MBA News
A collection of news items from MBA programs and about the business school admissions process.
Published: October 24, 2016
Impending MBA Interview? Latest Clear Admit Interview Guides Have All You Need to Prepare
The MBA interview—the nail-biting, stomach-churning, sleep-robbing, suit-demanding component of the MBA application process that ties some applicants up in knots—is upon us. But there’s no reason to fret: not with Clear Admit’s in-depth Interview Guide Series as part of your arsenal. Providing expert advice and insider tips on what to expect and how to prepare, these guides are ready and waiting to help you conquer your jitters and ace your interview.
Maybe you’re among the lucky ones who has already received an interview invite from your top choice business school (Harvard Business School and U. Chicago Booth to name a couple)? We’ve also heard—via the MBA LiveWire—that invites are rolling out from places like Columbia Business School (CBS), Cambridge’s Judge School, Duke’s Fuqua School and INSEAD. Of course, with more candidates set to receive Round 1 decisions in the coming weeks, the interview invitation madness has just begun.
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Published: October 24, 2016
Ross Round 1 Interview Invites Coming Out Today
Round 1 applicants to the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business may very soon know whether or not they snagged an interview, according to a post this morning on Soojin Kwon’s Admissions Director Blog. “The target interview invitation date is Tuesday, October 25th,” read the post. Kwon noted that her team is spending more time than ever before reviewing applications in Round 1, the result of a third consecutive year of rising application volume. Round 1 apps were up 13 percent this year, she reports, even on top of upticks in both 2014 and 2015.
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Published: October 23, 2016
Ross Alums Named to Lead Wells Fargo, Repair Fallen Bank’s Reputation
Two prominent alumni of the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business have been named to fill the leadership void created at Wells Fargo & Co. when former CEO and Chairman John Stumpf resigned earlier this month amid scandal. Timothy Sloan, who earned his MBA from Ross in 1984, has been named as the bank’s next CEO. Stephen Sanger, a 1970 alumnus of the Ross MBA program, has been named as its chairman.
Sloan is a 29-year veteran of the San Francisco–based Wells Fargo, having served as president and chief operating officer since November 2015 and having worked in or run most of the bank’s departments at some earlier point in his tenure. Sanger has been on the Wells Fargo Board since 2003 and has served as its lead director since 2012. He served from 1995 to 2007 as CEO of General Mills, Inc. and until 2008 as its chairman.
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Published: October 20, 2016
Fridays from the Frontline: Reflecting on the HKS/HBS Joint Degree Program
Harvard today is hosting an information session in Budapest on its joint degree program, through which students can study at both Harvard Kennedy School (HKS) and Harvard Business School (HSB) and complete both their Master in Public Administration (MPA) and their MBA in just three years. Can’t make it to Budapest but still interested in learning more about the HKS/HBS joint degree program? You’re in luck. Our Fridays from the Frontline today comes to us from Rafael Rivera, a student in the HKS/HBS joint degree program now in his third and final year. In his post, Rivera shares
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Published: October 18, 2016
From Darden to Haas: Tackling Issues of Race and Diversity Head On
With issues of race and diversity in the headlines daily—driven by continuing national attention around police shootings, controversial state-legislated bathroom policies and the extraordinarily contentious election season, among other things—leading MBA programs from coast to coast are tackling these complex subjects head on. UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business this past weekend hosted a Diversity Symposium for prospective applicants, featuring panels and workshops tailored to issues surrounding women, racial and ethnic minorities, the LGBTQ community and veterans. While Haas has put on this event each fall for several years, a record 250 prospective students were
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Published: October 16, 2016
Real Humans of MBA Admissions: SMU Cox’s John Roeder
John Roeder knows Dallas’s SMU Cox School of Business inside and out as only an alumnus would. A 2003 graduate of the full-time MBA program, he confesses that it might be the closest to his heart, although today he has oversight of admissions for all the school’s graduate programs. These also include a “Fast Track” one-year program geared toward recent college graduates without significant work experience, a Professional MBA program for mid-career professionals who want to obtain their degree while continuing to work and an Executive MBA program for experienced business leaders. In fact, Roeder’s knowledge of SMU dates
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Published: October 13, 2016
Chicago Booth Remains Atop Economist Ranking Amid Drastic Fluctuations by Other Schools
The University of Chicago Booth School of Business claimed bragging rights for the fifth year in a row as it was once again crowned the top full-time MBA program in the world by the Economist, which published its annual global ranking of MBA programs yesterday. Other schools, though, took wild rides up and down the ranks—a trend that has caused many industry insiders to question the validity of the British publication's "Which MBA?" list.
