There has been a lot of talk about the sudden dearth of financing options for international students who would like to attend American MBA programs. Some applicants are questioning whether to apply if they will have no way of paying for the degree. I decided to research the situation and find out just how bad…
Baylor Med School Dismisses President
The Dallas News reports that Trustees at Baylor College of Medicine and Peter Traber have agreed that he will step down as the school’s president and CEO, as of December 1. After serving as the medical school’s president for the last five and a half years, Traber will continue his affiliation with Baylor as president…
Highlight Your Kellogg Kontributions
(note: “contributions” is normally spelled with a ‘c’) Describe how your background, values, academics, activities and/or leadership skills will enhance the experience of other Kellogg students. That’s good old Question 2 on Kellogg’s MBA application. It’s a simple enough query, but one that stymies many of my clients, leading to several questions:…
Exercise to Quiet the Critic
Most of us carry a very large critic inside our heads when we sit down to write. I have an exercise that helps writers defeat this critic who keeps them from writing. Dialogs to Diffuse The Power of Critical Voices Years ago, I was flying Southwest Airlines from Seattle to Tucson where I was going…
Maclean’s Magazine Issues Latest Canadian Rankings
The Chronicle of Higher Education reports that Maclean’s released its 18th annual Canadian University Rankings aiming to provide essential information that will help students find undergraduate and graduate programs that will best suit their needs. Some interesting highlights: For the fourth consecutive year, McGill University was #1 in the medical-doctoral category. The University of Toronto…
Getting Closer to Your Material: “This is a story about….”
When you need to remember the images and details of an experience, it can be helpful not to worry about chronology and narrative as you begin writing, because fresh to the page, you might become stymied wondering how to fit everything together. In that state, you may inadvertently start squelching details so you won’t have…
First Ranking of Part-Time Law School Programs
Approximately 10% of all law school students attend part-time J.D. programs. Many attend part time programs due to financial constraints, which necessitate their working while pursuing their degree. Therefore, US News has decided to rank such programs, and give prospective law school students the ability to determine the strengths and weaknesses of specific part-time legal…
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…
Duke Law School 2009 Application Tips
Most law schools will ask for a personal statement that reflects who you are and why you want to go to law school. Resist the temptation to make this a one-essay-fits-all-schools personal statement. The more specific you can be about each school, the more interested your admissions readers will be in your application. For Duke,…
Law School Admissions: Yale Law Admissions Blog
I am a fan of Yale Law’s admissions blog, 203. An Admissions Blog, but I have to take issue with a recent post, New Questions, specifically the author’s response to the question, “Is it still okay to have an admissions consultant give me guidance on my application?” The author, Asha, states clearly that applicants who…
MBA Admissions: Approaching the “wild card” essay questions
Every MBA candidate expects to write a goals essay. Everyone expects to tell a leadership story. These are the “flagship” pieces of any application–the essays that will help the admissions committee figure out what you’ve achieved and how you approach your professional life. But then, there are the “wild card” questions–these are almost always very…
US News 2009 College Rankings
The much maligned, used, cursed, and pored over US News College rankings have been released for 2009. The Top 10 Universities are: Harvard Princeton Yale MIT (tied with Stanford) Stanford (tied w/ MIT) California Institute of Technology (tied with Penn). University of Pennsylvania (tied with CalTech). Columbia (tied with Duke and Chicago) Duke (tied with…
Approaching the Ethics Essay
No b-school application essay may be harder to write than the ethics essay. For most applicants, one challenge is simply identifying an appropriate story. Many applicants assume that the ethics essay is designed to put their morals to some stringent litmus test. They brainstorm for examples that show them proudly refusing bribes, pointedly excusing themselves…
Kellogg’s GIM Program and You
Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management is a dream school for many of my MBA clients. And why not? The program features a top-notch marketing and general management curriculum, the standard-issue highly accomplished but well-rounded student body, and what’s viewed as the most people-focused culture among top business schools. Today an increasingly popular Kellogg offering is…
ACT Increasing in Popularity
The real news in Inside Higher Ed’s “ACT Scores Drop Slightly — Except for Asians” is not this year’s drop to 21.1 from 21.2 on a 36-point scale in. The real news, actually an ever-strengthening trend is the increasingly widespread use of the ACT, previously limited mainly to the Midwest. The highlights: “For the high…
Demonstrating a Growth Mindset
The New York Times‘ article “If You’re Open to Growth, You Tend to Grow” was practically a step-by-step guide for applying to MBA programs. In it, science writer Jane Rae-Dupree discusses the three-decade research of Stanford Professor Carol Dweck. The article discusses Dweck’s research into brain development and learning behavior and Dweck’s conclusion that business…
Scoretop Scandal: A Little Clarity
The Scoretop Scandal has rocked the MBA admissions world. It is a messy business. Angst runs high; solid information about the scandal’s implications for many MBA applicants has been scarce. Until now. BusinessWeek has just posted an interview with GMAC’s Peg Jöbst that should relieve anxiety for many and heighten it for a few. In…
Accelerated Two-Year JD Program at Northwestern University Launches in 2009
Northwestern University will offer an accelerated two-year JD degree program beginning in 2009, hoping to attract highly motivated students who might otherwise have considered a two-year MBA program or others interested in fast-tracking a law degree. The two-year program will require the same number of credits as the traditional three-year program, relying on a compressed…
The Many Faces of Leadership
“I figured it all out.” That’s how I would paraphrase the essays many of my clients—MBA applicants and others—write in response to the ubiquitous “Describe a leadership experience” question. Now of course “figuring it all out,” my shorthand for “I came up with a creative solution to a tricky problem” or “I developed a killer…
See India In Your Future? Get Money for an MBA in Hyberadad!
Think you’re up against tough odds to get into a top MBA program? In India, over 200,000 applicants vie for 1600 spots at the country’s elite MBA schools—the IIMs (Indian Institute of Management). These programs aren’t ranked internationally. They mostly serve as a launching ground for Indian engineering students who seek management and finance exposure….