Accepted Admissions Almanac

MBA Admissions: HBS 2+2 Application is Available

For you super-star college juniors who know you want a top MBA, HBS 2+2 has announced that its application is available. Here is the email that HBS sent yesterday:

We are pleased to announce that the 2+2 Program application for the class entering in the fall of 2011 is now available online. To access the application instructions, policies, and materials, please visit the 2+2 Web site.

Please note that the application submission deadline is July 1, 2008, at 5 p.m. EST. To apply in this admissions cycle, you must be a current college junior (or equivalent) with at least one remaining semester, after July 2008, necessary for the completion of your degree.

We hope you will consider Harvard Business School as you think about reframing your plan for leadership. Your seat is waiting.

MBA Admissions: Esade Appoints New Dean

The Spanish business school, Esade, based in Barcelona announced last week the appointment of a new dean, Alfonso Sauquet. The announcement:

Alfonso Sauquet, Professor of the Ramon Llull University at ESADE, has been appointed Dean of ESADE Business School for the next four years.

Sauquet, up to now Vice-Dean of Research and Knowledge, was previously Director of the ESADE Combined Undergraduate and Master in Business Management and Administration. He is a Doctor in Education from Columbia University (NYC) and also holds a Master in Organisational Psychology from the same university. In addition, he has an MBA from ESADE and graduated in Psychology and Education from the University of Barcelona.

Dr. Sauquet has served as President of the Interfaculty Group in Organisational Behaviour of the Community of European Management Schools. He also has been a lecturer at HEC Paris, Erasmus University Rotterdam, the Wharton School of Economics (Philadelphia) and the Copenhagen Business School, in addition to lecturing at the Summer School organised by the European Doctoral Association for Management in Business Administration.

At present, he is a member of the Academic Board of the Association for Human Resources Management in International Organisations (AHRMIO). He was invited by UNESCO to be a consultant for the United Nations Development Programme.

During his term as Dean, Dr. Sauquet, in his own words, will pay particular attention to globalisation processes and knowledge creation and development, and integrate them into ESADE’s academic programmes.

His predecessor, Xavier Mendoza, was Dean for two terms (eight years) and last week was appointed to the board of directors of The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business  AACSB-International (the premier worldwide association of business schools), while continuing his association with ESADE as a Professor of ESADE’s Business Policy department.

UVA Law Has New Dean: Paul G. Mahoney

According to the UVA web site:

Paul G. Mahoney, a University of Virginia law professor, has been appointed the 11th dean of the School of Law, UVA President John T. Casteen III announced today.

Mahoney, 49, an expert in corporate law who joined the law faculty in 1990, will serve as the Arnold H. Leon Professor of Law. His appointment will be effective July 1.

As academic associate dean from 1999 to 2004, Mahoney administered the school's curriculum and academic policies. He has won an All-University Outstanding Teaching Award, the Law School’s Traynor Award for excellence in research, and the Corporate Practice Commentator’s award for top corporate and securities law articles. Mahoney also is one of only five faculty members to hold the most eminent chair at the Law School, the David and Mary Harrison Distinguished Professorship, and the youngest to have the title. Mahoney will be the ninth of 11 deans to be selected from the Law School's faculty

For more on Mahoney's appointment, please see "Paul G. Mahoney—Scholar, Teacher, and Corporate Law Expert—Named University of Virginia Law School Dean."

MBA Admissions: Interview, Interviews, and More Interviews

I checked my email this morning and found several informative MBA interview reports that had arrived over the weekend from applicants interviewing at HBS, Wharton, Columbia, London Business School, INSEAD, and other programs. Consequently, I decided it would be timely to post a mini-round up of MBA admissions interview news and resources.