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Published: October 13, 2016
Fridays from the Frontline: Catching the Political Bug at Tuck
Sure, climate factors into how some people decide which business school to attend. But usually it has to do with warm temperatures and sunshine, not elections. Not for Justen Nestico. A second-year MBA student at Dartmouth’s Tuck School of Business, Nestico chose Tuck in part because of its location at the heart of what has proven to be one of the wildest presidential races in the nation’s history. In the post that follows, Nestico shares how he and other Tuck students who’ve caught the political bug are ideally positioned to watch the electoral process unfold first hand. Our
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Published: October 12, 2016
Stanford GSB to Open State-of-the-Art Highland Hall for First-Year Students
Arching in the skyline of Serra Street overlooking the Knight Management Center complex, students at the Stanford Graduate School of Business (GSB) will be hard-pressed to miss the soon-to-be-completed Highland Hall. With its stark purple finish shimmering brightly in the California sun, the state-of-the-art building is a striking, modern accent to the campus. However, the most striking feature about it may not be the captivating exterior but rather its intended use: as a residency for first-year MBA students. Units have private entrances and baths, as well as a shared kitchen. Photo credit: Elena Zhukova The $75 million project is
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Published: October 12, 2016
MBA LiveWire Briefing: HBS R1 Interviews, Rejections, Waitlists
As the Round 1 season has gotten underway, Clear Admit’s MBA LiveWire has been lighting up with entries from candidates reporting statuses as interview invites begin to roll out for many of the top MBA programs. A shower of red accompanied R1 LiveWire reports regarding HBS interview invitations In our first LiveWire Briefing this season, we wanted to take a look at some of the data from those who have received decisions in Harvard Business School (HBS)’s first round of admissions. As many of our readers know, yesterday marked a critical moment in
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Published: October 10, 2016
The Importance of a Candidate’s Values in the MBA Application Process
Welcome back to our 10-part series, in which we share an excerpt from the recently published book Becoming a Clear Admit: The Definitive Guide to MBA Admissions, with added commentary from its author, Alex Brown. In this final part of the series, we look at the increasing importance of a candidate’s values through the lens of many recent business crises caused by corrupt leadership. Book Excerpt: Values There are two ways to win in a competitive situation: to be better than your competitors or to cheat. While the attributes discussed in previous sections of the book relate
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Published: October 9, 2016
Real Humans of MBA Admissions: Isser Gallogly of NYU Stern School of Business
With the first application deadline for NYU Stern School of Business coming up this Saturday (October 15th), what better time to learn a little bit more about the person in charge of evaluating MBA candidates? Associate Dean of Admissions Isser Gallogly came to Stern almost 14 years ago, and since then he’s had a hand in almost every aspect of admissions for the school’s MBA programs. After a start in banking, he himself sought out an MBA to pivot into marketing, spending several years working for Mattel, Unilever and L’Oreal before heading into higher education. So he understands
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Published: October 6, 2016
Fridays from the Frontline: Enhancing Diversity in Business Starting at Kelley
Indiana University's Kelley School of Business is today kicking off a two-day celebration marking 50 years of participation as a member school of the Consortium for Graduate Study in Management. Kelley was one of just three founding member schools—but the Consortium’s ranks have since grown to include 18 of the best business schools in the country.
In anticipation of this important milestone, Ruby Jones, a Kelley School first-year MBA student and Consortium Fellow penned a beautiful essay explaining the Consortium to those who are unfamiliar, describing her journey from a nonprofit career to business school and sharing how she hopes—with her MBA—to assist the next generation of diverse leaders. Our thanks to Jones for granting permission for us to republish her essay here.
