Much is happening on Accepted and in the MBA admissions world  these days. Here goes:

• Birthday Ebook Sale. May 9-13  In honor of my birthday, I am giving you all 50% off all MBA admissions ebooks including:

Best Practices for MBA Admissions: Take advantage of the super advice captured in this transcript of a one-of-a-kind teleseminar.  Find out what are the 4 Pillars of a Successful Application, and most importantly, discover the concrete steps you can take to strengthen your pillars.

MBA BlastOff: 45 Terrific Tips to Launch Your MBA Application to Acceptance: Learn how to create a winning MBA application package including advice on writing your application, crafting your resume, working with recommenders, and preparing for your interview. 

The Consultant's Guide to MBA Admissions: Invest in the one resource written for YOU. Transform yourself from "just another consultant" into a distinctive, exciting prospect. Learn to mine your experiences and project the qualities schools value. This ebook has sample HBS essays.

The Finance Professional's Guide to MBA Admissions: If you are in investment banking, corporate finance, venture capital, or any financially related field that sends oodles of applicatants to top business schools, this ebook can teach you how to distinguish yourself from your competition and improve your chances of admissions. 

The Techie's Guide to MBA Admissions: Attention Techies: Are you afraid of being just another IT applicant. If so, The Techie's Guide to MBA Admissions is for you! Learn how to highlight your individuality and unique qualifications to create a distinct, exciting MBA application. 

MBA I.V.: Mainline to Top MBA Programs -- MBA Interview Questions and Tips: Invest in an ebook that provides the questions that have been frequently asked during recent MBA admission interviews at the top business schools as well as the advice you need to prepare for your interview. Exactly the information you need to ace your interview.

The Nine Mistakes You Don't Want to Make on an MBA Waitlist: Discover how to avoid the mistakes that doom so many on an MBA waitlist and make the right moves that increase your chances of acceptance. 

Create a Better Sequel: Reapply Right to B-School: Determine what went wrong and how to change the outcome. Get the information you need to navigate the MBA admissions maze and transform those thin rejections into fat acceptances. Buy this 28-page ebook today to propel your reapplication.  

• MBA Admissions Telethon on Tuesday May 13 at  10:00 AM – 12:00 PM PT/1:00 PM – 3:00 PM ET (5:00 PM – 7:00 PM GMT). Sign up for FREE 15-minute consultations. Ask your most important MBA application questions.
• IMD admission chat with Janet Shaner, IMD's Director of MBA Marketing, and with an IMD participant. They will participate in this online chat where you can learn more about IMD's outstanding, international MBA program.
  
• Chicago GSB's monthly admissions newsletter has two timely articles: "Stay Engaged this Summer," on using the summer months to prepare for fall applications, and "Getting the Most Out of Your Campus Visit." For more on these topics, please see "Visiting Schools: Myths and Reality" and Best Practices for MBA Admission.
• MBAPodcaster's last two segments are winners. Check out "One Year MBA Programs," which focuses on Cornell's, Kellogg's,  and USC IBEAR's one-year MBA programs, and "Business School Admission's Panel: Top Schools Answer Your Application Questions," which presents admissions directors from  Columbia, NYU Stern, and Wharton discussing their respective admissions processes. If you are interested in any of these programs, you owe it to yourself to either listen to the podcast or read the transcript. 

  

And the chats keep on coming.

Recent Transcript Excerpts:

• Wharton Waitlist Transcript with Thomas Caleel
  

thurston (Apr 2, 2008 1:01:32 PM)
Hi Thomas, I am a R2 waitlist candidate for Wharton. First, thank you for hosting this chat. Second, I have a quick admissions question for you. Let say we have two hypothetical RE-APPLICANTS. Both have similar app packages: work experience, extra curricular, GPA, GMAT, references, interview, etc. In fact, the only difference is in a previous year one was waitlisted and the other was outright denied admissions. Both are re-applying and both have demonstrated *very similar* improvements in their application. If you MUST chose between the two, who would you admit -- and, more importantly, why?

ThomasCaleelWHARTON (Apr 2, 2008 1:01:47 PM)
Thurston, thank you for the question. It's really impossible to say outright which one.
This process is very holistic (as Dan and Amelia can attest to), and there is never "one" thing that means admit or deny.

ThomasCaleelWHARTON (Apr 2, 2008 1:02:48 PM)
I do think you are concerned that being on the WL might give you some preference in the re-app process. The answer there is not really. For re-apps, we look at the learning the candidate has undergone, and how they express that in the re-app.

ThomasCaleelWHARTON (Apr 2, 2008 1:03:23 PM)
By the way, simply sitting down and re-reading your original app will be very helpful should you choose to re-apply...

• London Business School MBA with Zoë McLoughlin & Peter Johnson This chat was unique because it was for MBA and MIF candidates at London Business School, which is still accepting applications for 2008 applicants.  The final deadline is May 2, 2008.
  

andrew (Apr 7, 2008 1:06:25 PM)
Zoe: has the admissions office noticed a large influx of applications this year? If so, please elaborate. Thank you.