• The HBS blog announced last week that HBS has issued most of its round 2 interview invitations. In Dee Leopold's words, "While interview invitations will continue to be issued up until notification date, it is fair to say that the vast majority have been sent."
• Wharton has completed posting its round 2 interview invitations. Those round 2 applicants who did not receive an interview invitation are denied.  Those who have received the precious invitation can jump in the air, dance for joy, and then check out the resources provided later in this post.
• The Darden Student Blog has a post outlining Darden's reasons for going to an "invitation only" interview policy. According to Bill Gray, the student author,  Darden previously required all domestic applicants to interview in Charlottesville, and just this year switched to invitation-only because the previous policy increased costs to  the school and the applicant, and  meant that domestic and international admissions processes differed. He also pointed at global warming, which I found a little disingenuous, but the other reasons make complete sense. A member of the Class of '09 who applied under the old policy,  Bill also wrote " I personally found it helpful to visit Darden before writing my essays.
• Haas presents a great series of tips for MBA interviews in its monthly admissions newsletter. Check out "How to Ace the Admissions Interview", by Peter Johnson, Director of Admissions, Full-time MBA Program

Now for the resources:

• MBA Mock Interviews and Coaching.
• MBA I.V.: Mainline to Top MBA Programs MBA Interview Questions and Tips.  We can barely keep this ebook in stock, ;-), and we have received fantastic feedback on it, which we haven't even posted yet. Here is a sampling:

"Concise and to the point, great"

"It truly is a great book. I learned so much about different programs in this one book. thank you!"

"The guide provides very useful interview tips, on a school to school basis. Would recommend to anyone preparing for interviews with the top MBA schools."

• MBA Interview Feedback Database. The perfect source for the preparation Peter Johnson recommends in his tip article, the searchable database contains hundreds of interview reports from MBA interviews organized by school. Free.
• MBA Interview Prep. A five-day email mini course. Free.

Take advantage of the resources your wallet, sense of confidence, and general interview preparedness dictate.

And finally, a couple requests:

1. After you interview, please share your MBA interview experience so the database will continue to grow and provide value.  Doing so automatically enrolls you in Accepted's It's a 10! contest . Winners received an Amazon gift certificate of up to $20.
2. When visiting b-school campuses, take a few pictures of any school (or its environs) listed in the Accepted B-school Zones page and send them in to Accepted's Beautiful B-School Photo contest . In addition, we will soon add pages for UNC, Notre Dame, Emory, and Georgetown so feel free to send in pictures for those schools too.  All honorable mentions receive a gift, and the three winners will take home up to a $200 gift certificate from Amazon. Right now, we only have one submission, so your chances of winning are outstanding. The contest ends April 30.

 

MBA Admissions Interview News, Tips, and Resources

I checked my email this morning and found several informative MBA interview reports that had arrived over the weekend from applicants interviewing at HBS, Wharton, Columbia, London Business School, INSEAD, and other programs. Consequently, I decided it would be timely to post a mini-round up of MBA admissions interview news and resources.

• The HBS blog announced last week that HBS has issued most of its round 2 interview invitations. In Dee Leopold's words, "While interview invitations will continue to be issued up until notification date, it is fair to say that the vast majority have been sent."
     
• Wharton has completed posting its round 2 interview invitations. Those round 2 applicants who did not receive an interview invitation are denied.  Those who have received the precious invitation can jump in the air, dance for joy, and then check out the resources provided later in this post.
• The Darden Student Blog has a post outlining Darden's reasons for going to an "invitation only" interview policy. According to Bill Gray, the student author,  Darden previously required all domestic applicants to interview in Charlottesville, and just this year switched to invitation-only because the previous policy increased costs to  the school and the applicant, and  meant that domestic and international admissions processes differed. He also pointed at global warming, which I found a little disingenuous, but the other reasons make complete sense. A member of the Class of '09 who applied under the old policy,  Bill also wrote " I personally found it helpful to visit Darden before writing my essays.
• Haas presents a great series of tips for MBA interviews in its monthly admissions newsletter. Check out "How to Ace the Admissions Interview", by Peter Johnson, Director of Admissions, Full-time MBA Program

Now for the resources:

• MBA Mock Interviews and Coaching.
     
