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MBA News

A collection of news items from MBA programs and about the business school admissions process.
Published: April 8, 2012
MBA Admissions Staff Monitor for Plagiarism in Application Essays
Following the disclosure earlier this year by UCLA Anderson School of Management that it rejected 52 applicants to its MBA program under suspicion of plagiarism, more business schools are turning to paid services that can detect when prospective applicants try to pass off pre-canned work as part of their own application essays, a Financial Times article reports this week. At UCLA Anderson, detecting plagiarism among applicants was an unanticipated result of going digital with its application process. Anderson’s admissions staff this year began reviewing all applications using iPads. “Once we went digital, all kinds of possibilities opened up, including the option to run admissions essays through Turnitin,” Andrew Ainslie, Anderson’s senior associate dean, told the FT.  Read more

MBA Applywire

1
April 28, 2026 5:53pm ET
Applying: Harvard Business School
Intake Year: 2026
Pre-MBA Career: Engineer
Post MBA Career: Professional Services
GPA: 2.6
Years of Work Experience: 17
Location: 09:51
Post MBA Location: Massachusetts
10
April 27, 2026 11:39am ET
Applying: Berkeley / Haas, Cambridge / Judge, Carnegie Mellon / Tepper, Chicago Booth, Duke / Fuqua, Michigan / Ross, MIT Sloan, Penn / Wharton, Stanford GSB, UCLA Anderson
Intake Year: 2027
Pre-MBA Career: Materials Engineer and Product Manager
Post MBA Career: Consumer Goods, Manufacturing, Retail, Technology
GPA: 3.2
Years of Work Experience: 8
Post MBA Location: Socal
Notes:

34M, Chinese (green card)
Bachelor in Engineering (GPA ~3.2)
Master in Materials Science (Top 30 US school, GPA ~3.2)
3 published papers (Nano Energy, Langmuir)
~9 years experience:
~5 years Materials Engineer
~4 years Product Manager (owning product lines, launching products, cross-functional work)

Goal:

Transition into more strategic / business-impact roles
Long-term target: ~$300k total comp in California
Not interested in IB / consulting
2
April 27, 2026 10:07am ET
Applying: Northwestern / Kellogg, Penn / Wharton
Intake Year: 2026
Pre-MBA Career: Deferred enrollment
Post MBA Career: Consulting
GRE: 332
GPA: 3.75
Location: United States
6
April 21, 2026 10:21am ET
Applying: Columbia Business School, Cornell / Johnson, Dartmouth / Tuck, NYU Stern, Penn / Wharton, Stanford GSB
Intake Year: 2026
Pre-MBA Career: Corporate Banking -> fintech startup
Post MBA Career: Finance, Investment Banking
GMAT: 705
GPA: 3.3
Years of Work Experience: 4
Location: NYC
Post MBA Location: NYC
14
April 15, 2026 12:57pm ET
Applying: Berkeley / Haas, Carnegie Mellon / Tepper, Chicago Booth, Columbia Business School, Cornell / Johnson, Emory / Goizueta, Georgetown / McDonough, Harvard Business School, MIT Sloan, Northwestern / Kellogg, Penn / Wharton, Stanford GSB, UCLA Anderson, UVA / Darden
Pre-MBA Career: Big4 Deals Consulting
Post MBA Career: Consulting, Finance, Commercial Banking, Diversified, Corporate, Management Consulting
GMAT: 675
GPA: 3.72
Location: Marietta, GA
Post MBA Location: New York City
Notes:

Applying to deferred programs this year, would love to hear thoughts on my application.

675 GMAT Focus, 3.723 at Non Target Undergraduate, Finance Major. Decent extra curricular on-campus, for internship experience started college with internship at a small ABL shop, interned sophomore summer/junior school year at a large publicly traded mortgage company doing Risk, interned after junior year at a Big4 doing Risk Consulting for FSOs. Returning FT to same B4 in Deals practice.

Would love to hear thoughts. Thanks.
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MBA LiveWire

April 28, 2026 8:40pm ET
Interview Invite to Northwestern / Kellogg
Round: Early Decision
Received via email April 28, 2026
Standardized Test: GRE
GPA: 3.89
GRE: 332
Program Type: Deferred Enrollment
Post MBA Career: Finance, Technology
Application Location: United States
Juno Member: Not yet
April 28, 2026 8:39pm ET
Interview Invite to Berkeley / Haas
Round: Early Decision
Received via email on April 23, 2026
Standardized Test: GRE
GPA: 3.89
GRE: 334
Program Type: Deferred Enrollment
Post MBA Career: Finance, Technology
Application Location: United States
Juno Member: Not yet
April 27, 2026 11:28pm ET
Rejected at Chicago Booth
Round: Round 3
Received via portal on April 23, 2026
Standardized Test: GRE
GPA: 3.97
GRE: 320
Program Type: Deferred Enrollment
Post MBA Career: Finance
Target Career: Finance
Juno Member: Not yet
April 27, 2026 7:32pm ET
Rejected at Washington / Foster
Round: Round 3
Received via email April 27, 2026
Standardized Test: GMAT
GPA: 3.74
GMAT: 615
Program Type: Traditional Two-Year
Post MBA Career: Healthcare
Application Location: Bay Area, California
Juno Member: Not yet
April 27, 2026 12:57pm ET
Accepted to IESE
Round: Round 3
Received via phone April 27, 2026
Standardized Test: GRE
GPA: 3.92
GRE: 311
Program Type: Traditional Two-Year
Application Location: United States
Juno Member: Yes
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