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Published: July 30, 2014
Twitter Thursdays: News from MBA Programs
Welcome to another installment of Twitter Thursdays, in which we sum up the latest news from MBA programs, as reported on Twitter.  If you want to stay on top of our updates, special prizes, admissions tips and breaking news, be sure to check Clear Admit out on Twitter. We’ve also created several lists related to MBA admissions to ease your daily access to breaking news from the top MBA programs. For prospective students interested in entrepreneurship, Rich Lyons, the Dean of the Haas School of Business, directed followers to the school’s related offerings.  The Senior Associate Director of Full-Time MBA Admissions at Michigan / Ross, Diana Economy, also sought to inform prospective applicants about the MBA program with a plug of a webinar this week. As Clear Admit reported earlier this week, the Dean of Stanford GSB, Garth Saloner, also plugged the future construction plans on campus. Conrad Chua, the Head of Marketing and Admissions at Cambridge / Judge, took some time to explain why the school is returning to accepting the TOEFL. Read more
Published: July 30, 2014
MIT Sloan to Host Women’s Week, August 4th – 7th
The MIT Sloan School of Management is gearing up for a week filled with events designed to increase awareness about the school among women who are considering a graduate management degree. MIT Sloan Women’s Week, which will take place from August 4th through 7th, will include a webinar open to prospective applicants anywhere in the world, as well as three alumnae panels in cities around the country. “There are so many opportunities for women to contribute while they are here on campus as well as after they graduate and become part of our alumni network,” Sloan Admissions Director Dawna Levenson said as part of an article about the week’s events. “MIT Sloan women are making an impact in the world, and these panels will showcase just that,” she added. Read more
Published: July 30, 2014
Admissions Director Q&A: Bruce Delmonico of the Yale School of Management
We’re continuing our round of interviews with Yale School of Management (SOM) Admissions Director Bruce DelMonico, who has been leading the charge at the New Haven business school since 2006. (A lawyer by training, DelMonico grew tired of sleeping in his office and traveling for weeks on end, so he took a job in his hometown as part of the Yale SOM admissions team. A decade later, he’s still there.) It’s an exciting time to be at Yale SOM, DelMonico tells us. Under the leadership of Dean Edward Snyder, who joined the school in 2011, Yale SOM has continued to expand the Global Network for Advanced Management, a consortium of leading business schools, and moved into its sparkling new home, the Lord Norman Foster–designed Evans Hall.   Read more
Published: July 29, 2014
New Director Named to Lead Harvard Business School Social Enterprise Initiative
Harvard Business School (HBS) has named a 2010 alumnus to direct its Social Enterprise Initiative (SEI), which seeks through an array of programs and activities to advance understanding of the management and leadership challenges organizations face as they work to create social value. Matthew Segneri (MBA 2010) was named director of HBS's SEI, which since its launch in 1993 has helped establish and promote the concept of social enterprise. He succeeds Laura Moon, who has become managing director of HBS's wide array of Initiatives, which focus on research and course development in specific topics such as leadership, health care and digital technology.  Read more
Published: July 28, 2014
Stanford Graduate School of Business to Break Ground on New $75 Million Residential Building
First-year Stanford Graduate School of Business (GSB) MBA students will live in a brand new residential building by 2016, the school reports. Design concepts for the new $75 million project were approved by the Stanford Board of Trustees last month, and the school plans to break ground on the new facility in fall 2014. The four-story, 146,000-square-foot residential building will be adjacent to the school’s state-of-the-art Knight Management Center, which opened in 2011. The new facility will include 200 single-living units. The addition of this new housing to the existing 280 units in the school’s Schwab Residential Center will enable Stanford for the first time to offer on-campus housing to its full first-year class. It will also provide space for up to 80 visiting executive education participants. Read more
Published: July 27, 2014
Wharton Social Impact Initiative to Pay Down Student Loans for MBAs Who Pursue Nonprofit, Public Sector Careers
For MBAs who pursue careers in the nonprofit and public sectors, paying back staggering student loans they took out to finance their degree can be incredibly challenging. At the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, a social impact‒focused fund managed by the Wharton Social Impact Initiative comes to the rescue. The John M. Bendheim Loan Forgiveness Fund for Public Service was created in 2005 by a 1940 graduate of the school, John Bendheim, and his son Tom, WG/Lauder ’90. The fund will grant up to $20,000 per year to pay down selected candidates’ student loans. Read more
