Accepted Admissions Almanac

Two views of B-school ethics

Manny Valenzuela was kind enough to send me a link to  "Is Wharton Running American Business" in Philly Magazine. I do appreciate the link, but I think the article is a hatchet job. Still, some of you are considering spending close to $100K to attend Wharton or other top MBA programs, which don't escape the hatchet unscathed; you should read this article. Just read it with a critical eye.

Another view of business and specifically business ethics is presented, ironically enough, by  Knowledge@Wharton in an excerpt from Winners Never Cheat:Lessons for Today's Business Leaders by Jon M. Huntsman and published by Wharton School Publishing.

I wish the latter picture is more accurate than the former. I suspect both are true for different times, places, and people.

BW Gives MBA Clean Bill of Health.

Businessweek Online reports this week on the GMAC MBA jobs report that I wrote about last week.

BW has in the past put a spotlight on critics of the degree or problems within in the business school world, such as "MBA Applicants are MIA" or "Grade Inflation: Devaluing B-Schools' Currency ." It provides a tremendous service to MBA applicants through the myriad resources it offers MBA applicants, but it has never served as a cheerleader for the degree or the schools. So I find it significant when an experienced observer of the MBA scene writes the last sentence in the following paragraph:

"But Wilson [president and CEO of GMAC] says the 2005 survey results signify a new beginning for B-schools. "Reports of the demise of the MBA were premature," he adds. "It's alive." The hiring data is its clean bill of health.

I hope Francesca Di Meglio is right. If she is, so am I.

RSS Subscription: Make Your Life Easy

Debbie Weil has posted a really simple, clear guide to setting up your first RSS feed using Bloglines. If you want to be able to check this and other blogs with ease, let the blogs come to you via RSS feeds. No spam. No hassle. No inbox clutter.

Blast From the Past: Media Focus on Stanford Rejections

Back in early April, Stanford rejected the 41 applicants who had attempted to access Stanford's decision data before it was publicly available.  Remember the ApplyYourself mess? The HBS  119?  The was-it-a-hack debate?

Somehow this weekend, almost two months later, Stanford's decision has become news. Power Yogi was slashdotted (again). There have been multiple media articles on the subject. Anyone know or has a theory as to why now? Is the media just bored with Iraq and Michael Jackson? Unimpressed with the French vote on the EU?

Play it again, Sam: More on MBA Recruiting

"MBA Grads Find Wall St. Wants Them Again" from Reuters provides even more good news, with a  focus on investment banking and related fields.

More Jobs, Higher Pay for 2005 B-School Grads

"More Job Offers at Higher Salaries Await the MBA Graduating Class of 2005"  The title says it all. GMAC surveyed almost 6000 grads and the reports the following results:

• 50% of new MBAs had offers by mid-March.
• The average base salary among MBAs who have accepted positions is $90,652, the highest level since 2001.
• Consulting, finance/accounting, and healthcare/pharmaceuticals were the top three employing fields for MBAs.

George Washington Law Has New Dean

From the GW Hatchet: Boston University law professor Frederick Lawrence will be the next dean of the George Washington Law School, assuming his duties August 1

Personal Statements: Less is More

I read an article yesterday written by an intelligent college student at a highly ranked university. I had no problem with his message, to the extent I could decipher it, but his writing got my dander up.  Hence the following rant.

He writes, "I experienced a paradigm shift during…" That's not how you talk, and it certainly isn't what you want to read. He could simply say, "I changed my mind during…" Or if he felt that phrasing is a little casual, "I concluded X after…" Write as directly as you would talk (just can the slang.) Why should you write in a turgid, pretentious, pseudo-intellectual style?

Here's another example of tortured verbiage: "I was not sure with which denomination I would identify myself…" Could that be, "I was not sure where I belonged"?

Reading pieces like this online article is like listening to people speaking through an echo chamber. Although these passages did not appear in a personal statement, (and I won't link to the article to protect the guilty), they certainly could have. Similar verbal haze frequently clouds personal statements and application essays.

Remember, you all have page and word limits. Less is more. Furthermore, your essays are supposed to introduce you as an engaging human being, not a stuffed shirt, dissembling attorney, mealy-mouthed consultant, physician wannabe lacking warmth, or techie who can't talk.

If you want to appear articulate, write simply and directly.

California Bar Pass Rate

The February administration of the California bar exam had a 40% pass rate according to the Metropolitan News citing a report from the Committee of Bar Examiners. Just over 28 percent of those who took the exam were doing so for the first time, and 54.4 percent of them achieved a passing score. Test takers who attended ABA-approved schools passed at much higher rates than those who attended non-ABA approved schools -- whether in or outside of California.

For more on this topic, please see "Calif Bar Pass Rate Hits 5-Year High."

Spring MBA Hiring is Up

After interviewing career services directors at a number of top schools, including Wharton, Chicago, and Kellogg, Fortune Magazine gives a few reasons why " It's a a good time to be an MBA":

• A number of MBA programs report that hiring is up overall, with 50%+ increases in spring hiring. A real shift in employer practice.
• Online recruiting has surged.
• Employers are looking more for ethical behavior and critical thinking skills.
• Because MBAs have more options, they are also weighing more heavily work-life balance.