graduate School of Business will introduce a revised MBA curriculum in the fall of 2007.

The revised curriculum will give students more flexibility to select classes according to their educational and career needs. It will also emphasize student-faculty advising relationships, international experience, and the teaching of critical analysis and communication and leadership skills. Students will also be required to undertake an international program, such as an internship, student exchange, or study abroad program, at some point during their two years at Stanford.

Under the new curriculum, all first-year students will take core courses in organizational behavior, strategic leadership, finance, and global management during their first semester. They will also form an advising relationship with a member of Stanford's faculty who will help them make appropriate class choices for the following semester and year. The remainder of the MBA program will be highly customizable, allowing students to tailor their MBA education to their needs. Throughout the program, students will be encouraged to think across disciplines and functions and to take an active part in small class discussions.

Stanford plans to expand its faculty by 5 to 10 per cent and to construct a new classroom building in order to accommodate the smaller classes that the revised curriculum entails.

Jeffrey Pfeffer, Stanford's Thomas D. Dee II Professor of Organizational Behavior, called the new curriculum "the most important thing that has happened at Stanford in my 27 years here."

Other Stanford faculty say that the revisions are needed to fully meet the needs of Stanford's diverse student body. Students come to Stanford with widely varying amounts and kinds of business experience. A customizable curriculum allows each student to develop the skills and abilities they need most without re-learning what they already know.

The new curriculum also takes advantage of Stanford's relatively small size to allow students more class choice and a more active learning environment. Stanford's enrollment is about 750, compared to 1,800 at Harvard and 1,600 at Wharton.

Sources:

"Stanford Graduate School of Business Adopts New Curriculum Model" - press release, Stanford Graduate School of Business (Stanford, California), June 6, 2006

"Stanford to Let Students Tailor MBA Studies," by Robert Weisman. The Boston Globe, J

HBS Columbia Case Study Wins Industry Award

2006-06-06T10:25:00.000-07:00

Harvard Business School's multimedia case study of the Columbia space shuttle disaster has won a 2006 Codie Award from the Software & Information Industry Association.

"Columbia's Final Mission" was named this year's Best Postsecondary Education Instructional/Curriculum Solution at the SIIA's annual awards ceremony held in San Francisco in May. The Codies, which are regarded as the Oscars of the software industry, recognize excellence in the software, digital content, and education technology industries.

Harvard Business School CIO Judy Stahl credited the close working relationship between HBS faculty and IT staff for the quality of the Columbia case study package. Faculty and staff work hard to apply emerging technologies to the curriculum in order to enhance students' learning experience, she said.

"Columbia's Final Mission" engages students in a role-playing exercise simulating the decision making process that took place at NASA in the hours before the space shuttle re-entered Earth's atmosphere. Each student plays the role of one of six managers or engineers. The program presents each player with actual emails, reports, and transcripts from NASA and allows them to listen to audio recordings of re-enacted meetings. The students then take part in a classroom reenactment of a Mission Management Team meeting where critical decisions about Columbia's re-entry were made. The exercise focuses on organizational dynamics that played a role in the shuttle disaster and is meant to teach students leadership perspectives and skills.

"Columbia's Final Mission" was created by former HBS Professor Michael Roberto and HBS Professors Amy Edmondson and Richard Bohmer together with IT multimedia producer Melissa Dailey, Flash developer Chris Lamothe, and research associate Erika Ferlins. HBS uses the case study in both its MBA and EMBA programs.

Source: "Harvard Business School Case Wins Codie Award" - press release, Harvard Business School (Cambridge, MA), June 5, 2006

UCLA Students Win $250,000 in Venture Capital Competition

2006-06-05T10:01:00.000-07:00

A team of four MBA students from UCLA's Anderson School of Management has won the second annual Draper Fisher Jurvetson (DFJ) Venture Challenge business plan competition.

DFJ and its California-based affiliates will invest $250,000 in the students' company. Their venture, Precision Reproduction LLC, will deliver a patented, improved technology for in vitro fertilization to doctors and clinics. A venture capitalist from DFJ or one of its affiliates may also join the board of Precision Reproduction.

