Thinking about a career in sustainable enterprise? Each year the Aspen Institute ranks MBA programs in their Beyond Grey Pinstripes edition on the schools’ ability to provide curriculum, research and careers while looking at the triple bottom line. This list continues to grow, but according to the 2010 rankings, candidates looking at MBA programs that…
Making Your MBA Essays Do “Double Duty”
With the new MBA essay questions coming out, you may be starting to sketch out your answers. Of course first and foremost answer the given questions thoroughly and thoughtfully. But how can your essays work for you to the max, especially when the questions don’t seem to provide opportunities to portray experiences, skills, qualities, or…
Columbia 2011 MBA Application Questions, Deadlines, Tips.
Update: The tips for the Columbia 2012 MBA application are now available online. Please review the tips and post questions or comments to the new post. Check out the entire 2012 MBA Application Tips series for more valuable MBA application advice. This Columbia 2011 MBA Application tip post is one of a series of posts…
Beyond Grey Pinstripes Ranking of MBA Programs
The Aspen Institute published last week its biannual ranking of MBA programs, “Beyond Grey Pinstripes.” This ranking ignores admissions criteria and abandons ROI. Through surveys of 149 participating schools, it attempts to rank the programs according to their “social impact management” or addressing of social, environmental or ethical topics. The goal: “spotlight innovative full-time MBA…
US News Grad Rankings Are Out!
The US News just released its 2009 Grad School Rankings. I’m going to list the top ten for business school, law school, and medical school (research) and provide links to the ranking methodology for each category. For other graduate specialties, please visit the US News site. Business School Rankings and methodology 1. Harvard2. Stanford3. Northwestern Kellogg…
7 Signposts to Differences Among MBA Programs
After reading “Musings on Kellogg’s Differentiators” by Managing Magic, who describes well a few distinguishing characteristics at Kellogg, I decided to explore the factors MBA applicants should examine to uncover the differences between programs. Researching these elements will help MBA applicants as they start their school research. They may also be worth a second look…
Chats: Yale, Wharton, INSEAD
We are excited to host Yale School of Management and its representatives this Thursday September 25 at 10:00 AM PT/1:00 PM ET/5:00 PM GMT. Our guests will be: Bruce Delmonico, Director of Admissions Shelley Clifford, Deputy Director of Admissions Keith Morriss, Yale SOM Class of 2009 Please join us to learn more about Yale’s innovative…
Laid off! How Will It Affect Your Application
A friend of ours is a financial adviser who likes to compare the gyrations of the stock market to a yo-yo being carried upstairs. My husband emailed him this morning and asked, “What happens if the guy carrying the yo-yo drops it?” It’s been a dizzying few days in the financial market. I have heard…
Accepted Welcomes Natalie Grinblatt
It is with great pleasure that I welcome Natalie Grinblatt to Accepted’s staff. Natalie previously served as: Assistant Dean at Arizona State University’s W P Carey School of Management. Director of Admissions and Financial Aid at Cornell’s Johnson School Director of MBA Student Affairs and Enrollment Management at the University of Michigan (where she also…
Writing Effective Wait-List Letters: A Quiz
Think you know how to write an effective wait-list letter? Test your knowledge with the following quiz: 1. Wait-list letters may be three or more single-spaced pages long: (a) when the applicant has a lot of accomplishments to talk about, (b) they should never exceed two pages, (c) only for law school wait-list letters, (d)…
Admissions Consultants and Conflicts of Interest
Since last week the activities of three admissions directors have raised a storm of controversy in the admissions world. These directors serve or have served on an advisory board at a private admissions consultancy in Japan. The directors have positions at Wharton, UNC Kenan-Flagler, and Columbia Teacher’s College. Wharton has since requested that the director…
MBA Admissions: Case Studies’ Ambiguous Advantage
According to Businessweek‘s Geoff Gloeckler writing in “The Case Against Case Studies,” executives find MBA’s lacking in decision-making ability when faced with incomplete information — in other words, almost all the time. Case studies, the exclusive teaching method used by Harvard and Darden,are frequently used by top business schools worldwide. Critics feel the cases spoon-feed…
Columbia Changes MBA Core
Columbia Business School announced yesterday that it is modifying its core curriculum to increase flexibility. The new requirements will go into effect in Fall 2008. The new core will be divided into required and flexible segments. Students will be required during the first two semesters to complete each required course or to seek an exemption…
MBA Admissions Chat News: Columbia, Kellogg
I just want to update you about an exciting chat this week and a couple of MBA admissions chat transcripts that are now available. Linda Meehan, Columbia Business School’s Assistant Dean for Admissions and Financial Aid, and Lauren Sickle, CBS MBA ’08, will be our special guests at a chat this Wednesday Sept. 26 at…
Columbia 2008 MBA Essays, Deadlines, & Tips
UPDATE- THE TIPS FOR COLUMBIA’S GSB 2009 MBA APPLICATION ARE NOW AVAILABLE ONLINE. PLEASE POST QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS TO THE NEW POST. Columbia has made changes to it application for the class entering in September 2008. Specifically #2 is an entirely new question. In addition, #4 last year allowed you to choose one of two…
Michelle Stockman Joins Accepted
I am pleased to announce that Michelle Stockman has joined Accepted’s staff of experienced editors and admissions consultants. Michelle comes to Accepted with extensive experience as: An application reader at Columbia Business School. As a writer and editor. A corporate trainer. Welcome Michelle.
Association of International Graduate Admissions Consultants
Two years ago I attended Tuck’s first Conference of International Educational Advisors. I went with the purpose of learning more about Tuck. And I did learn a lot about Tuck, as expected, but I discovered that I enjoyed meeting my competition and professional colleagues much more than I anticipated. The networking was great! I have…
MBA Admissions: Visit to Columbia Business School
I had a most enjoyable morning yesterday. I visited Columbia Business School, met with Linda Meehan, a few students, and attended a class. In our meeting I asked Linda about the possible tension that exists between being a top (in her words “the top”) finance program with roughly 50% of all MBA’s going into finance-related…
Businessweek B-School Rankings 2006
Businessweek has published its bi-annual b-school rankings. The Top 10 US schools Chicago Wharton Kellogg Harvard Michigan Stanford MIT Sloan UC Berkeley (Haas) Duke (Fuqua) Columbia Businessweek prides itself on presenting a ranking of customer satisfaction. The "customers" are MBA students and recruiters, who are surveyed for this report. To use Businessweek’s data, please first…
The Struggle for a Compelling MBA Goals Essay
About a month ago UniQpath aptly named her post on the challenge of writing a compelling MBA goals essay: “Struggle.” It ain’t easy. Most schools ask why you want an MBA and why you want it from this school. It only makes sense before you invest the time and money in an MBA that you…