Published: July 27, 2014
Admissions Director Q&A: Shari Hubert of Georgetown’s McDonough School of Business
In our continuing series of interviews with admissions directors at leading business schools, we spoke most recently with Shari Hubert of Georgetown’s McDonough School of Business. Hubert joined McDonough last year as associate dean of MBA admissions, where she leads recruitment efforts to attract highly qualified, diverse students to the school’s full-time and part-time MBA programs. Prior to joining McDonough, Hubert served as director of recruitment for the Peace Corps’ Office of Volunteer Recruitment and Selection, where she was responsible for recruiting 4,000 volunteers annually and managed the operations of nine regional recruitment offices across the United States. Before that, she led campus recruitment for Citi’s Global Bank in North America and served as the manager for campus relations in corporate recruiting at GE’s corporate headquarters. She also led the Executive Leadership and Civic Development Program at the Partnership for New York City, a business advocacy association focused on public and private partnerships. Read more
Published: July 24, 2014
Fridays from the Frontline: It was the best/worst of times
This week in the business school blogosphere, MBA students travel the world and embark on promising business ventures, while applicants continue wading through the complex and often mysterious process of applying to business school. Many applicants are doling out advice about how to navigate the MBA admissions game. First, Texaswannabecali recommends getting “behind the scenes info” on your target schools by contacting alumni, current students, and visiting campus. She also stresses the importance of researching your schools before visiting: “Don’t you just hate the person who asks a question in class that the teacher LITERALLY just answered 3 seconds ago? Yeah, don’t be that person.”  Read more
Published: July 23, 2014
IESE Launches Corporate Finance MOOC
IESE, like many other leading business schools, is embracing technology to offer Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) and has just launched its latest, called Corporate Finance Essentials. Designed for executives anywhere in the world who want to understand key financial issues related to companies, investors and their interaction with capital markets, the new course will be taught by IESE Javier Estrada. Over the course of a series of six lectures lasting between 45 and 60 minutes each, Estrada will help participants increase their financial literacy and gain a better understanding of what is written in the financial press. Recommended readings will complement the lectures. Read more
Published: July 23, 2014
Admissions Director Q&A: MIT Sloan School of Management’s Dawna Levenson
As we continue to make the rounds, checking in with admissions directors at top business schools around the globe, we had the good fortune recently to speak with Dawna Levenson, director of MBA admission at MIT’s Sloan School of Management. Levenson’s MIT roots run deep. She has an undergraduate degree from the school as well as an MBA from Sloan. She spent 18 years working for the company now known as Accenture but then decided it was time do something new and different. Read more
Published: July 22, 2014
Georgetown’s McDonough School of Business Hosts 17 Ventures in Summer Startup Incubator
Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business this summer is hosting 17 entrepreneurial ventures as part of its startup incubator program, the school reports. Called the “Startup Hoyas Summer Launch Program,” the incubator was designed specifically for current Georgetown students and recent graduates who want to launch a new venture. Participating students enjoy a range of benefits, including dedicated support from Georgetown faculty, mentors and experienced entrepreneurs. Read more
Published: July 21, 2014
Clear Admit Welcomes New Admissions Counselor from Columbia Business School
Clear Admit this month welcomed a new Admissions Counselor to our team of experts. Erin Hale joins us from Columbia Business School (CBS), where she worked in admissions for three years as a member of both the recruitment and operations teams. Erin brings not only her in-depth knowledge of the CBS admissions process and MBA admissions in general, but also a passion for working with MBA applicants. Erin has been drawn to admissions since her college days at Colgate University, where she volunteered in the admissions office while completing her degree in English. She had a brief but enjoyable stint at publisher John Wiley following graduation, but soon enough the pull to return to work in admissions was too hard to resist. Working first in transfer admissions at Marymount Manhattan College, she came to CBS in 2011. Read more
Published: July 21, 2014
Trivia Tuesday: Public Management and Social Innovation at Stanford GSB