• MBA I.V.: Mainline to Top MBA Programs MBA Interview Questions and Tips. We can barely keep this ebook in stock, ;-), and we have received fantastic feedback on it, which we haven't even posted yet. Here is a sampling:

"Concise and to the point, great"

"It truly is a great book. I learned so much about different programs in this one book. thank you!"

"The guide provides very useful interview tips, on a school to school basis. Would recommend to anyone preparing for interviews with the top MBA schools."

• MBA Interview Feedback Database. The perfect source for the preparation Peter Johnson recommends in his tip article, the searchable database contains hundreds of interview reports from MBA interviews organized by school. Free.
• MBA Interview Prep. A five-day email mini course. Free.

Take advantage of the resources your wallet, sense of confidence, and general interview preparedness dictate.

And finally, a couple requests:

1. After you interview, please share your MBA interview experience so the database will continue to grow and provide value.  Doing so automatically enrolls you in Accepted's It's a 10! contest . Winners received an Amazon gift certificate of up to $20.
2. When visiting b-school campuses, take a few pictures of any school (or its environs) listed in the Accepted B-school Zones page and send them in to Accepted's Beautiful B-School Photo contest . In addition, we will soon add pages for UNC, Notre Dame, Emory, and Georgetown so feel free to send in pictures for those schools too.  All honorable mentions receive a gift, and the three winners will take home up to a $200 gift certificate from Amazon. Right now, we only have one submission, so your chances of winning are outstanding. The contest ends April 30.

Yale Law Admissions Process

The Yale Daily News opens a window into the distinctive Yale Law School admissions process in  ‘Serendipity’ plays role in Yale Law School admissions. Anyone interested in admissions to Yale Law School should read this article in its entirely. But here are a few highlights:

• 3,400 students from around the world had submitted applications for fewer than 200 spots in the next class at Yale Law.
• Roughly 50-80 will be identified by Dean of Admissions Asha Rangappa and a faculty member as presumptive admits and admitted.
• The balance of applications go through a process of review by the three faculty members and the entire faculty is involved in the review process.
• The faculty receive no guidelines for the evaluation, but  the school emphasizes leadership.
• Graduates of Harvard, Yale, and Stanford comprise roughly one third of Yale's student body.

 

Three Stories

Once upon a time there was a wedding (actually yesterday). The father of the bride wanted to give a speech. His wife (me) worried that he would bore the guests. Mildly insulted and not wanting to forgo an opportunity to praise the bride, his new son-in-law, his son-in-law’s parents, and to share a few words of wisdom, the proud papa insisted on going ahead with his speech. However, he also decided to use stories to illustrate his points. He kept his guests’ attention during his 15-minute discourse. When he returned to the table, he triumphantly said to his wife, “See. I told you I wouldn’t talk too long.” He came about as close to “I told you so” as he could.

Once upon another time, there was an elite business school by the name of “Harvard.” (Its friends called it “HBS.”) HBS had a professor named John Kotter, who became an internationally famous “leadership and change guru.” When he wanted to spread his gospel of change to the widest possible audience, he didn’t publish a thick tome full of facts; he didn’t write a philosophical treatise on the truth about change and leadership. (Been there; done that.) He wrote a fable. Why? In Kotter’s words, fables “take serious, confusing and threatening subjects and make them clear and approachable. Fables can be memorable…They can stimulate thought, teach important lessons, and motivate anyone…” His book has become a best-seller.

In fact stories are so important that another top business school (Michigan’s Ross School of Business) has an award-winning screen writer, Robert McGee, come to its orientation “to teach business leaders how to tell a riveting story.” McGee wants to challenge the new MBA students to “take a case study and create a story that will persuade. He wants them to answer the question … What is the inciting incident that upsets the balance of forces in this company’s life? What is the object of desire?”

