A few articles of interest to law school applicants have come across my desk in the last few days, and I wanted to share them with you.

• CollegeJournal has an excellent article on choosing law school, especially if you are not headed towards the top 10.  Touching on several of the points that I have raised in the past, "How to Get a Better Job,Reduce Law-School Debt" takes a strategic, long-term view of choosing a school.
  
• UCLA's Daily Bruin gives stats in "Number of law school applicants on the decline" a topic that I have also written about here previously. The article predicts that this will be the third straight year of decline in law school applicant numbers. Ironically, however, that decline has not led to reduced numbers of applications submitted to most law schools. According to the Bruin, "79 percent of the law schools surveyed by Kaplan reported that the shrinking applicant pool has no effect upon the competitiveness of their admissions process." In fact the UCLA School of Law reports "an increase of 11.5 percent in its number of applicants," a one point increase in the median LSAT score of students who enrolled  to 167, and also a hike in its median GPA to 3.72.
• The New York Times reports in "In Students’ Eyes, Look-Alike Lawyers Don’t Make the Grade" that a group of Stanford law students has set up a site ranking and grading law firms for diversity in both associate and partner ranks.  The site, building a better legal profession, allows you to compare firms on geographic, diversity, and quality of life criteria. The group, which has an annoying preference for all lower case in its copy, is "a national grassroots movement that seeks market-based workplace reforms in large private law firms. by publicizing firms' self-reported data on billable hours, pro bono participation, and demographic diversity, we draw attention to the differences between these employers. we encourage those choosing between firms — students deciding who to work for after graduation, corporate clients deciding who to hire, and universities deciding who to allow on campus for interviews — to exercise their market power and engage only with the firms that demonstrate a genuine commitment to these issues."

 

Jay Mathews of the Washington Post had a great column a couple of weeks ago entitled "Ten Stupid Ways to Ruin Your College Application." Although he limits his "tips" to college admissions, these stupidities would be equally effective in dooming MBA, law, grad, or medical school applications, even if maturity implies they are somewhat less common among older applicants. I highly recommend the article.

I have previously written about the global  increase in GMAT and MBA application volume.  For this blog post, the focus is Canada. In line with the international increased demand for graduate business education, The MBA Tour ,which is hosting three events next week in Canada, is anticipating record attendance at its events north of the border.  The Tour announced, "Last year’s overall attendance surpassed expectations by more than double, and 2007 registration is proving that this year will be even more popular." The Canadian MBA events will take place in Vancouver (Nov. 8), Toronto (Nov. 10), and Montreal (Nov. 12).

The MBA Tour also sent out a survey to applicants who registered for its events. Here are a few results, culled from the 1000+ responses:

• Nearly 50% of applicants responded that "Finances and the financial return following completion of the MBA program" was their biggest concern about earning an MBA.
• Over 50% said their #1 motivation for pursuing an MBA is to enhance their career path.
  
• 90% expressed interest in programs that integrate business with environmental needs.

American Medical News reports that applications to medical school soared in 07-08 to 31,946 first-time applicants, an 8% increase over 06-07. Other interesting data from the article:

• Applicants to osteopathic schools also broke a record, reaching 11,500 applicants for the 2007-08 academic year.
• "Allopathic applicants posted the highest mean Medical College Admission Test score to date: 28 out of 45 points," up from 27.6 a year earlier.
• GPA's were up too: Allopathic applicants had a mean GPA of a 3.5 on a 4.0 scale, up from 3.4 last year.
• Average stats climbed at osteopathic schools too: 25.3 MCAT and 3.5 GPA, compared with a 24.5 MCAT score and 3.4 GPA last year.
• Certain schools are seeing amazing surges in application numbers. For example the University of Kentucky Medical School reports that applications were up a whopping 56% last year over 06-07 and that applications this year are on track to exceed last year's numbers.
• The article also lists the five schools that showed the largest increase in first year allopathic enrollment: Michigan State University at Lansing; A&M Health Science Center College of Medicine, College Station; University of Arizona College of Medicine, Tucson; Florida State University College of Medicine, Tallahassee; Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta.

On Monday October 29 at 10:00 AM PT/1:00 PM ET/5:00 PM GMT Accepted will host INSEAD's Marketing Manager Cassandra Pittman in an online chat devoted to INSEAD. She will answer your questions about INSEAD's admissions policies, program, and student life. Please join us in the Accepted chat room this Monday.

 We have already post the MIT Sloan chat transcript from this past Monday's chat. An excerpt.

 khaccuong (Oct 22, 2007 1:08:52 PM)
Jeremy & Jacklyn, What class or professor is simply not to be missed at MIT in terms of finance?

JeremyGilbertMIT (Oct 22, 2007 1:10:55 PM)
Khaccuong, I've only taken a few finance courses so far, but Nittai Bergman's Finance II class has been amazing. He is a very dynamic professor, uses the case method effectively and has really brought to life a lot of the nuances of valuation, pro-forma projections, etc. Stewart Myers is also a rock star here.

JacklynSingMIT (Oct 22, 2007 1:11:51 PM)
Khaccuong: I'm amazed at the quality of teachers here in Sloan -- the author of my book in Finance (Myers) is teaching Finance classes! However, my finance teacher is Jiang Wang -- superb for people who have little background in Finance. I also love Kate Kellogg in my Organizational Processes class.

 DavideRossi (Oct 22, 2007 1:10:12 PM)
Hi Jen, can you shed some light on the acceptance rates for rounds 1 and 2?

JenniferBurkeBarbaMIT (Oct 22, 2007 1:12:27 PM)
Davide, we admit half of the class in each round. Our incoming MBA Class is about 325 students and we do give away half the slots in each round. That said, typically we get fewer applicants in round 1, than in round 2, making the round 1 acceptance rate higher than r2. BUT, it's important to remember that a strong applicant will succeed in either round. Historically the acceptance rate for R1 is about 20% and the acceptance rate for R2 is about 14%.

Cornell's transcript has not yet been posted, but will soon be available on Accepted's Cornell page. In any case, there are some tidbits there that I want to post for you even before the transcript is online:

MBAhopeful2008 (Oct 24, 2007 1:02:47 PM)
Kim: hello there. So far, for R1, how’s the volume of applications? Up? Down?

KimVaughanCornell (Oct 24, 2007 1:03:26 PM)
Hi, MBAhopeful! We're up 35% for R1 this year -- it's pretty exciting!

MBAhopeful2008 (Oct 24, 2007 1:06:47 PM)
Laurie: I have a twofold question: Cornell’s average GMAT score jumped from 660 to 680 in a 2 year span. Does that mean that, currently, the Adcom gives more importance to the GMAT than in the past? What is the targeted average GMAT score for this year?

LaurieShunneyCornell (Oct 24, 2007 1:07:48 PM)
Our target GMAT score for this year will probably be between 690-700. As the applicant pool increases, we look for students with excellent performance in all areas. The GMAT is one of the many criteria we review. GMAT scores indicate potential for strong performance in the core management courses.

Christopher (Oct 24, 2007 1:07:04 PM)
Kim: Ballpark, what % of R1 will receive an invitation to interview ?

KimVaughanCornell (Oct 24, 2007 1:07:49 PM)
Ballpark, I'd say about half of the applicants get invited to interview, and half of those get accepted. It varies from year to year, of course, depending on the applicant pool.

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