This week in Trivia Tuesday, in which we highlight the distinguishing aspects of top business schools, we’re opening up our Stanford School Guide for a closer look at their Public Management and Social Innovation Program. "The Public Management Program (PMP) was founded in 1960s by then-dean Arjay Miller to promote communication and collaboration between leaders of government and business. His experience as president of Ford Motor Companies provided the impetus for this initiative; in this role, he witnessed firsthand the misunderstandings between politicians and those in the private sector. The PMP became part of the Center for Social Innovation in 2000, and today the Center has the broader mission of preparing students to address social and environmental problems. Read more
Published: July 20, 2014
Tuck School of Business Alumni Set Record with Annual Gift
Dartmouth’s Tuck School of Business has long been known for the generosity of its alumni, and this year total funds raised broke all previous records, the school reports. Tuck Annual Giving (TAG) raised $6.35 million in the last fiscal year and drew the participation of 70.9 percent of alumni, more than ever before at Tuck or any other business school for that matter. This year marks the fourth in a row that more than 70 percent of Tuck graduates have contributed to the TAG campaign, which is more than double the average giving rate of other business schools, the school notes. Read more
Published: July 20, 2014
Admissions Director Q&A: Soojin Kwon of the Ross School of Business
We are thrilled to launch the latest edition of the Clear Admit's Admissions Director Q&A Series. We began interviewing admissions directors at leading business schools back in 2008, and we circle back regularly to capture changes and new developments in the dynamic field of graduate management admissions. We kick off this most recent round of interviews with Ross School of Business Admissions Director Soojin Kwon, who has been leading the admissions team at the Ann Arbor school since 2006. A Ross graduate herself, she knows the school’s admissions process from both sides. During her tenure at the school, she has worked to increase the transparency of the application process through her blog and other online forums. Read more
Published: July 17, 2014
Fridays from the Frontline: GMAT Anticipation and Regret
This week in the business school blogosphere, applicants are gearing up to take the GMAT or contemplating what went wrong for them last time. Meanwhile current students prepare to enter the business world, and alumni look back on their time in business school. Scheduled to take the GMAT next week, Naijambagal shares his advice on GMAT test-taking, which comes down to knowing the material, doing practice questions, reviewing your mistakes and not getting nervous.  The last one is easier said than done! Read more
Published: July 16, 2014
Yale School of Management Implements Sliding Scale Application Fee Structure
Yale School of Management (SOM) yesterday announced that its 2014-2015 MBA application is now live. While the application itself features no major changes from last year’s, the school is implementing a new sliding scale application fee structure designed to increase access for applicants from lower-wage regions and industries or who are still in school or at the beginning of their careers. Most applicants will pay the standard $225 application fee, but applicants whose total compensation is less than $20,000 a year will pay $175, and those with a total compensation of less than $10,000 will pay $125. Compensation information Read more
Published: July 15, 2014
Yale School of Management to Host First Global Network Week for Faculty
Yale School of Management (SOM) next week will welcome faculty members from the 27 business schools that are members of the Global Network for Advanced Management as part of a four-day program designed to foster collaboration around issues of sustainability. The program, organized by the Yale Center for Business and the Environment, will begin on July 21st. The faculty event is an outgrowth of the network’s successful Global Network Weeks, which drew together students from the various member schools for weeklong courses with colleagues from peer schools. Read more
Published: July 14, 2014
Coding Finds Its Way Into Top Business School Curriculums
Harvard Business School (HBS) plans to offer a computer programming elective within the next couple of years, and other top business schools may be moving in the same direction as more companies seek MBAs with strong technical skills, according to a recent report in Bloomberg BusinessWeek. Paul Gompers, who chairs the MBA elective curriculum at HBS, notes that MBA students there have formed coding clubs or head across to Harvard’s Cambridge campus to take introductory computer science, but that a course specifically tailored to business students is needed at the school. “This is the changing nature of the workforce, and this is what our graduates are going on to be doing in the next five to 10 to 20 years,” Gompers told Bloomberg BW. Read more
Published: July 13, 2014