Ross gets it. Harvard gets it. Even my husband gets its. The engaging and persuasive power of a compelling, succinct story.

Do you get it? Considering that you want your essays to engage and persuade, can you afford not to use one of the oldest and most successful techniques of communication known to man? You really can’t.

Embrace stories. Show what you want to communicate. When you sit down to write your AMCAS essay, application essays, or personal statement, which succinct anecdotes illustrate your point? What were the turning points in your life? In your dreams? What motivated you to change?

Keep it real. Keep it memorable. Just tell a story.

New Accepted Content

We recently added the Consortium transcript and an additional GMAT article to Accepted.com. Here are excerpts:

• Consortium Student Chat Transcript

mba2008 (Feb 5, 2008 8:10:33 PM)
What advice would you give us in preparation for returning to (a) the orientation program and (b) returning to school?

RayHernandezDARDEN (Feb 5, 2008 8:11:37 PM)
School can be overwhelming when you start. If this link still works, this talks about transitioning into the first year http://www.businessweek.com/bschools/content/sep2007/bs2007096_544524.htm

AprilTaylorINDIANA (Feb 5, 2008 8:11:41 PM)
Definitely get some rest before starting school...It goes by fast!

BernieTraywickEmory (Feb 5, 2008 8:14:47 PM)
MBA 2008 -The OP will be a great advantage for you. Make sure you research the companies you may be interested in so that you can have a good interview. It will give you a great head start in your search for an internship. You may have the internship before you start B-School which will make it easier for you to focus on school.

• "Top 5 GMAT Study Tips" by Chris Ryan, Director of Instructor and Product Development, at the leading test prep company, Manhattan GMAT.

1) Go to the source.

Many religions have holy books, right? The Official Guides from the GMAC, in their orange, purple and green splendor, are the holy books of the GMAT religion. Every other book, as good as it may be, is just commentary. Only the Official Guides contain problems retired from the real GMAT. Thus, your efforts must be centered on the Official Guides.   

The other "holy" source is GMAT Prep, the free practice-test software that you should download from mba.com. This software has its drawbacks, but it also has two unique benefits: it uses the real GMAT algorithm, and even more importantly, it contains retired GMAT problems, many of which aren't in the Official Guides. There are two tests offered on this software; you should consider 'saving' at least one of them for later in your preparation to use as a measuring stick. The GMAC folks have told us that they plan to release more products soon; these should also become part of your GMAT preparation depot.   

Though the GMAC sources are the best, don't ignore third-party resources. Not surprisingly, I believe that the ManhattanGMAT resources are great. For instance, our computer-adaptive exams supply crucial explanations and analytics that GMAT Prep lacks. Our Strategy Guides break down the core principles and give you lots of relevant practice.   

But one way to measure the greatness of any third-party product is the degree to which it reflects the content of the GMAT. And when it comes to the content of the GMAT, GMAC products have no equal. (This is why ManhattanGMAT's curriculum is built around the Official Guides, which all of our students receive.)

For the remaining tips and a 10% discount on Manhattan GMAT courses and tutoring, please click on  "Top 5 GMAT Study Tips"

MBA Admissions: New Content on GMAT Prep; Consortium

We recently added the Consortium transcript and an additional GMAT article to Accepted.com. Here are excerpts:

• Consortium Student Chat Transcript

mba2008 (Feb 5, 2008 8:10:33 PM)
What advice would you give us in preparation for returning to (a) the orientation program and (b) returning to school?

RayHernandezDARDEN (Feb 5, 2008 8:11:37 PM)
School can be overwhelming when you start. If this link still works, this talks about transitioning into the first year http://www.businessweek.com/bschools/content/sep2007/bs2007096_544524.htm

AprilTaylorINDIANA (Feb 5, 2008 8:11:41 PM)
Definitely get some rest before starting school...It goes by fast!

