According to a Darden press release, the UVA business school has formally instituted concentrations within its full-time MBA program. MBA students will choose from the following career or theme tracks: Career Tracks: Asset Management/Sales & Trading Corporate Finance/Investment Banking Entrepreneurship Consumer Marketing Business To Business Marketing Supply Chain Management Theme Tracks: Corporate Innovation Business…
Sustainable MBAs
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…
Stanford Wins First Place for Forbes’ “The Most Satisfied MBAs”
Forbes took its survey findings from “The Best Business Schools” and compiled a second rankings report: “The Most Satisfied MBAs.” Stanford won top slot for both rankings. It is #1 for providing the best return on investment for its graduates, as well as for churning out MBAs who are extremely satisfied with their current jobs…
No-Cosigner Loans for International Students at Darden
Darden Admissions Director Sara Neher recently posted a new video blog on the Darden Admissions News Blog about international student loans. She proudly announced that Darden has formally signed an agreement to secure loans for international students without a US cosigner. The lack of non-US-cosigner loans – which became an issue last year in the…
Darden 2010 MBA Essay Questions, Deadlines
UPDATE: The tips for the 2011 UVA Darden MBA Application are now available online. Please post questions or comments to the new post. 2009-2010 MBA Application Essay Questions 1.How have the changes in the global economy over the last 18 months affected you and your plan for the future? (400 words) 2.What will you contribute…
How Business Schools Have Failed Business
Business school deans and educational thought leaders are doing a lot of soul-searching concerning the role and culpability of graduate business schools in the economic downturn. 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…
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…
4 Tips for Proofing Your Prose
Tons of deadlines this month, and I meant to post these tips earlier in the week. Time got away from me. Please use these techniques for essays with upcoming deadlines. 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…
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…
MBA Admissions: Brownie Points for Visits?
School visits. They are time-consulting and expensive. And they contribute to global warming. Furthermore, Dee Leopold in The Director’s Blog at HBS’ web site makes clear that HBS does not weigh a visit as a factor in an admissions decision. The Wharton adcom blog made a similar statement a few years ago. Is personally visiting…
Approaching short essays
“I want to explain how lacrosse involves determination, sacrifice, never giving up, never losing confidence, grit, unselfishness, quick thinking on the fly, looking out for others, etc.” These were my client’s initial wishes for his 250-word Columbia “greatest passion” essay. My response: “Sorry! That’s too much… And even if you could fit all these points…
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…
MBA Admissions Chats Past and Future: Consortium, LBS, Haas, and INSEAD
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…
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 Interview Prep
Dr. Lois Frankel is a nationally recognized "career coach." In a recent radio spot she advised managers about to interview a potential employee: "Preparing in advance – not winging it – is the secret to good interviewing." The same is true for the interviewees, including MBA applicants facing admissions interviews. To those of you who…