Silicon Valley-based DFJ, a leading firm in early stage venture capital, invites the winners of business plan competitions at California universities and colleges to participate in the Venture Challenge each year. Fifteen teams participated in this year's contest. The six finalists came from UC Berkeley, Stanford, California Tech, and USC as well as UCLA.

Source: "Draper Fisher Jurvetson Awards UCLA Student Team with $250,000 Investment in Second Annual Venture Challenge" - press release, DFJ (Menlo Park, CA), June 5, 2006

MIT Application Deadlines for 2007

2006-06-05T09:05:00.000-07:00

MIT's Sloan School of Management has published its deadlines for fall 2007 admissions:

Round 1 - November 1, 2006 (notification by January 29, 2007)
Round 2 - January 10, 2007 (notification by April 2, 2007)
LFM Program - December 15, 2006 (notification by March 12, 2007)

The Sloan School will publish essay questions for the 2007 application in July.

Essays for Columbia's January MBA Program

2006-06-02T11:57:00.000-07:00

The application form and essays for Colombia’s 2007 Accelerated (January) MBA program are now available on Colombia’s website. October 11 is the final deadline for applications to the January program, which lasts 16 months and is meant for students who are staying with the same company or who run their own businesses. (The program is not a good choice for career changers because classes run straight through, without a break for internships.)

Columbia’s fall 2007 application will be published in July. Application deadlines for fall admissions to the 2-year, full-time program are October 11 for early decision and either March 1 or April 18 for regular decision (March 1 for international students and April 18 for US citizens and permanent residents).

Applicants who want to get a head start on a fall 2007 application can safely start work on questions 1 (required) and 5 (optional) from the January application form. Those questions ("What are your short-term and long-term post-MBA goals? How will Columbia Business School help you achieve these goals?" and "Is there any further information that you wish to provide to the Admissions Committee? ") appear on Columbia applications year in and year out. However, it's wiser to wait to see the fall application before doing any further work on essays. Questions 2 through 4 on the January application can give you a general idea of the kind of essays you'll be asked to write, but there's no guarantee the exact same questions will be used for fall admissions.

Fuqua Research on Why We Repeat Mistakes - Like Re-Submitting Flawed B-School Applications

2006-06-02T11:14:00.000-07:00

It’s long been conventional wisdom that people will stick to a non-productive course of action because they are reluctant to walk away from a project they have already invested time and resources in. In other words, a gambler on a losing streak will keep making bets not so much because he rationally believes that his luck is about to change but because he hates to admit having lost his previous wagers.

Two researchers from the Fuqua School of Business have proposed a new twist to that theory – and it’s one of potential benefit to business school re-applicants.

Fuqua professors Bill Boulding and Rick Staelin, together with co-author Eyal Biyalogorsky of the University of California at Davis, argue that failure to absorb negative feedback is often the reason why managers resist proposals for change. In other words, people repeat mistakes because they either cannot or will not listen to bad news.

The researchers conducted an experiment in which 142 MBA and EMBA students were asked to read a case study about a new product. Some participants were given market research that indicated the product would be successful, and others were given research that said it would fail. Only some of the participants were asked to make a decision about whether to launch the product.

The researchers then presented students who chose to launch the product with reports showing that the item had fared poorly during its first two years on the market. The same material was shown to a control group of participants who had not been asked to make a decision about the product launch. 52 per cent of both groups of participants – including those who had no psychological investment in a previous decision to launch the product – opted to continue production despite the negative reports.

What happened? The professors believe that participants had developed positive feelings about the product during the first part of the experiment, and that those feelings led them to discount or ignore subsequent information that contradicted their favorable impressions. “People interpret negative feedback based on their prior beliefs about the worthiness of a product or project whether or not they are personally invested in that project’s success,” Prof. Boulding said in a Duke University press release. “People fall into the trap of not acknowledging the veracity of new, negative information when it goes against their previously held positive beliefs about that project.”

A b-school applicant who gets dinged is in a situation similar to that of a manager whose product line has failed. You invested a lot of time and toil in your applications and – let’s face it – you thought it was great. A rejection letter, however, is about as clear a piece of negative feedback as anyone can get.

A remarkable number of re-applicants do the same thing that the 52 per cent of participants in the Fuqua professors’ study did: they stay the course. They re-apply with an application that is essentially identical to the one that was rejected. They might have a better GMAT score or list some additional work experience or an additional community activity, but the essence of their application is unchanged from the previous year.

