The chat will take place in the Accepted chat room.

During our most recent MBA admissions chat, we hosted a busy event with the Consortium. Here are a few excerpts from the transcript.

Linda Abraham (Oct 20, 2009 7:05:14 PM)
To all the school reps, does the applicant ranking influence the evaluation of the application?

WendyHuberUVA (Oct 20, 2009 7:06:22 PM)
Linda, applicants should apply as if the schools do not see the ranking. Rankings are only looked at when we are deciding fellowships, they are not used in the admission decision.

JacquelynnDayROCHESTER (Oct 20, 2009 7:09:08 PM)
Linda: While we do consider an individual's rankings, we look at the application as a whole, therefore we encourage students to focus on submitting an overall competitive application

RTorres (Oct 20, 2009 7:05:50 PM)
What happens with applicants that apply to the Consortium and to the specific MBA programs at schools when they are not accepted into the fellowship? How are their MBA applications handled? Are they still considered by the schools?

ErinNicklesburgWISCONSIN (Oct 20, 2009 7:07:59 PM)
RTorres: Each applicant is evaluated independently by each school in terms of both admission and Fellowship decision. An offer of admission does not indicate a guaranteed Fellowship offer, as they are separate. The admission offer will stand regardless of the Fellowship offer. If a Fellowship offer is not given, the applicant will go into the general merit-based aid pool.

AmyPR (Oct 20, 2009 7:12:34 PM)
What is the difference between the November application date and the January application date? Do chances of acceptance increase one date vs. the other?

LaurieShunneyCORNELL (Oct 20, 2009 7:15:21 PM)
AmyPR- Competitiveness for admission and scholarship may increase in later rounds. In general, we recommend submitting the strongest application possible. If you are prepared to apply during the November round, it may help.

My comments are in red. The essay questions are identical to last year's, as are my comments, with the exception of one new question for essay 4.

Some applicants seek the MBA as a career enhancing tool to accelerate advancement in their current field. Career switchers want the MBA to help launch new career paths. UNC Kenan-Flagler recognizes each of these motivations as legitimate reasons to pursue the MBA, and we encourage both types of candidates to apply.

UNC Kenan-Flagler encourages you to assess your known talents and potential skills, understand your personal style, and confirm your values and interests. If you do this prior to beginning your MBA studies, you will be better equipped to navigate the many options the MBA program will provide. There is not enough time to do all the activities and take all the courses that will be available to you. It is important, therefore, to make your choices based on your own development plan. Think of the UNC Kenan-Flagler MBA application as a first step toward uncovering the unique attributes and goals that will inform your development plan. Please be thoughtful and reflective in your answers.

Essay One (Required)

What are the 2 or 3 strengths or characteristics that have driven your career success thus far? Do you have other strengths that you would like to leverage in the future? (500 words maximum)

Rather than list Strength 1, Strength 2, and Strength 3, I recommend you start with an anecdote that illustrates ideally 2-3 or your strengths and then analyze how they have contributed to your career success. Remember to describe your achievement in terms of impact and quantify as much as possible. Another approach: Describe the accomplishment anecdotally and then go into the characteristics that contributed to it.

In both cases, also include a paragraph about a trait that you would like to use in future projects and successes.

Essay Two (Required)

Briefly describe the career path you intend to pursue immediately after b-school. Explain why this career option appeals to you and why an MBA is appropriate at this time. (500 words maximum)

What do you see yourself doing immediately upon graduation and for the first five years after you graduate? Based on UNC's instructions, you need to have a clear direction and goal when you arrive or you will be lost. Describe why this path attracts you. What experiences have convinced you to pursue it? Why do you need an MBA, especially one with UNC's approach to business education, to proceed down your chosen path.

Essay Three (Required)

What personal qualities or life experiences distinguish you from other applicants? How do these qualities or experiences equip you to contribute to Kenan-Flagler? (500 words maximum)

Everyone has a story. What's yours? What makes you unique? What hobbies and experiences will differentiate you from the IT guy, consultant, real estate developer, or banker that the adcom just read about? How will your perspective contribute to the classroom and community at Kenan-Flagler?

Essay Four (Required)

Kenan-Flagler has five core values: excellence, leadership, integrity, community and teamwork. If you could add one value what would it be and why? Be sure to explain how you have lived this value.
(300 words maximum)

New Question. This excellent question gives you the chance to show what is important to you. The question is very clear. What do you value that is not listed as one of Kenan-Flager's core values? Why do you feel it is important. And finally, when have acted -- invested time and toil-- as a result of this value you hold dear. Feeling and opining strongly are not enough. Action counts.

