Alex Brown
MBA Admissions Tip: Going Beyond School Websites
As the 2017-18 MBA application season draws to a close, we now turn our attention towards admissions advice for those targeting 2019 entrance to business school. To celebrate this move, we recently launched the third edition of Becoming A Clear Admit: The Definitive Guide to MBA Admissions which is temporarily available for FREE with the coupon code: Freefor2019Applicants. In the meantime, for today’s admissions tip, we focus on how to reach out to the b-schools in which you are interested. Communicating with b-school insiders can be beneficial for a number of reasons: In addition to researching a business school and your... Read more »
Admissions Tip: Time-Saving Tools for School Targeting
A critical key to success in the MBA admissions process is targeting the right MBA programs for application. When commencing the MBA admissions process, it can be difficult to immediately identify which programs might be most suitable and where you might be most competitive. A quick survey of MBA rankings may provide clues – and our own tiered ranking system provides additional guidance in terms of which programs are similar from a competitive standpoint – but beyond those basic resources, Clear Admit also has two unique tools to help you quickly arrive at your list of target MBA programs: MBA DecisionWire MBA... Read more »
Admissions Tip: Round 3 Results
With the MBA programs releasing their final round notifications in the upcoming weeks, the 2017-2018 admissions season is coming to a close for the vast majority of MBA aspirants. We’d like to offer our congratulations to all those who have gained admission to one of more of their target schools and wish good luck to waitlisted applicants whose fate is presently a bit less certain. For all those who submitted their applications in the final round and received an unfavorable decision, we’d like to share a few tips that we hope will make the process of facing rejection as productive... Read more »
Should Scholarship Money Impact Your Choice of Business School?
A brief look at MBA DecisionWire appears to indicate that more and more leading MBA programs are offering scholarship money, either need-based or merit-based, to encourage admitted candidates to enroll. This may be the result of competing for a smaller pool of top applicants amidst declining application volume (particularly in the USA and Europe). This scholarship money reduces the price of the MBA, and therefore alters the calculus in terms of the cost-benefit analysis of the program. If you do have admissions offers from multiple programs, some of which include scholarship money, you will need to weigh whether the reduced cost... Read more »
The Week Ahead: MBA Deadlines & Decisions – 4.30.18
Welcome to the series, The Week Ahead. In this weekly series, we provide a brief rundown of what we know is happening in the week ahead, as far as admissions related MBA deadlines and decisions are concerned at the top business schools. A few schools are now starting to release their Round 3, or equivalent, decisions this upcoming week, with more to follow next week. Monday, April 30, Indiana / Kelley and Rochester / Simon are scheduled to release their Round 3 decisions. Vanderbilt / Owen has its Round 4 deadline. UMD / Smith has its Round 6 deadline. Tuesday, May 1,... Read more »
Admissions Tip: Reapplying to Business School
With many MBA programs getting close to being ready to release their final round decisions, the application season will soon be coming to a close. While we would like to hope that today’s topic isn’t apropos for too many of our readers, we wanted to offer some advice to applicants who’ve been rejected from their preferred programs and are planning on reapplying next season. While it’s important to take some time to deal with the disappointment, it’s never too early to begin thinking about the next season, and there are a number of steps you can take to improve your... Read more »
The Week Ahead: MBA Deadlines & Decisions – 4.23.18
Welcome to the series, The Week Ahead. In this weekly series, we provide a brief rundown of what we know is happening in the week ahead, as far as admissions related MBA deadlines and decisions are concerned at the top business schools. Most top programs in the middle of their Round 3 process, the interview phase of the round. Schools are also hosting admissions events for admits from earlier rounds, as Round 2 deposit deadlines loom. Monday, April 23, UNC / Kenan Flagler is scheduled to release its Round 4 decisions. Manchester / Alliance starts its Round 5 decision period. Tuesday, April... Read more »
The Week Ahead: MBA Deadlines & Decisions – 4.16.18
Welcome to the series, The Week Ahead. In this weekly series, we provide a brief rundown of what we know is happening in the week ahead, as far as admissions related MBA deadlines and decisions are concerned at the top business schools. Most top programs have begun their Round 3 process, and are moving into the interview phase of the round. Schools are also hosting admissions events for admits from earlier rounds, as Round 2 deposit deadlines loom. Monday, April 16, Toronto Rotman has its Round 4 deadline. Tuesday, April 17, Boston / Carroll has its Round 4 deadline. Wednesday, April 18,... Read more »
The Week Ahead: MBA Deadlines & Decisions – 4.9.18
Welcome to the series, The Week Ahead. In this weekly series, we provide a brief rundown of what we know is happening in the week ahead, as far as admissions related MBA deadlines and decisions are concerned at the top business schools. Most top programs are beginning their Round 3 process, a few of these programs are planning to release interview invites during the upcoming week. Monday, April 9, MIT / Sloan has its Round 3 deadline. Tuesday, April 10, Washington / Olin has its Round 4 deadline. ESADE has its Round 6 deadline. Wednesday, April 11, Northwestern / Kellogg has its... Read more »
Admissions Tip: 5 Tips for Welcome Weekend Attendance
It’s April, which means that the majority of leading programs will be hosting business school welcome weekends for those candidates that they have admitted during their first two admissions rounds. These “sell” weekends are very important for the schools as part of their push to encourage those that they have admitted to enroll. They know that many of their admitted students have options to go elsewhere, or are now considering the financial aspects of the program and concerned as to whether it is an economically viable option. If you were fortunate enough to gain admissions to an elite MBA program, this... Read more »