In some cases (probably not very many), this approach works. It can happen that someone really was on the brink of being accepted, but something like a low quant score on the GMAT kept the admissions committee from extending an admissions offer.

More often, however, people are dinged for more complex reasons. One of the reasons why many schools have mixed feelings about giving feedback on unsuccessful applications is that it can be very difficult to articulate exactly what led to a denial. It’s often not because of just one thing. Admissions committees read applications as a single package, not as a collection of parts. The kinds of things that bother them are often found throughout the application, not just in one particular component.

One problem that re-applicants face is that it is difficult for anyone to read something like a b-school application with the objectivity that an admissions committee member reads it with. You’re too close, psychologically, to the application you prepared.

That's why it’s helpful for re-applicants to do what a product manager should do when faced with unwelcome feedback on a product they feel attached to: get an outside view, and listen to what that person has to say as if they’re talking about something totally new and unknown. That’s the surest way of guaranteeing that you’re not sabotaging your re-application by an ingrained bias against negative feedback on a project you feel strongly about – i.e., you and your future.

Source: “Research Provides New Insights Into Managers' Unwillingness to Cancel Unsuccessful Projects” – press release, Duke University (Durham, NC), May 31, 2006

Wharton's Top 10 Reasons for Dings

2006-06-01T10:59:00.000-07:00

Wharton admissions officers have published this list of the ten most common weaknesses they see in MBA applications:

Assuming that being qualified is enough.
Failing to use insight into self and experiences in the process, particularly essays and interviews.
Responding to essays and interview questions with what the applicant "thinks" the Admissions Committee wants to hear (i.e., assuming there is an "ideal candidate" we seek. )
Approaching the application as though each part is a separate entity. We evaluate candidates holistically, based on their overall profile or the picture that emerges from the entire applicaton.
Selecting recommenders who are unable to answer questions we ask on the recommendation form (e.g., academicians/professors are not always able to speak to a candidate's managerial and/or leadership potential).
Lacking focus - unable to articulate career progress to date, as well as plans going forward.
Trying to be all things to all people.
Failing to follow directions (yes, this still happens after high school graduation!)
Including too little/too much information in the application.
Taking an admissions decision too personally. Students are admited (or denied) from among a group of highly accomplished and talented individuals. Many fine individuals are denied yearly as there is limited space in each entering class.

We couldn't help noting that many of these shortcomings can (and should) be addressed in candidates' application essays.

It's your essays that bring your application together and give the admissions committee a coherent idea of your purpose in pursuing an MBA. Your essays are also your best opportunity to show the real you, not just by explaining your background, hopes, and plans, but by conveying your voice and personality. Above all, your essays are your best chance to demonstrate that you're not just qualified for MBA study, but also an appealing candidate who would fit in well with the school and thrive in its program.

These are just some of the reasons why your essays are one of the most important parts of your business school applications, and why you should plan to put a major part of your resources into their preparation.

Source: "Reflections on Wharton's MBA Feedback Sessions for Denied Applicants Who Plan to Reapply" - the Wharton Admissions Blog, June 1, 2006

Haas Deadlines & Essays for 2007

2006-05-26T10:05:00.000-07:00

UC Berkeley's Haas School of Business has published its application calendar and essay questions for fall 2007 admissions.

Deadlines and notification dates for 2007 are:

Round 1 - November 6, 2006 (with notification by January 29, 2007)
Round 2 - December 11, 2006 (with notification by March 19, 2007)
Round 3 - January 31, 2007 (with notification by April 30, 2007)
Round 4 - March 12, 2007 (with notification by May 14, 2007)

Essay questions are posted to the admissions section of Haas' website (http://mba.haas.berkeley.edu/fall2007.html).

Aiming for I-Banking? Here's What to Expect

2006-05-25T12:52:00.000-07:00

Investment banking is always high on the list of MBA students' career preferences. The Wall Street Journal's Career Journal recently offered aspiring I-bankers some pointers on what to expect during and after business school. Here are the main points from that article, along with some of our own comments (in italics):

Getting hired: Most investment banks recruit staff through their summer internship programs. If you want to use your MBA as a platform to launch into investment banking, make sure you attend a program that includes a summer internship (i.e., a two-year, full-time MBA program). Take the time to research which firms recruit at which schools, and select the schools you apply to accordingly.