BernieTraywickEmory (Feb 5, 2008 8:14:47 PM)
MBA 2008 -The OP will be a great advantage for you. Make sure you research the companies you may be interested in so that you can have a good interview. It will give you a great head start in your search for an internship. You may have the internship before you start B-School which will make it easier for you to focus on school.

• "Top 5 GMAT Study Tips" by Chris Ryan, Director of Instructor and Product Development, at the leading test prep company, Manhattan GMAT.

1) Go to the source.

Many religions have holy books, right? The Official Guides from the GMAC, in their orange, purple and green splendor, are the holy books of the GMAT religion. Every other book, as good as it may be, is just commentary. Only the Official Guides contain problems retired from the real GMAT. Thus, your efforts must be centered on the Official Guides.

The other "holy" source is GMAT Prep, the free practice-test software that you should download from mba.com. This software has its drawbacks, but it also has two unique benefits: it uses the real GMAT algorithm, and even more importantly, it contains retired GMAT problems, many of which aren't in the Official Guides. There are two tests offered on this software; you should consider 'saving' at least one of them for later in your preparation to use as a measuring stick. The GMAC folks have told us that they plan to release more products soon; these should also become part of your GMAT preparation depot.

Though the GMAC sources are the best, don't ignore third-party resources. Not surprisingly, I believe that the ManhattanGMAT resources are great. For instance, our computer-adaptive exams supply crucial explanations and analytics that GMAT Prep lacks. Our Strategy Guides break down the core principles and give you lots of relevant practice.

But one way to measure the greatness of any third-party product is the degree to which it reflects the content of the GMAT. And when it comes to the content of the GMAT, GMAC products have no equal. (This is why ManhattanGMAT's curriculum is built around the Official Guides, which all of our students receive.)

For the remaining tips and a 10% discount on Manhattan GMAT courses and tutoring, please click on  "Top 5 GMAT Study Tips."

Personal Statement Tip: Once Upon a Time...

Once upon a time there was a wedding (actually yesterday). The father of the bride wanted to give a speech. His wife (me) worried that he would bore the guests. Mildly insulted and not wanting to forgo an opportunity to praise the bride, his new son-in-law, his son-in-law’s parents, and to share a few words of wisdom, the proud papa insisted on going ahead with his speech. However, he also decided to use stories to illustrate his points. He kept his guests’ attention during his 15-minute discourse. When he returned to the table, he triumphantly said to his wife, “See. I told you I wouldn’t talk too long.” He came about as close to “I told you so” as he could.

Once upon another time, there was an elite business school by the name of “Harvard.” (Its friends called it “HBS.”) HBS had a professor named John Kotter, who became an internationally famous “leadership and change guru.” When he wanted to spread his gospel of change to the widest possible audience, he didn’t publish a thick tome full of facts; he didn’t write a philosophical treatise on the truth about change and leadership. (Been there; done that.) He wrote a fable. Why? In Kotter’s words, fables “take serious, confusing and threatening subjects and make them clear and approachable. Fables can be memorable…They can stimulate thought, teach important lessons, and motivate anyone…” His book has become a best-seller.

In fact stories are so important that another top business school (Michigan’s Ross School of Business) has an award-winning screen writer, Robert McGee, come to its orientation “to teach business leaders how to tell a riveting story.” McGee wants to challenge the new MBA students to “take a case study and create a story that will persuade. He wants them to answer the question … What is the inciting incident that upsets the balance of forces in this company’s life? What is the object of desire?”

Ross gets it. Harvard gets it. Even my husband gets its. The engaging and persuasive power of a compelling, succinct story.

Do you get it? Considering that you want your essays to engage and persuade, can you afford not to use one of the oldest and most successful techniques of communication known to man? You really can’t.

Embrace stories. Show what you want to communicate. When you sit down to write your AMCAS essay, application essays, or personal statement, which succinct anecdotes illustrate your point? What were the turning points in your life? In your dreams? What motivated you to change?

Keep it real. Keep it memorable. Just tell a story.