I would like to invite all 2009 MBA applicants to sign up for the second 2009 MBA Admissions Telethon on Tuesday, May 13th between 10:00 AM and 12:00 PM PT (1:30 PM ET - 3:30 PM ET; 6:00 PM GMT - 8:00 PM GMT). What is the MBA Admissions Telethon?

Two hours when 6 MBA admissions experts will be available to answer your individual questions via telephone. Prior to calling in, you will receive a brief, 6-question questionnaire and submit it along with your resume to a designated email address. (No essays, please.) When you call in, your consultant will review the information you provide, and you will have 15 minutes to discuss with him or her your most pressing MBA admissions questions.

Oh, by the way, the 2009 MBA Admission Telethon is free.

You can learn more details and sign up at 2009 MBA Admissions Telethon.

Yesterday I met with a LAMP client who is shrewdly starting now to prepare for his fall application. We went over his profile, and I made several suggestions as to what he can do between now and this fall to improve his chances of acceptance next year. He found the session very valuable. And again, I commend him for starting early to work on his application. I want to be able to commend and mentor and help prepare more of you.

For years I have encouraged MBA applicants to lay the foundation for their MBA application in the months before applications come out. That's why I wrote Best Practices for MBA Admissions, a featured ebook this month. That's why Accepted has hosted MBA Admissions Telethons and teleseminars. And that's why Accepted is introducing a new subscription form of MBA Admissions Consulting: Start Smart ™.

With Start Smart, you can meet up to one hour per month with your adviser, an experienced Accepted consultant and editor who for years has seen what works and what doesn't. Our experienced staff shares my frustration when talented but flawed clients come to us in September wanting to apply in Round 1 and hoping that a magic wand will make them competitive. We don't have that wand. We do have decades of collective experience that we would like to share with you on an individual basis through Start Smart.

With Start Smart, you can have a mentor guide you in:

• Identifying the core stories for your application.
• Focusing on specific schools.
  
• Strengthening your application and ameliorating weaknesses.
• Choosing recommenders.

We can even help you work out an application time table.

In addition, Start Smart is something that rewards your early-bird-gets-the-worm approach to your applications:

• You will pay less per month when you sign up for more months.
• Your credit card is billed on a monthly basis for the exact number of months you want. You do not pay for the entire service up front so it is more affordable.
  

Accepted is hosting two exciting events this week.

• The first,  a chat with Consortium students, will take place on Tuesday February 5 at  5:00 PM PT/8:00 PM ET in the Accepted chat room when Consortium students from Tepper, Emory, Indiana, NYU Stern, Darden, Marshall, Ross and McCombs will answer your questions about the Consortium -- from the student's perspective -- and life at these fine MBA programs.
  
• The second is for 2009 MBA applicants. Accepted is hosting its first MBA Admissions Telethon for 2009 applicants this Wednesday February 6 between 10:00 AM and 12:00 PM PT (1:00 PM ET - 3:00 PM ET; 5:00 PM GMT - 7:00 PM GMT). During the 2009 MBA Admissions Telethon, Accepted.com consultants will be available to review your resume, take your 15-minute call, and answer your questions. Free. For more information and to register, please visit the MBA Admissions Telethon page.

I also want to let you know that we posted the recent UCLA Anderson MBA admissions chat with  Lydia Heyman, UCLA Anderson's Interim Director of Admissions;  Craig Hubbell, Associate Director of Admissions; and Jessica Chung, Associate Director of Admissions.  An excerpt from this excellent transcript:

Despite dizzying volatility in the financial markets and unprecedented losses at certain major financial institutions, banks are still recruiting and hiring MBAs according to "Bump or Bust for MBA Jobs?".  A few highlights from this BusinessWeek article:

• Merrill Lynch plans to hire 170 to180 people for summer internships globally -- the same number it planned to hire before announcing its largest quarterly loss in its history.
• "According to an Employment Trends Survey Report conducted this fall by the MBA Career Services Council, most of the 85 business schools surveyed reported a 20% increase in overall recruiting activity this fall over last year and a 14.9% increase in on-campus recruiting. The average full-time base salary for the class of 2007 increased by 5.5%, with an 8.8% increase in the signing bonus, the survey showed."
• Carnegie Mellon reports that  "nearly 78% of second-year MBA students already had job offers by Jan. 21, up about 10% from this time last year."
• The National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) anticipates uncertainty in the undergraduate hiring market. Although their last survey of employers (in the fall) showed that employers planned to hire 16% more graduates in academic year 2007-2008 compared to the previous year and give them higher signing bonuses, the NACE is planning an earlier than usual survey to explore whether the financial survey is affecting undergraduate recruiting and hiring.