Salary and benefits: An MBA hired by an investment bank as an associate in early 2006 could expect a compensation package of about $185,000, a New York City pay consultant told the Journal. Wharton and Chicago's 2005 employment reports said that MBA grads from those schools who went into investment banking or brokerages received a median annual salary of $95,000 plus a sign-on bonus of about $30,000. The schools' employment reports would not include annual bonuses for performance, which, according to the Journal, can range from $70,000 to $190,000.

Career perks: Many investment bankers enjoy the amount of responsibility they get to take on early in their careers. Investment firms often provide their hard-working staff with morale boosters such as a company gym; concierge, meal, and car services; and free or discounted sports and theater tickets.

Career downsides: Long hours. 70 hours a week is typical. Hours are often intense as well as long, with bankers working through weekends and holidays. Another issue to be aware of is that most investment banks do not include pension plans in their benefit packages -- so bankers have to count on budgeting part of their generous salaries for retirement savings.

Source: "The Perks and Drawbacks of Being an Investment Banker," by Aja Carmichael - the Wall Street Journal Career Journal, May 24, 2006

Yale Alumni Network Tops 5,000

2006-05-23T11:46:00.000-07:00

The Yale School of Management graduated its 5,000th MBA student in the School's annual commencement ceremony on May 22.

Dean Joel M. Podolny, in his address to students, faculty, and family members gathered for the ceremony, said, “With 5,000 alumni spread out around the world, SOM is truly coming into its own. Soon you will be receiving your Yale diplomas, and you will officially be part of the worldwide SOM alumni body. It is a group that is strong and growing, just as our School is strong and growing, and committed to taking a leadership role in the future of management education.”

The Yale SOM Class of 2006 consists of 215 students from the U.S. and 23 other countries. Graduates are going on to positions with a range of employers, including Google, Morgan Stanley, McKinsey, PepsiCo, Deloitte Consulting, Unilever, Merrill Lynch, Microsoft, and Lehman Brothers.

Source: "Yale School of Management Marks 5,000th Graduate at 2006 Commencement" - press release, Yale School of Management (New Haven, CT), May 22, 2006

MBA Applications to UCLA Grow By 10-12%

2006-05-23T09:16:00.000-07:00

Applications to the full-time MBA program at UCLA's Anderson School of Management increased by 10 to 12 per cent in 2005-2006, Dean Judy Olian told the Financial Times in a recent interview.

The School is planning for an incoming class of 360 first-year students this fall, which is 11 per cent larger than Anderson's first-year classes have typically been.

There was even greater growth in applications to Anderson's part-time MBA program. Olian said that part-time application volume grew by 40 per cent over last year.

Olian, who took over the deanship at Anderson in January 2006, said she was drawn to UCLA by the intellectual environment. "When you are in the business of knowledge, UCLA is at the top,” she said. She added that the University of California system is “the greatest university system in the world,” with a strong governance system that maintains high academic standards.

Olian also noted that California is an ideal setting for a business school. The size of the state's economy and population guarantee a strong foundation for business studies and a steady stream of talent. California also offers strong biosciences, real estate, and media and entertainment sectors. Above all, California has been the seat of entrepreneurial culture in the U.S. "I think the entrepreurial company will be the corporate model of the 21st century," Olian said.

One of Olian's priorities as Dean is to recruit outstanding faculty. To date she has brought at least 8 new professors to Anderson, bringing the total number of faculty to 78. She said she would continue to seek to attract top academic talent to the School.

Source: "Member of a Club of Two," by Della Bradshaw - the Financial Times, May 15, 2006

Tags: UCLA, Anderson School of Management

'06 MBA Grads Getting More Job Offers, Higher Salaries

2006-05-19T09:58:00.000-07:00

The Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC) reports that this year's MBA grads are seeing more job offers and higher salary and bonus packages than their predecessors were a year ago.

GMAC's survey of b-school graduates found that the average starting salary offered to this year's MBAs was $92,360, compared to $88,626 in 2005.

Two-thirds of job offers included a bonus with an average value of $17,603.

52 per cent of 2006 graduates said they had received a job offer while they were still in school. That figure was 50 per cent in 2005, 42 per cent in 2004, and 36 per cent in 2003.

