Clear Admit
Wharton Essay Topic Analysis 2016-2017
Following up on our announcement earlier this week with the Wharton essay topics for the 2016-2017 admissions season, we wanted to offer our essay topic analysis for the Class of 2019 UPenn MBA hopefuls. The Wharton adcom has decided to retain its opening required essay on desired personal and professional growth, and added a second required essay centered on how one would fit and enhance the student community. Maryellen Reilly, the Deputy Vice Dean of MBA Admissions, Financial Aid & Career Management, noted in the Wharton Admissions Blog: “By asking these two questions, effectively breaking apart and expanding on last year’s essay... Read more »
Berkeley / Haas MBA Essay Topic Analysis 2016-2017
Now that the Haas MBA essay topics have been announced for the 2016-2017 season, we wanted to offer our thoughts on how to approach each of these prompts for business school applicants targeting the UC Berkeley MBA Class of 2019. Haas MBA applicants will respond to three required essays totaling 1,000 words. Once again, there is a reprise of that song-that-represents-you prompt, as well as fairly straightforward questions about the candidate’s career goals and influential past experiences. To begin, applicants should note the following preamble to this year’s Haas MBA essay questions: Essays help us learn about who you are as... Read more »
Emory / Goizueta Essay Topic Analysis 2016-2017
Following up on the release of the Emory University’s Goizueta MBA essay topics, we wanted to offer some guidance to applicants on how to approach these prompts. As with last year, this year’s essay section comprises four required responses, with a continued focus on career goals, leadership experiences, a four-option short answer prompt, and a 25-word allotment for a “fun fact.” Let’s take a closer look at each of the Emory MBA essay prompts for 2016-2017: Essay 1: Define your short-term post-MBA career goals. How are your professional strengths, past experience and personal attributes aligned with these goals? (300 words) This... Read more »
Michigan / Ross Essay Topic Analysis 2016-2017
Following up on the announcement of the Michigan / Ross MBA essay topics for the 2016-2017 admissions season, we wanted to offer some thoughts about how prospective members of the Class of 2019 might approach this application. The overall length of the essay component of Michigan’s MBA application has been shortened. While applicants have 400 words to answer the first essay prompt, as they did last year, the second essay this year has a 250-word limit. There is, though, some consistency in the subjects of these prompts. Last season, Ross asked applicants to comment on what they are most proud of; however, this season, a specific... Read more »
Clear Admit 2016-2017 School Snapshots Released!
It’s that time of year! Clear Admit is excited to announce the release of our 2016-2017 School Snapshots: FREE overviews of 34 of the world’s top MBA programs. These guides are designed to be your first step in learning about the schools and their student bodies as you decide where to apply for your MBA studies. Since their initial release in 2012, MBA hopefuls have downloaded tens of thousands of Clear Admit Snapshots to facilitate the research that is an essential part of the MBA application journey. The Clear Admit 2016-2017 School Snapshots provide a concise overview of an MBA program’s faculty,... Read more »
Stanford GSB Essay Topic Analysis 2016 – 2017
Since the Stanford Graduate School of Business just released its essay questions for the 2016-2017 admissions season, we are following up with some advice for GSB applicants on how to approach Stanford’s essays. Stanford has asked applicants to respond to the same two questions it has asked the past few years, maintaining the 1,150 word limit from last year, with the allowance of 50 more words for those applying to both the MBA and MBx programs. Let’s take a closer look at each of Stanford’s required essays: Essay A: What matters most to you, and why? (Suggested Word Count: 750 words)... Read more »
Harvard Business School Essay Topic Analysis 2016-2017
As we announced recently, Harvard Business School has released its essay question for the 2016-2017 application season. This year’s prompt hearkens back to the essay from 2014-2015, again asking applicants for what else would pique the admissions committee’s interest outside of the other application materials. The school has also still maintained its post-interview reflection, which will require those who reach the interview stage to submit a reflection essay within 24 hours following their interviews with the admissions committee. With such a broad mandate, applicants will need to be careful when determining its topic and length. Let’s take a closer look... Read more »
UNC Kenan-Flagler Essay Topic Analysis 2016-2017
Following up on the release of the Kenan-Flagler MBA essay topics for 2016-2017, we wanted to offer a few pointers to applicants targeting the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill for their business school studies next fall. The UNC MBA essay set is unchanged from last admissions season. The school poses just one required question to applicants, along with three optional 300-word essays of varying open-endedness. Taken together, the content of these prompts reflects a focus on applicant’s career plans and the reasoning behind them, as well as ways that candidates would contribute to the community and preparation to... Read more »
Indian School of Business Essay Topic Analysis 2016-2017
Following up on our post with the 2016-2017 Indian School of Business essays, we wanted to offer some guidance to applicants who are targeting the ISB PGP in Management this admissions season. The ISB adcom has streamlined its essay set for this year, yielding only two required essays with some slight modifications compared to last year. Let’s take a closer look at each of the ISB PGP essays for 2016-2017: Essay 1: If we were to admit just One more candidate to the Postgraduate Programme (PGP) at the ISB, why should it be you? (400 words max) This essay puts the... Read more »
Columbia Business School Essay Topic Analysis 2016-2017
With the recent announcement of the 2016-2017 Columbia Business School essay questions, this season’s Essay Topic Analysis series is officially underway. While the length of each of CBS essay prompts has been modified, the spirit of each question remains very similar to their questions over the previous few years. Covering both professional plans and personal history–as well as the various reasons for one’s interest in earning Columbia MBA–these essays allow the applicant to cover a fair amount of material. Overall, CBS has allowed applicants more space to expand on their career goals and specific interests in the program. Across the set of... Read more »
Forté Announces New Self-Paced MBA Admissions Prep Program for Women Targeting Fall 2017 Enrollment