We have two large chats planned for this week and are adding a couple of excellent new transcripts from recent chats.

First the upcoming chats:

• The Consortium has put together an impressive group of career services professionals to answer your questions tomorrow December 11 at 5:00 PM PT/8:00 PM ET during an online chat in the Accepted chat room. Representatives from the Consortium, Carnegie Mellon, Emory University, Indiana University, New York University, Univ. of Michigan, Univ. of North Carolina, Univ. of Rochester, Univ. of Southern California, Univ. of Virginia, Univ. of Wisconsin will be available. Please join us to pose your questions about career change, career management, and the MBA. Our guests will have the answers.
• On Wednesday December 12 at 10:00 AM PT/1:00 PM ET/6:00 PM GMT London Business School will assemble an equally impressive group of admissions, marketing, and student representatives to answer your questions about its MBA program. They will be ably led by Tamsin Shillitoe, MBA Marketing and Admissions Manager at LBS. Please join us to learn more about this leading international business school.
  

Now that you know about our upcoming chats this week, let me fill you in on recently posted transcripts.

• The 2008 Haas chat with Peter Johnson and Stephanie Fujii is now online. Excerpts:

 thapar (Nov 20, 2007 1:36:23 PM)
Hi Stephanie ... it is said that IT applicants need to apply in first round to increase their chances ...otherwise the competition in second round is very high ..

StephanieFujiiHAAS (Nov 20, 2007 1:36:48 PM)
Thapar, there are always so many rumors and theories out there...

StephanieFujiiHAAS (Nov 20, 2007 1:39:57 PM)
But, Thapar, to answer your question, the most important thing is to present the strongest application possible. And your chances always depend on the strength of the pool and how your experiences compare. We do see a good number of applicants from the IT sector but we're still looking for the same criteria -- academic ability, richness of work experience (so in your career, have you progressed over time, demonstrated leadership, impacted your organization/team, etc.) and personal qualities. Competition is high for everyone since we only have 240 students per class! So remember, a strong application is a strong application.

Classof2011 (Nov 20, 2007 1:44:10 PM)
Pete: How is recruiting shaping up this year? Are the banks still hiring?

PeterJohnsonHAAS (Nov 20, 2007 1:45:18 PM)
Class of 2011, yes-- at least at this point. We've been watching this closely, of course, and some banks have indicated that they will likely hire fewer candidates, but as far as I know, none have indicated that they won't be hiring.

• The 2008 INSEAD chat on December 3 is availabe now.  Here are the excerpts:

Linda Abraham (Dec 3, 2007 12:57:26 PM)
What is new at INSEAD?

MarkNorburyINSEAD (Dec 3, 2007 12:58:53 PM)
We're seeing a striking increase in applications with Singapore as busy as France; we are still increasing entrepreneurship modules all the time; we have innovative experiential learning in Africa and many other exciting courses.

Linda Abraham (Dec 3, 2007 1:06:43 PM)
Mark, what percentage of students study at more than one campus?

MarkNorburyINSEAD (Dec 3, 2007 1:07:06 PM)
Hi Linda, 73% of MBAs study at more than one campus.

Linda Abraham (Dec 3, 2007 1:07:13 PM)
Wow!

MarkNorburyINSEAD (Dec 3, 2007 1:08:12 PM)
Linda - for the triple campus experience (Wharton as well as both INSEAD campuses) is about 15% or 120 a year.

MBA2010 (Dec 3, 2007 1:17:26 PM)
Mark: Were applications up this year? If yes, by how many percent?

MarkNorburyINSEAD (Dec 3, 2007 1:18:25 PM)
MBA2010 - applications have been growing strongly, but we do not release percentages (suffice to say easily double digit).