Almost 66 per cent of survey respondents rated their MBA program as an outstanding or excellent value. 29 per cent described their program as a good value.

The GMAC survey collected data from 6,139 students at 147 business schools in the U.S. and abroad.

Tepper Awards Entrepreneurial Fellowships to Y1 Students

2006-05-19T09:35:00.000-07:00

The Tepper School of Business has selected 12 first-year MBA students as the recipients of the School's first Swartz Entrepreneurial Fellowships.

The students will work in paid summer internships at entrepreneurial firms this year while receiving close mentorship from Tepper faculty and the company's CEO or another top executive. Next year, the students will complete a team-based project in another entrepreneurial company during their final semester of classes. These internships will take place across the U.S., but all of the students will begin the fellowship program in Silicon Valley.

The James R. Swartz Entrepreneurial Fellowship Program was established with a gift from Tepper alumnus James R. Swartz, co-founder of the Palo Alto-based venture capital firm Accell Partners. Swartz said that the Fellowship Program was designed to give outstanding students direct exposure to the entrepreneurial and venture capital sectors.

Source: "CMU Creates Fellowship with Ties to Silicon Valley" - Pittsburgh Business Times, May 18, 2006

Fuqua Devotes $40M to Improve Academic Facilities

2006-05-19T08:52:00.000-07:00

The Duke University Board of Trustees has approved a plan to expand the building that houses the Fuqua School of Business.

The plan includes construction of a $40 million addition to the Keller Center. The addition will provide additional classrooms, team meeting rooms, and expanded space for the business library. Construction will begin this fall and should be completed by July 2008.

The renovations are meant to improve the academic experience of Fuqua students, Associate Dean for Marketing and Communications Mike Hemmerich told the campus paper.

Dean Douglas Bredeen noted recently that, with the expansion of Fuqua's programs in leadership, nonprofits, ethics, entrepreneurship, and health care management, the School was in urgent need of additional classroom and study space.

Source: "Fuqua to Get $40M Facelift," by Ryan McCartney - The Duke Chronicle, May 18, 2006

The WE Factor and Your MBA Investment

2006-05-18T12:47:00.000-07:00

One of the most commonly heard questions about business school admissions is, "How much work experience do I need to get into b-school?"

It's often followed by one of the most commonly heard objections to b-school admissions, which is, "Four (or five, or even six or seven) years! Why do I have to wait that long? I'm ready for my MBA now!"

In fact, the amount of work experience that a student needs to benefit from an MBA program is an eternally debated question. Expectations go up and down over time. About fifteen years ago, b-schools began looking for applicants with more work experience, and the median figure went up to about seven years. More recently, business schools have made an effort to reach out to younger applicants, with some going so far as to actively recruit people just a year or two out of college. (Some people say this move is meant to encourage minorities and women to enter MBA programs; others say it's a way to shore up shrinking applicant pools. There's probably some truth to both arguments.)

As with many other controversial aspects of MBA admissions, the question that applicants should ask themselves here is not, "What is right?" or "What is normal?," but rather, "What makes sense for me?"

An MBA is a professional degree. It has a practical rather than an academic orientation. You need maturity and judgment in addition to smarts to do well in your studies and after you graduate. The skills and methods you'll learn won't mean much to you if you don't have the experience to understand the situations you'll have to apply them in.

Moreover, recruiters prefer MBAs with prior work experience. A recent Wall Street Journal/Harris Interactive poll found that employers' biggest gripe with b-school hires is that too many of them lack the experience they need to hit the ground running as managers. That means that even if you get into Wharton or Chicago or Stanford with just a couple of years of work experience, you'll be at a disadvantage when it comes to hiring. Classmates with four or five years of experience will be well ahead of you -- and for good reason.

Your MBA degree is probably going to be the biggest financial investment you make in your life except for real estate. You owe it to yourself to make sure you realize the best possible return on that investment. One way to do that is to wait to go to b-school until you've accumulated enough experience to get the most out of your program and to be a prize catch in recruiters' eyes.

Of course, you won't be the only person deciding whether you have enough work experience to perform in b-school or not. Admissions committees will judge you on that score, too. They will be more inclined to admit you if you seem like someone who's ready to take full advantage of a top MBA education.