GMAC Adds Online Content, Resources to Its GMAT Review Series
The Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC), in partnership with Wiley, is enhancing its Official Guide for GMAT® Review series with added online content, videos and a unique study tool that lets users customize their own practice question sets, the council announced today. The enhancements to the Official Guide for GMAT® Review 2015 are designed to make studying for the GMAT exam easier and more convenient, according to GMAC, which owns and administers the business school entrance exam. GMAC has published 13 previous editions of its Official Guide for GMAT Review, giving business school applicants access to hundreds of real, retired GMAT questions. The 2015 series is the first to combine questions in both book and online form. Read more
Published: July 10, 2014
Fridays From the Frontline
Hello and welcome to Fridays from the Frontline, Clear Admit's weekly exhaustive enumeration of the enterprising entries in the b-school blogosphere.  This week, current applicants are in full GMAT prep-mode, contemplating choice of schools and full versus part-time programs, while the Class of 2016 is looking forward to starting their MBA programs  in just a few short weeks, and all the life and career changes that will bring. This week we also welcome blogger QuietTiger81, who is sharing his perspective as a second year student at Oxford.  MBAonMyMind has added YaleSOM to the tally board, given the school's focus on  social impact businesses, and with three weeks into GMAT prep, all is going according to plan. With a GMAT prep plan of his own, GrantMeAdmission is gaining on his 760 goal with three life hacks to help him stay focused and positive.  GrantMeAdmission also takes some time to discuss the pros and cons of doing a part-time MBA, and why he chose to go the full-time route. Read more
Published: July 9, 2014
MBA Students from Leading Global Business Schools to Help Child Cancer Charity
A United Kingdom charity focused on helping children with cancer in developing countries will receive an infusion of expertise and energy this summer as more than 40 students from top business schools in Asia, Africa, Europe and the Americas develop plans to tackle business problems faced by the organization. The students, working in teams as part of the Financial Times MBA Challenge, will assist the FT’s seasonal appeal partner, which this year is World Child Cancer (WCC). Seven teams of students – who hail from schools including Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business, Oxford Saïd Business School, the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business, London Business School, ESADE and IE Business School, among others – will each be partnered with a mentor and required to submit a business plan in September on a set topic. Read more
Published: July 8, 2014
New Johnson Graduate School of Management Application Permits LinkedIn Submissions
Applicants to Cornell University’s Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management can now incorporate their LinkedIn profiles as part of the school’s redesigned application. Johnson is using LinkedIn’s open platform to allow MBA applicants to pre-fill employment history, educational background and other parts of their application with information from their LinkedIn profiles. Candidates who submit information in this way are asked to grant the school access to their full LinkedIn profiles as part of the application process. Read more
Published: July 7, 2014
UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School Announces Second Online Degree Program
The University of North Carolina’s Kenan-Flagler Business School will offer a second online degree, its top-ranked Master of Accounting (MAC) Program, the school announced this week. Pending approval, the new program, called Accounting@UNC, is scheduled to launch in July 2015. The decision to offer this second degree was driven both by the school’s successful track record in delivering quality online education and by strong hiring demand for the school’s MAC graduates, Kenan-Flagler reports. The school launched its first online degree program, MBA@UNC, in 2011. It has grown from 19 students in the first class to 550 students today. Read more
Published: July 6, 2014
Alumni Gift to Fund Construction of New Conference Center at Harvard Business School
Harvard Business School (HBS) last month announced plans to build a new center on its Boston campus that will serve as a place for students, faculty, alumni and business leaders to convene and share ideas. Called Klarman Hall in recognition of a generous alumni gift, the new building will feature a large conference center, a performance space and a community gathering space and is expected to open in 2018. A gift from Seth Klarman (MBA 1982) and his wife Beth will make the construction of the new facility possible. Klarman is president and CEO of Boston-based investment management firm the Baupost Group, his wife is president of the Klarman Family Foundation and both serve as members of HBS’s Board of Dean’s Advisors. Read more