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Published: October 5, 2016
ROMBA 2016 Conference Taking Place Now in Dallas
The world’s largest gathering of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) graduate business school students is taking place now through October 8th in Dallas as Reaching Out MBA (ROMBA) hosts its 2016 LGBT MBA & Business Graduate Conference. The three-day conference, which this year centers around the theme of “Authentic Disruption,” aims to be much more than simply a career fair for LGBT MBA students. Indeed, with a jam-packed schedule of keynote addresses, community initiatives, company visits and more, the event seeks to promotes broader visibility and transparency of the LGBT business community, create
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Published: October 4, 2016
Haas Professor and “Power Poses” Co-Author Backtracks from Own Study
Six years ago, researchers at Columbia and Harvard quickly gained recognition in the psychological science community with research they published suggesting that power poses—particular body stances and positioning held for limited periods of time—could lend themselves to increased feelings of power and tolerance for risk.
The 2010 report, “Power Posing: Brief Nonverbal Displays Affect Neuroendocrine Levels and Risk Tolerance,” was co-authored by Dana Carney and Andy Yap, then at Columbia, and Amy Cuddy (pictured above, right) at Harvard Business School. The three wrote, “results of this study confirmed our prediction that posing in high-power nonverbal displays (as opposed to low-power nonverbal displays) would cause neuroendocrine and behavioral changes for both male and female participants: High-power posers experienced elevations in testosterone, decreases in cortisol, and increased feelings of power and tolerance for risk; low-power posers exhibited the opposite pattern.”
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Published: October 3, 2016
Tuck’s New Mission Statement Looks Toward Future
“Wisdom encompasses the essential aptitudes of confident humility,” reads the introduction to the new mission statement for Dartmouth's Tuck School of Business, defining a new vision for the future of the New Hampshire business school.
Speaking to the Tuck community, Dean Matthew J. Slaughter broke down the school’s newly refined outlook into a concise ten-word statement: “Tuck educates wise leaders to better the world of business.”
“It has been an invigorating and affirming process,” Slaughter said in a letter released last week, “the results of which I am excited to share with you today."
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Published: October 3, 2016
Columbia Business School Launches Inaugural Re-Orientation Program
While seldom the most important step in a student’s career, the value of orientation is nonetheless immeasurable for many. Often it creates a unique bond between the students and their new surroundings at an impossibly vital point during formative years. But after it’s over, it's over, right?
Not so fast, says Columbia Business School (CBS). Questioning why that special cohesion-building process should be reserved just for first-students, the school late last month held its first-ever orientation for second-year business students. Dubbed the “Re-Orientation,” it was led by the Columbia Leadership Lab.
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Published: October 3, 2016
MBA Applicant Waitlisted?!# Now What?
Welcome back to our 10-part series, in which we share an excerpt from the recently published book Becoming a Clear Admit: The Definitive Guide to MBA Admissions, with added commentary from its author, Alex Brown. In this ninth part of the series, we look at what you can do if you end up on a school’s waitlist. Book Excerpt: What to Do if You Are Waitlisted You should follow the rules provided by the school about how to follow up. A very few schools, like Harvard and Wharton, ask for no follow up other than a signal that
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Published: October 2, 2016
Real Humans of MBA Admissions: Sue Oldham of Rice University’s Jones School of Business
Last week we got to know Sue Oldham, executive director of recruiting and admissions at Rice University’s Jones School of Business (Rice Business), while she was wearing her admissions director hat. This week, we’re sharing a bit more of her personal side as part of our continuing Real Humans of MBA Admissions series. Among other things, she’s a trained classical pianist and dog lover—but that’s not all. Read on to learn more, including how to stay in her good graces if you’re ever a guest in her home. Our thanks to Oldham for taking part! Real Humans
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Published: September 30, 2016
McCombs Celebrates Fifth Annual Austin Startup Week
Since 2011, every early October at the McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas has celebrated Austin’s burgeoning entrepreneurial environment with the five-day Austin Startup Week. And with the fifth edition right around the corner, more and more McCombs students look to join the ever-growing ranks of alumni with celebrated startups.
Several startups that have emerged from McCombs over the past five years include Sock Club, Nicely Noted and Beatbox Beverages. Sock Club is a niche sock-only online store co-created in 2012 by Noah Lee, a McCombs MBA class of 2016 alumnus. When speaking about the MBA program, Lee notes, “Running a new company requires managing your mistakes and opportunities and is impacted by how effectively you can react to the results of your economic activity. The Texas MBA Program didn’t necessarily teach me how to do things. It taught me how to think about things and make decisions.”