How do admissions committees make that judgment? It's based largely on what you write in your essays. Admissions committees look for evidence that you're thoughtful about your work experience and are thinking intelligently and realistically about your future. They're also looking for signs that you're reflective, resilient, principled, and disciplined -- in other words, a grown-up. This is one more reason why it's not just what you put in your essays, but the skill and strategy with which you present it, that counts in MBA admission decisions.

A Stern Grad's Survival Tips for MBA Moms

2006-05-17T10:29:00.000-07:00

When - and how - to balance MBA study with family needs is a question that poses a dilemma for many professional women. Shonna Keogan, an upcoming graduate of Stern's part-time MBA program who had her first child about a year into the program and who will give birth to her second a few months after receiving her degree, gave her advice for MBA moms in the May 9 edition of the Stern Opportunity:

1. Enlist support from your spouse, family, and friends. Keogan says it was often "the little things" her husband did, like dropping off her assignments at school, that got her through the rough periods.

2. Arrange flexible employment -- meaning a job that allows you some control over your schedule and accommodates employees who need time to see to family and medical business.

3. Set realistic expectations. You're not going to be able to maintain a 4.0 GPA and participate in all of the school's social events and fulfill your duties as a parent at the same time.

4. Keep family and work separate. When it's time to be with your family, put work out of your mind and focus on your family. When it's time to be at work, put your family out of your mind and focus on your work.

Keogan writes that the flexibility of Stern's part-time program was perfect for her needs. Saturday classes, intensive classes, and independent study were some of the options that allowed her to pursue a quality MBA education while fulfilling her family and business responsibilities.

Chicago GSB 2007 Deadlines

2006-05-16T09:55:00.000-07:00

The Chicago Graduate School of Business has released its application deadlines for 2007 admissions.

The deadlines are:

Round 1 - October 18, 2006 (notification by January 4, 2007)
Round 2 - January 10, 2007 (notification by March 28)
Round 3 - March 14 (notification by May 16)

Recruiters Prefer Full-Time MBA Programs

2006-05-09T12:19:00.000-07:00

One of the first questions that anyone pursuing an MBA degree runs up against is what kind of program they should enroll in: full-time, part-time, or EMBA?

Each one of these options has its strengths. The answer to the ‘which program?’ question depends on who is making the choice and what their reasons for getting an MBA are.

But if you ask corporate recruiters for their opinion on MBA programs, their answer is unequivocal: they strongly prefer full-time graduates.

The internship component of full-time programs is a large part of the reason for this. Full-time MBA students almost always take a paid summer internship during the summer between their first and second year of classes. These internships are valuable to students and employers alike. Students get a chance to put classroom knowledge to work, and to get a taste of what it is really like to work in a particular field or industry. Employers get a chance to size up prospective hires – in fact, career services officers at b-schools across the country have said that a growing proportion of graduates’ job offers stem from such internships.

Even companies that do not hire MBA interns value the experience that full-time students gain through internships and the recent, targeted employer recommendations they are able to give. That’s one reason why major corporations scout for management talent through the career services offices of the top b-schools.

Career goals should be the main factor that b-school applicants consider when they make the ‘which program?’ choice.

Part-time programs are a suitable choice for people who are happy with their present employer and hoping to move up in the same company. They can also be a good option for people who want an MBA education to plan and start their own business.

EMBA degrees are, of course, meant for mid-career professionals who are already on the management track at their current employer and who plan to stay there. Typically, career services are neither expected by EMBA students nor provided by EMBA programs.

But people who want to change employers or industries are much better served by enrolling in a full-time, two-year MBA program. Their internship will give them the relevant work experience they need to convince prospective employers that they can perform at the management level. They will also benefit from the alumni network they plug in to and the superior career services support that top b-schools provide to full-time students.

This advice is not always what prospective MBAs want to hear. The cost of attending business school for two years, full time, is daunting, as is the prospect of possibly having to move to another city to attend b-school. But the fact that someone is willing to do those things to gain a management education is seen as a sign of career commitment by many employers. Keep in mind, too, that full-time program graduates have better job prospects and receive higher salary offers than part-time grads typically do. That difference should, in a few short years, compensate you for the sacrifices you make to attend school full-time.