Essay Five (Optional)

If your GMAT quantitative score is low, or if you have not had coursework in calculus, microeconomics, statistics and financial accounting, please tell us how you plan to prepare yourself for the quantitative MBA curriculum. (300 words maximum)

This is pretty straightforward. Just answer it. You may also want to highlight professional preparation that you have already had in quantitative areas.

Essay Six (Optional)

Is there anything else you think the Admissions Committee should know about you in order to evaluate your candidacy?
(300 words maximum)

My favorite: The optional question. A gift allowing you to give the adcom one more reason to admit you.

If you would like help with UNC's Kenan-Flagler essays, please consider Accepted.com's MBA admissions consulting and editing services or our UNC Kenan Flagler Comprehensive Packages.
 

UNC Kenan Flagler 2010 MBA Deadlines

*Parts I and II must be received by midnight EST

• Dean Robert Bruner of Darden on April 5 wrote on Twitter "Controversy over the role of B-schools in the crisis. Did they warn strongly enough about the risks of toxic assets? Probably not."
• Joel Podolny, formerly a professor at Harvard Business School and Stanford Graduate School of Business and previous dean of Yale's School of Management, asks "Are Business Schools to Blame?" He critiques schools for 1) Dividing the "challenges of management and leadership in a dysfunctional way." 2) Communicating the idea that applicants should "measure the MBA degree's benefit in terms of the additional salary they can earn." 3) Lacking contrition and failing to make changes in response to fallout from the crisis. My $.02: While #1 makes sense, I disagree with #2 and #3. Applicants should expect professional advancement from a professional degree and see if the degree will pay for itself. Basic business concept. It's a little too early for the programs to make meaningful changes in response to a crisis that really blew up in September. 
• Steve Kerr, former Chief Learning Officer at Goldman Sachs and at GE, disagrees vehemently in "Don't Blame the Business Schools."
• Henry Mintzburg blasts the business schools (as usual) in "America's Monumental Failure of Management."
• Stefan Stern defends them in "Why MBA bashing is unfair" 
• President of Thunderbird Dr. Ángel Cabrera has been vocal in saying the business schools are culpable.

Additionally, there are a slew of articles in the Harvard Business Review about the responsibility of MBA programs for the financial crisis. 

I would like to highlight today's excellent piece on The Wall St. Journal editorial page by Dr. Michael Jacobs of UNC's Kenan Flagler School of Business entitled "How Business Schools Have Failed Business."

His main points: 

1. Misaligned and dysfunctional incentive programs rewarded short-term gain instead of long-term value creation. Most business schools do not systematically address compensation systems.
2. Corporate boards were "AWOL." Schools don't require courses in board structure, composition, and processes. Courses in "ethics"are not enough and are not the same as governance.
3. The investment community failed to accurately evaluate risks. Jacobs argues that "as the gulf between the provider and the user of capital widens, the risks involved with selecting and monitoring the participants in the portfolio increase."  

You will find in the special report articles on:

• Applying while or after a layoff.
• The series "MBA in Finance: Forget It?"
• The disappearance and reappearance of financial aid options.
• The wisdom of applying during times of financial uncertainty.

Please feel free to download and share Applying to Business School in Times of Crisis.

Please also use the comments to share your thoughts on the topics discussed in this special report.

As a member of the Association of International Graduate Admissions Consultants (AIGAC), we are conducting a survey to help us better understand MBA applicants’ goals and needs.  If you are or will be an MBA applicant, we invite you to share your priorities and views on the MBA application process. 

This online survey should take just 10 minutes to complete.  We would love to receive as many responses as possible before the closing date of Friday, March 20, 2009 - and AIGAC will be giving away an iPod Touch and two iPod Shuffles as a token of our gratitude! 

Thanks in advance for your participation!

Simply click here to begin. 

