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.
  

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).

During this week's upcoming Haas MBA admissions chat, Stephanie Fujii, Senior Associate Director of MBA Admissions at the Haas School of Business, will answer your questions about Haas' top MBA program and its focus on innovation and leadership.  Please join us tomorrow Tuesday November 20 at 10:00 AM PT/1:00 PM ET/6:00 PM GMT for an informative online chat.

We had two excellent and very different chats last week. The first, for the Consortium, was a wide-ranging discussion and included representatives of that organization as well as NYU Stern, Michigan Ross, USC Marshall, Wisconsin at Madison, Simon, and Goizueta. Here are a couple of short excerpts.

Andre Llewellyn (Nov 13, 2007 7:59:34 PM)
Is there any truth to the perception that most Consortium schools will not consider most applicants if they are ranked 2nd in the applicant’s preference?

JacquelineThomas-BellSIMON (Nov 13, 2007 8:00:42 PM)
Hello Andre-- no, that is not true. Schools look at an applicant first based upon admissions criteria for the school itself and then look to Consortium fellowship consideration.

VeronicaHoMARSHALL (Nov 13, 2007 8:01:33 PM)
Andre Llewellyn: No, I don't think that's true. Most applicants list several schools, and we know you must rank them. We look for strong applicants and will give consideration to all applicants who list our school.

fp1982 (Nov 13, 2007 8:02:40 PM)
What types of questions will be asked during the Consortium interview and what is the best way to prepare yourself for the interview?

VeronicaHoMARSHALL (Nov 13, 2007 8:04:24 PM)
fp: Most will ask about your career goals, reasons for wanting an MBA, why that school, challenges, successes, etc. It can be similar to a job interview but for an MBA.

JimHayesRoss (Nov 13, 2007 8:04:32 PM)
fp1982, you should approach the interview just like a job interview. Be prepared to talk about the representations on your resume and behavioral support for the assertions. The questions are not designed to stump you, and anything discussed should be topics about which you should be prepared through your professional and life experiences.

 The full Consortium transcript will be available shortly and accessible from our chat transcript page.

During the Wharton chat, Thomas Caleel and three Wharton students discussed life and Wharton admissions policies with a focus on the Wharton interview. Here again are excerpts:

ThomasCaleelWharton (Nov 15, 2007 12:57:59 PM)
Please note that we do have a different feedback mechanism this year, so if you are not successful, please read your decision letter carefully...

ThomasCaleelWharton (Nov 15, 2007 12:59:11 PM)
Yes. We have a separate email address where unsuccessful applicants can send and email (please follow the instructions carefully). We will then select feedback candidates at random in May.

ThomasCaleelWharton (Nov 15, 2007 12:59:39 PM)
We have done this to level the playing field from our traditional model, which was call-in, and was difficult for some international students.

nicky484 (Nov 15, 2007 1:01:52 PM)
Thomas: What are you looking for at interview?

ThomasCaleelWharton (Nov 15, 2007 1:02:06 PM)
Nicky, the IV, like the app, is holistic. We will look for your motivation to attend Wharton, as well as your goals.  We may ask about leadership or teamwork or involvement as well. I would advise you to re-read your application before the IV, then just go in and relax. Too many applicants seek the "right" answer, and end up not listening and answering the questions asked...

The transcript should be posted by the end of the week and you can access it then at Accepted's Wharton zone.  

Several excellent articles and interviews, along with other noteworthy factoids, have appeared during the last few days:

• Businessweek's Expo interviews are now online. The Expo focused on demonstrating fit in your MBA applications. BW Editor Phil Mintz examined this theme in interviews with Clear Admit's (and AIGAC's) Graham Richmond,  Chicago's Rose Martinelli, Haas' Pete Johnson, and Michigan Ross' Soojin Kwon Koh. I strongly recommend you review these interviews, but in the meantime, here is an excerpt from Pete Johnson's comments on fit:

The subject of today's discussion is finding the best-fit business school. What's the first thing you do at Haas to determine if a student is a good fit for the school?
Well, one of the first things that we look at is the level of knowledge that an applicant has about our program. There are a number of characteristics that would make for a good fit, and one of the ones that I feel is most important is that the applicant knows about the program and what things it offers that fits their personal and career goals. So I would look for evidence that they had information about things like particular specialization areas that were consistent with their career goals and that they know something about our student culture.

• The Wall St. Journal published its interview with Tuck Dean Paul Danos, who was recently reappointed for a fourth four-year term as dean of Dartmouth's business school.  The interview highlights Dean Danos' plans for Tuck: increasing the faculty so that Tuck will "create theory-to-practice seminars with eight to 12 M.B.A. students getting direct exposure to the research process and learning more about the faculty's methods of solving the riddles of the business world." Dean Danos is a big believer in business schools balancing theory and practice, research and experience as evidenced in the Q&A that resulted from my meeting with Tuck's dean last year.

• GMAT registration and test-taking volume continues to climb. "Year-to-date GMAT registration volume through September 30 shows an 11.64% increase over the number of registrations recorded during the same period in 2006" according to GMAC. Actual test-taking volume climbed 13.20% over the same period last year. Since GMAT volume tends to be a "leading indicator" of application volume, whispered concerns about the sub-prime mess affecting MBA hiring have not yet dampened the ardor of would be MBAs around the world.