ZoeMcLoughlinLONDON (Apr 7, 2008 1:07:16 PM)
Andrew - yes, we have noticed an increase in quantity but there are always places for good candidates, even in Stage 4.

Linda Abraham (Apr 7, 2008 1:06:37 PM)
David & Helen: do you see MBA recruiting at the MBA and the MiF programs affected by the credit crunch and sub-prime mess in the US? Do your graduates have jobs?

HelenGreenLONDON (Apr 7, 2008 1:08:48 PM)
Linda, recruitment has continued to be strong on campus this year with more recruiters than ever coming to meet with our students. Although the market is competitive, there are still considerable opportunities available and recruiters clearly continue to value our students’ wealth of experience and diverse backgrounds. We are seeing recruiters taking a long term view and continuing to maintain their ranks of associates from the MBA and MiF programmes.

DavidMorrisLONDON (Apr 7, 2008 1:09:23 PM)
Linda, building on Helen's answer, there is also a growing number of companies from the Industry sector recruiting at the school, either coming to campus and/or posting jobs.

Upcoming Chats:

Accepted is hosting the first Michigan Ross Part-Time MBA Program chat tomorrow Tuesday April 15 at 3:00 PM PT/6:00 PM ET. If you are interested in Ross' part-time MBA program, please join Jim Hayes, Senior Associate Director of Admissions and other members of the Ross PT team in Accepted's Chat Room for an informative chat. 

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.
  

BusinessWeek released its rankings of undergrad business schools this week.  And the winners are...

1. Wharton
2. University of Virginia
   
3.  Notre Dame
4. Cornell
5. Emory
   
6. Michigan
7. Brigham Young
8. NYU
   
9. MIT
10. University of Texas

More important than the raw rankings provided above are the data and insight provided by BW in developing the ranking. BW combines 9 measures which includes surveys of students and recruiters, salaries of graduates, and a measure for academic quality gleaned from a number of statistical sources like SAT scores, student-teacher ratio, etc. It prides itself on being a consumer-oriented ranking since the ultimate "consumers" of a business education are the students and their employers. To the extent that the ranking has value, you need to have a thorough understanding of the methodology behind the rankings to extract it.

Also, directed at  applicants to business school, but valid for most undergrad applicants are the suggestions contained in "Extracurriculars that Count." Surprise, surprise. No specific extra-curricular activity will guarantee admission, and quality of commitment trumps quantity of activities any time and across the board.  I recommend this article. You may also be interested in "What is 'Passion' in Admissions?"

I checked my email this morning and found several informative MBA interview reports that had arrived over the weekend from applicants interviewing at HBS, Wharton, Columbia, London Business School, INSEAD, and other programs. Consequently, I decided it would be timely to post a mini-round up of MBA admissions interview news and resources.

•  The HBS blog announced last week that HBS has issued most of its round 2 interview invitations. In Dee Leopold's words, "While interview invitations will continue to be issued up until notification date, it is fair to say that the vast majority have been sent."
  
• Wharton has completed posting its round 2 interview invitations. Those round 2 applicants who did not receive an interview invitation are denied.  Those who have received the precious invitation can jump in the air, dance for joy, and then check out the resources provided later in this post.
• The Darden Student Blog has a post outlining Darden's reasons for going to an "invitation only" interview policy. According to Bill Gray, the student author,  Darden previously required all domestic applicants to interview in Charlottesville, and just this year switched to invitation-only because the previous policy increased costs to  the school and the applicant, and  meant that domestic and international admissions processes differed. He also pointed at global warming, which I found a little disingenuous, but the other reasons make complete sense. A member of the Class of '09 who applied under the old policy,  Bill also wrote " I personally found it helpful to visit Darden before writing my essays.
• Haas presents a great series of tips for MBA interviews in its monthly admissions newsletter. Check out "How to Ace the Admissions Interview", by Peter Johnson, Director of Admissions, Full-time MBA Program
  

Now for the resources:

• MBA Mock Interviews and Coaching.
  
• MBA I.V.: Mainline to Top MBA Programs MBA Interview Questions and Tips.  We can barely keep this ebook in stock, ;-), and we have received fantastic feedback on it, which we haven't even posted yet. Here is a sampling:

• MBA Interview Feedback Database. The perfect source for the preparation Peter Johnson recommends in his tip article, the searchable database contains hundreds of interview reports from MBA interviews organized by school. Free.
  
• MBA Interview Prep. A five-day email mini course. Free.
  

Take advantage of the resources your wallet, sense of confidence, and general interview preparedness dictate.

 And finally, a couple requests:

1. After you interview, please share your MBA interview experience so the database will continue to grow and provide value.  Doing so automatically enrolls you in Accepted's It's a 10! contest . Winners received an Amazon gift certificate of up to $20.
2. When visiting b-school campuses, take a few pictures of any school (or its environs) listed in the Accepted B-school Zones page and send them in to Accepted's Beautiful B-School Photo contest . In addition, we will soon add pages for UNC, Notre Dame, Emory, and Georgetown so feel free to send in pictures for those schools too.  All honorable mentions receive a gift, and the three winners will take home up to a $200 gift certificate from Amazon. Right now, we only have one submission, so your chances of winning are outstanding. The contest ends April 30.