Building on the success of its MBALaunch program—a series of targeted webinars and other resources designed to help prospective MBA applicants successfully navigate the admissions process—the Forté Foundation has just announced the debut of MBALaunch On Demand. Based around the same in-depth webinars that make up the popular MBALaunch program, this new format will give participating women the flexibility to work at their own pace. Applicants who choose to participate in MBALaunch On Demand can be ready to apply for the MBA by fall 2016 or spring 2017—ideally gaining admission for fall 2017 enrollment. Forté’s traditional MBALaunch program is designed... Read more »
Career Management Director Q&A: Stacey Rudnick of UT’s McCombs School of Business
This week our continuing Career Services Director Q&A Series takes us to Texas, where we caught up with Stacey Rudnick, who directs MBA career management at the McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas at Austin. Rudnick has been in her role at McCombs for 12 years now, a transplant from Emory University’s Goizueta School of Business. “I got into this because when I went to business school I had a really fabulous career advisor,” she told us. Though her jobs immediately out of business school—with Eastman Kodak and later in consulting with Viant—were not related to career... Read more »
Social Impact Nonprofit Founder to Speak at Harvard Business School Class Day
Harvard Business School (HBS) today announced that alumnus Tom Tierney, cofounder and chairman of the Bridgespan Group, a nonprofit organization that helps social sector leaders and organizations accelerate their social impact, will be the keynote speaker for the school’s annual pre-commencement Class Day. Planned and conducted by second-year MBA students, Class Day will be held on HBS’s Baker Lawn on May 25th, the day before Harvard University Commencement exercises. Tierney’s selection as Class Day keynote speaker comes amid rising interest in social impact among MBA students worldwide, with growing numbers of students looking to enter the social impact field immediately... Read more »
Round 2 Admissions Updates from “Holy Trinity” of MBA Programs
If you applied in Round 2 to Harvard Business School (HBS), Stanford Graduate School of Business (GSB) or the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania—the so-called “holy trinity” of MBA programs—are your nails bitten down to the quick by now? Tell the truth. It’s decision week at all three schools, and anxious applicants all over the world have been awaiting word today and tomorrow. HBS on Track to Release Round 2 Decisions Tomorrow Dee Leopold, HBS managing director of admissions and financial aid, took to her Director’s Blog today to reassure anxious Round 2 applicants that everything’s on track.... Read more »
Admissions Director Reveals Record Darden Round 1 Results, Encourages Round 3 Applicants
Sara Neher, who heads admissions for the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business, took to her video blog a few weeks ago to share details about Round 1 results, talk about Round 2, which was then still underway, and encourage applicants considering Round 3 to apply. “We are very excited about those of you who have paid a deposit and decided to come to Darden,” she said in the February 29th post. The group is very diverse, she continued, including students from Chile to China, Indonesia to Finland and all over the United States. Record Darden Round 1 Results in... Read more »
Career Services at Georgetown’s McDonough School: Q&A with Doreen Amorosa
Five years ago Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business convinced Doreen Amorosa to take over as associate dean and managing director of career services, despite the fact that she lived in New Jersey, not Washington, DC, and didn’t plan to move. She did commute for the first few years, returning to central Jersey to spend weekends with her husband. But they’ve since sold that home and divide their time between DC and Cape May. “The center of the universe has shifted a little bit,” she says with a laugh. Amorosa had spent all of her career working in New York... Read more »
Round 4 at Kenan-Flagler School of Business: Admissions Director Weighs In
For the right candidates, applying in Round 4 to the University of North Carolina’s Kenan-Flagler School of Business is by all means a worthwhile endeavor, the school’s admission director assures us. We spoke yesterday with Sherry Wallace, who has led admissions at the Chapel Hill business school for close to two decades. “Every year we get as many as 10 to 15 percent of our applicants in Round 4, and we fully intend to admit from this round,” she says. UNC Kenan-Flagler Director of MBA Admissions Sherry Wallace In fact, the school will continue to accept applications beyond the March 11th Round... Read more »
Could Nike’s Phil Knight Pay for Your Stanford GSB MBA?
Nike Inc. Co-Founder Philip Knight has given $400 million to Stanford University to establish a scholarship program that will fully fund 100 high-achieving students each year in their pursuit of graduate degrees at any of Stanford’s seven graduate schools, including Stanford Graduate School of Business (GSB). The new Knight-Hennessy Scholars Program, announced yesterday, is co-named for Stanford’s outgoing President John L. Hennessy, who will become the program’s inaugural director when he steps down as president later this year. “John and I dream of a future 20, 30 or 50 years from now, when thousands of graduates—who can think outside the... Read more »
The Business of Healthcare: MBA Programs that Best Prepare Students to Tackle a Challenging Industry
Shaan Patel’s path to business school was a little different than most. With three years of medical school under his belt, the Las Vegas native traded the University of Southern California (USC) for Yale School of Management (SOM), where he’ll complete his MBA before returning to USC for his final year of med school. “As a medical student, I wanted to learn more about healthcare management,” he says. Yale SOM has been great, he continues, offering plenty of healthcare electives as well as opportunities to collaborate with the Yale School of Medicine. “One of the problems with medical school is... Read more »
[email protected] Kellogg: Newest Zell Fellows Settle In
Though best known for producing a steady stream of crackerjack consultants and marketing mavens, Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management is also making inroads when it comes to educating entrepreneurs. Through the Kellogg Innovation & Entrepreneurship Initiative (KIEI), the school is pioneering a lean methodology approach to launching new ventures that is steeped in experiential learning. To complement its “new venture creation” track, coursework that takes students through the full life cycle of new ventures from ideation to launch, Kellogg also features a special program offering support to MBA students who are trying to get ventures off the ground by graduation.... Read more »