MBA Applywire

5
March 30, 2026 4:58pm ET
Applying: Columbia Business School, Harvard Business School, MIT Sloan, Penn / Wharton, Stanford GSB
Intake Year: 2026
Pre-MBA Career: Technology
Post MBA Career: Technology
GMAT: 675
GPA: 3.76
Location: Canada
Post MBA Location: United States
Notes:

’m applying for deferred mba. Here’s my app:
Ethnicity: Middle eastern female (international student)
University: T3 Canada with full-tuition scholarship
GPA: 3.75 (will graduate with distinction in CS/Math)
GMAT Focus: 675, all parts above 85 percentile
Work experience: 2 FAANGS, 2 Hedge funds, 1 AI lab, 1 unicorn.
Research: 2 papers under review; 2 years of TAship for math and cs courses; received a grant
Extracurricular: 2 VC-based fellowships in Silicon Valley; I also won a funding for developing my non-profit project in the college which we tested in multiple orgs across our province; some little women in cs things; top Canada in trading competition
Post-grad plan: got return offer from all my internships and currently planning on a startup (very early stage)
11
March 29, 2026 11:14am ET
Applying: Berkeley / Haas, Chicago Booth, Columbia Business School, Harvard Business School, MIT Sloan, Northwestern / Kellogg, Penn / Wharton, Stanford GSB, UCLA Anderson, USC / Marshall, Yale SOM
Intake Year: 2027
Pre-MBA Career: 2 years at Big4 transactions + 3 years in local M&A boutique
Post MBA Career: Finance, Investment Banking, Private Equity
GMAT: 675
GPA: 8.3
Years of Work Experience: 5
Location: Poland
Post MBA Location: NY/SF/LA
Notes:

* Background: 28M, CEE Region (Underrepresented)
* Education: Bachelor of Economics (GPA: 8.3/10) from the top university in my home country.
* Education (Grad): Master in Finance (GPA: 4.7/5.0) from the top university in a second country (Poland).
* GMAT: 675.
* Work Experience: 5 years total.
* 2 years in Big 4 Transactions.
* 3 years in a local M&A Boutique.
* Note: Big 4 experience was gained concurrently with my studies. My Master’s schedule (3-4 days a week, 17:00-21:00) allowed for full-time professional engagement.
* Extracurriculars: Founder of a finance community for the CEE region (70+ members). We focus on mentoring and networking.
* Post-MBA Goal: Pivot into a Private Equity Mega Fund.
* The Pitch: Leveraging a unique CEE expertise. Poland is a booming market; as the economy matures, I expect increased MF activity (CVC is already active here). I also plan to scale my finance community into a primary regional hub.
8
March 26, 2026 7:43am ET
Applying: Cambridge / Judge, Columbia Business School, Harvard Business School, Lauder Institute, Oxford / Saïd, Penn / Wharton, Stanford GSB, Yale SOM
Intake Year: 2027
Pre-MBA Career: MBB
Post MBA Career: Other Industries
GRE: 322
GPA: 3.0
Years of Work Experience: 5
Location: GCC
Notes:

I'm a GCC national at MBB in the region. Mostly worked on large-scale government projects, and hoping to continue in government after graduation (also a woman, not sure if that makes a difference but I see fewer women from my country applying to MBAs).

322 GRE (162V 160Q)
3.0 GPA from US T30 school (this one is painful but I had a strong upward trend after switching majors)
5 years experience (boutique + currently MBB)
11
March 26, 2026 7:29am ET
Applying: Chicago Booth, Columbia Business School, Dartmouth / Tuck, Duke / Fuqua, Harvard Business School, MIT Sloan, Northwestern / Kellogg, NYU Stern, Penn / Wharton, UVA / Darden, Yale SOM
Pre-MBA Career: Management Rotation Program in Audit for Large Financial Bank (Top 5)
Post MBA Career: Consulting, Finance
GPA: 3.77
Years of Work Experience: 1
Location: United States
Post MBA Location: NYC
Notes:

Hey everyone,

I’d really appreciate an honest profile review and advice on how to best position myself over the next 4–5 years before applying to MBA programs (targeting M7 / T15, ideally with strong scholarship outcomes).