Waitlisted in Round 2? Here’s How You Should Proceed
In the last week few weeks we saw multiple decision releases from the schools we cover for Round 2. MBA LiveWire has captured a lot of this news and many candidates have already been reporting that they’ve been waitlisted. We have some guidance for candidates who find themselves placed on a waitlist, but before we get to that, let’s look first at why schools use a waitlist. First and foremost, while schools now know the quality of their Round 1 matriculants and Round 2 applicants, they do not know how many of the candidates admitted as part of Round 2 will ultimately enroll, nor... Read more »
The Week Ahead: MBA Deadlines & Decisions – 4.2.18
Welcome to the series, The Week Ahead. In this weekly series, we provide a brief rundown of what we know is happening in the week ahead, as far as admissions related MBA deadlines and decisions are concerned at the top business schools. Most leading MBA Programs have now released their Round 2 decisions. Many top programs are beginning their Round 3 process. Monday, April 2, Harvard and Georgetown / McDonough have their Round 3 deadlines. Tuesday, April 3, MIT / Sloan is scheduled to release its Round 2 decisions. UVA / Darden and Texas / McCombs have their Round 3 deadlines. Wednesday,... Read more »
Admissions Tip: Choosing Between Business Schools
Many successful MBA applicants face the enviable – but often agonizing — decision of choosing between programs. Though we know that those of you in this position will already be juggling an overwhelming amount of information about the schools on your short lists, we wanted to offer a few pointers to consider as you identify and evaluate the most important facts and factors in choosing between business schools. Immerse yourself. If you have not yet visited campus, go to the school and see what you think of the environment. Be sure to attend classes, talk with students, tour the facilities,... Read more »
Admissions Tip: Interviewing the Interviewer
We’ve been offering a good deal of advice lately on how to conduct oneself and prepare responses to MBA interview questions. Today we’d like to highlight the importance of thinking about what you might ask when you’re interviewing. Virtually all business school interviewers conclude their discussion by offering the applicant a chance to ask some questions about the program. While it might be tempting to claim that you’ve already learned all you need to know about the school, this is actually a great opportunity to gain additional insight, show your enthusiasm about a specific element of the curriculum or community,... Read more »
Admissions Tip: Interview Etiquette
As interview invites continue to roll out, and candidates prepare for their interviews, we wanted to continue our theme of providing interview advice and share a few very basic pointers on MBA interview etiquette. Though the content of your application materials and comments during the interview are of paramount importance, it’s also crucial to put one’s best foot forward and make a positive initial impression. Here are a few guidelines for interviewing applicants to keep in mind: Be early. Plan to arrive at least 15 minutes ahead of your interview. This will help remove the stress you will experience if... Read more »
Admissions Tip: Choosing Between Business Schools
Deposit deadlines for Round 1 decisions are looming, many successful applicants are facing the enviable – but often agonizing — decision of choosing between programs. Though we know that those of you in this position will already be juggling an overwhelming amount of information about the schools on your short lists, we wanted to offer a few pointers to consider as you identify and evaluate the most important facts and factors in choosing between business schools. Immerse yourself. If you have not yet visited campus, go to the school and see what you think of the environment. Be sure to attend... Read more »
Admissions Tip: Letters of Support
While business schools require candidates to submit anywhere from 1-3 recommendations as part of the regular admissions process, we’re devoting this admissions tip to a lesser known relative of the formal recommendation: the letter of support. The letter of support is very different from a typical letter of recommendation, in ways that we will detail below. In fact, we’ll use this admissions tip to share the following information: • What is a letter of support? • Who can author and submit such letters? • When should a letter of support be submitted? • What should a letter of support cover in... Read more »
Admissions Tip: Background Checks
With a slew of schools releasing their R1 notifications just before the holidays, we know that many of our readers will be asking about the background checks conducted by leading programs. Here are some quick facts to help explain the process: 1. What are background checks? Background checks involve the verification of information that a candidate has provided in his or her MBA applications. Although the process varies from school to school, it usually includes checking that an applicant attended the undergraduate (or graduate) school(s) that he or she claims to have attended, received the grades indicated and earned the... Read more »
Admissions Tip: Unusual Data Form Questions
For this admissions tip, we continue our theme of focusing on Round 2 applicants, and the increasing importance of the application data forms. Earlier this week we examined the eight standard question types that most MBA programs’ data forms tackle, and how applicants should approach those questions. In this admissions tip we will explore a selection of the more unusual questions that schools have been known to ask in the data forms, providing insight into why these questions are being asked and how to answer them. Which Other Schools are you Applying to? MBA programs that historically asked this question include Berkeley Haas, Cornell... Read more »
Admissions Tip: Round 2 Deadlines – The Moment of Truth
Over the last couple of weeks we published a series of MBA admissions tips for Round 2 application deadlines. Today, as a little holiday offering for our readers, we’ve conveniently gathered those tips into one tidy post, to help keep you organized. This next week, between Christmas and New Year’s, is critical for those of you working to meet the deadlines. As such, we wish you the best of luck! Planning for Round 2 | Application Deadlines Here you can find all the dates for the fast-approaching January deadlines. The tip also includes some strategic advice regarding school selection, and... Read more »