Well, first you can try to weigh it by the numbers.  MBAs from Georgetown and UNC make about $94,000-95,000 right out of school, whereas Wake Forest MBAs pull in about $79,000. So right off the bat, some of the tuition money Omne is saving may well be sacrificed in lower income. BusinessWeek recently looked at MBA’s pay 20 years after earning their degrees at the top 45 schools. Georgetown and UNC MBAs were making about $161,000. Though Wake Forest does not appear in BusinessWeek’s study, it seems reasonable to assume that Wake Forest MBAs generally make less than the lowest-ranked schools in BW’s study, which ranged between $108,000 and the mid-$120,000s. Complicating this numbers analysis is the cost-of-living factor—some regions pay more than others, but then they cost more to live in too. Still, by this financial barometer, the income gap between Omne’s Wake Forest MBA and an MBA from UNC or Georgetown will only widen over his career—overwhelming whatever he may have saved by getting a free ride at Wake Forest.

And earning his MBA from higher-ranked B-schools like Georgetown and UNC may offer brand advantages—such as better name recognition in job markets outside these schools’ region—that Wake Forest can’t compete with. By that same token, if Omne’s ideal job market is Winston-Salem, NC, then Wake Forest and it’s free MBA may be his best all-round choice. But there are other complexities to consider, such as Omne’s preferred employer post-MBA. If he wants to join Bank of America, both UNC and Wake Forest are good choices, but Georgetown’s arguably the better bet if he wants to join Citigroup. And you can bet there will be local employers in Winston-Salem for whom a Wake Forest MBA will give Omne the inside track.

Omne needs to run the numbers, ask himself where he wants to spend his career geographically, which industry he’s set on and which employers he most wants to work for. When he does that, Wake Forest could pull closer to UNC and Georgetown in overall “payoff” (both material and personal). But strictly in terms of salary, an MBA from UNC and Georgetown with a partial scholarship looks like the better choice than a free-ride MBA from Wake Forest.

At this point in time to maintain flexibility, it may make most sense for Omne to pay the deposit at Wake Forest and keep his spot. If he is accepted at UNC or Georgetown and determines that the benefits of a UNC or Georgetown education are so great that he will forgo the full ride, they are probably great enough also to lose the deposit. Just chalk it up to the cost of an MBA education.

Paul Bodine is Senior Editor at Accepted.com and author of “Great Application Essays for Business School” and “Perfect Phrases for Business School Acceptance.”

The chat takes place tomorrow Thursday February 19 at 10:00 AM PT/1:00 PM ET/6:00 PM GMT in the Accepted Chat Room.

• Late Season Special. Accepted's own modest contribution to the Porkulus, I mean Stimulus, Plan: $100 off all orders over $1,000. Use coupon code SAVE100 during checkout to get the discount. Ends March 12.
• Beautiful B-School Photo Contest Let the artist in you emerge through the lens of your digital camera. Share your pictures from your b-school visits. And enter our contest to win prizes worth up to $250 in value. Check out last year's winning photos and the rules for this year's contest.
• UNC Kenan-Flagler Chat with Sherry Wallace Ask questions about this year's admissions at UNC, applying third round, or your waitlist status. Sherry and her team will have the answers.
• Save the date: Accepted's first 2010 MBA admissions telethon is scheduled for March 4, 2009 from 1:00 PM – 3:00 PM PT/4:00 PM – 6:00 PM ET / 7:00 PM – 9:00 PM GMT. Details and registration info to follow.

And ongoing: It's a 10! MBA Interview Feedback contest and our featured ebook of the month: The Nine Mistakes You Don`t Want to Make on a Med School Waitlist

1. Give yourself a break. Put the application away for a day, overnight, several hours, or at least a coffee break. (More is better, but don't miss the deadline.)
2. Print out the essay or any document that you want to proof. For some reason, changing the medium helps to restore your critical perspective.
3. Change your location when you proof. Move to an easy chair or to the kitchen table. Anywhere but where you have been writing and editing forever.
4. Read the essays out loud. E-nun-ciating. Reading aloud will automatically slow you down and prevent you from skimming. Additionally, your ear will catch awkward sentences and errors that your eye alone may miss.

If you want professional editing that saves you time, please check out Accepted.com's professional personal statement and application essay editing.

Looking ahead to 2009, we plan to make this web site and our services even better. We will roll out changes on the site throughout 2009.

We are currently wrestling with a question:  Whether or not to continue publishing recent posts from this blog on the Accepted.com home page.  What do you think?

We would really appreciate your taking a minute to answer a quick, 3-question survey and help us design this site in a way that suits you -- or at least a majority of you. Thank you very much for your time.

Best wishes for a Happy, Healthy, and Prosperous New Year!