Background:

• 23M, URM (Latino, immigrant background)

• Graduated December 2025 from a non-target state school (Honors College)

• Major: Finance

• GPA: \~3.7–3.8
Work Experience:

Incoming: Management Rotation Program (Audit track) at a large U.S. financial institution (starting mid-2026)

• Rotational program with exposure to risk, capital markets, and enterprise functions
Current: Financial Analyst (Controls / Risk) at a large global tech company (co-op + full-time transition before MRP) not FAANG but similar

Prior internships:

A) 6 months internship Internal Audit – Housing Finance / Mortgage-related institution (Fannie/freddie)

B) 1 year internship and 1 year contract Risk & Compliance – Fixed Income / Debt Issuance organization (~$800B issuance exposure)

Exposure to MBS, capital markets, and financial risk frameworks

C) Summer experience for a regulatory agency (Pcaob, SEC, GAO)

Leadership & Extracurriculars:

• Director of Data Analytics – professional Latino association (2-5K members)

• Committee Member – State CPA Society (content + events)
Certifications / Plans:

Sitting for CFA Level I (May) → plan to complete CFA within ~3–4 years

Planning to complete CPA (150 credits + exams) within ~4–5 years

Short-Term Goal (pre-MBA):

Move from audit → capital markets / risk / transaction-related roles internally

Potentially pivot into roles closer to banking, valuation, or strategy

Long-Term Goal (post-MBA):

Investment Banking (M&A / Capital Markets) or potentially strategy consulting as backup

⸻

Questions:

1. How competitive is this profile today for M7 / T15 (assuming a strong GMAT, targeting 740+)?

2. What matters more in my case over the next few years:

• Internal mobility into capital markets–related roles?

• External jump (e.g., consulting, transaction advisory)?

3. Will CPA + CFA actually help for MBA admissions + IB recruiting, or is that overkill?

4. How can I best differentiate coming from a non-target + audit background?

5. What would you prioritize if you were me for the next 4–5 years?
8
March 20, 2026 11:31am ET
Applying: Chicago Booth, Columbia Business School, Harvard Business School, INSEAD, MIT Sloan, Northwestern / Kellogg, Penn / Wharton, SDA Bocconi
Intake Year: 2027
Pre-MBA Career: Energy
Post MBA Career: Consulting, Bain, BCG, McKinsey, Finance, Private Equity, Management Consulting
GMAT: 695
GPA: 3.93
Years of Work Experience: 3
Location: Italy
Post MBA Location: US
Notes:

I am a European 28-years-old engineer (automotive and oil&gas background) preparing my MBA applications. GMAT Focus 695 (97th percentile), IELTS 8/9, ~3 years of work experience.
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MBA LiveWire

April 1, 2026 11:41pm ET
Accepted to Penn / Wharton
Round: Round 2
Received via portal on March 30, 2026
Standardized Test: GMAT
GPA: 3.7
GMAT: 675
Program Type: Traditional Two-Year
Post MBA Career: Finance, Investment Banking
Target Career: Finance
Application Location: United States, Texas
Juno Member: Not yet
April 1, 2026 8:34pm ET
Accepted to Chicago Booth
Round: Round 2
Received via portal
Standardized Test: GRE
GPA: 2.9
GRE: 315
Program Type: Traditional Two-Year
Post MBA Career: Other Industries
Juno Member: Not yet
April 1, 2026 7:54pm ET
Accepted to London Business School
Round: Round 2
Received via email April 1, 2026
Standardized Test: GRE
GPA: 4.39/5.0
GRE: 319
Program Type: Traditional Two-Year
Post MBA Career: Real Estate, Other
Target Career: Finance
Application Location: Nigeria
Juno Member: Not yet
April 1, 2026 6:01pm ET
Accepted to London Business School
Round: Round 2
Received via email April 1, 2026
Standardized Test: GRE
GRE: 331
Program Type: Traditional Two-Year
Application Location: India
April 1, 2026 4:04pm ET
Accepted from Waitlist to Penn / Wharton
Round: Round 2
Received via portal on March 30, 2026
Standardized Test: GMAT
GPA: 3.33
GMAT: 645
Program Type: Traditional Two-Year
Note:

R1 waitlist, accepted from WL R2.
Juno Member: Not yet
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Live
Wire