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Published: September 29, 2016
Fridays from the Frontline: Tackling Inequality—An HBS Independent Project
"Did you know that nearly 80 percent of HBS alumni are asked to serve in nonprofit boards at some point in their lives post-HBS?” asks Harvard Business School (HBS) second-year MBA student Molly Palmersheim in a post this week on the HBS MBA Voices student blog. That statistic spurred Palmershein and other students—as part of an independent study in their EC year with HBS Professors Felix Oberholzer-Gee and Nien-hê Hsieh—to design a course that could help train students for these roles they were so likely to take with nonprofit community organizations.
For Palmershein, part of being the kind of “difference-making” leader HBS students are educated toward becoming would naturally involve volunteering with community organizations. “I came to HBS knowing that community leadership would live alongside my professional and personal lives post-HBS,” she writes. But she didn’t realize how the skillset she was developing at HBS could change how she worked with nonprofits.
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Published: September 28, 2016
Completing Your MBA Summer Internship While Pregnant — A Conversation with Allegra Asplundh
After a summer hiatus, Clear Admit is delighted to be reigniting a content partnership with MBA Mama, an online platform that provides ambitious women with tools and resources to leverage an MBA and strategically navigate family/career planning. In the months ahead, we look forward to sharing periodic posts from the MBA Mama blog that we think will be of interest and inspiration to our readers. The following piece spotlights Allegra Asplundh, a second-year MBA student at UT-Austin’s McCombs School of Business, who balanced a demanding summer internship at Goldman Sachs in Dallas with the demands of
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Published: September 28, 2016
Stanford GSB Class of 2018 Profile Reveals High GMATs, Increasing Diversity
Always one of the last schools to publish its class profile, Stanford Graduate School of Business (GSB) yesterday shared details about the Class of 2018, revealing a significantly rebounded average GMAT score and growing diversity. As the final class to be hand-selected by Derrick Bolton—the school’s longstanding admissions director who earlier this month left his role to head admissions for Stanford’s new Knight-Hennessy Program—it’s something of a crowing achievement. Derrick Bolton, who led MBA admissions at Stanford GSB for 15 years, before moving over to the Knight-Hennessy Program earlier this month Record Application Volume, Record
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Published: September 28, 2016
Mark Cuban Launches Kickstarter Campaign for Kids’ Book on Entrepreneurship
What do you wish you knew about business as a kid? Billionaire Mark Cuban, Prep Expert founder Shaan Patel and teen entrepreneur Ian McCue share their complete answers in How Any Kid Can Start a Business. According to an accompanying Kickstarter campaign, they hope to “Make Youth Entrepreneurship Go VIRAL.” To support the cause, the authors are offering inexpensive, signed copies and seeking a crowdsourced children’s business idea for credit in all copies.
How Any Kid Can Start a Business discusses the benefits of youth entrepreneurship, provides a step-by-step process for kids to follow in their early ventures and includes interviews with kid entrepreneurs featured on Shark Tank. Co-author Mark Cuban notes, “The goals are to help the kids organize their thoughts, determine the value proposition for each prospect, define a sales pitch, learn, and iterate and improve on all aspects of their businesses.” Young entrepreneurs who follow these steps will achieve success not only in their early business ventures, but throughout life. Their early business ventures help them to develop tenacity and social skills that will prove greatly beneficial in all fields of work.
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Published: September 27, 2016
Admissions Director Q&A: Harvard Business School’s Chad Losee
If you’re a Round 1 applicant to Harvard Business School (HBS) crossing your fingers for an interview invitation (slated to go out in batches starting next week) or even if you’re working toward a later round deadline, what better time to get to know more about the school’s new head of admissions? Chad Losee, 32, joined HBS last May as managing director of MBA admissions and financial aid, succeeding 10-year veteran director Dee Leopold.
Losee still vividly remembers his own journey through the HBS admissions process—not surprising given that it was a mere six years ago. After earning his undergraduate degree in International Relations at Brigham Young University (BYU) in 2008, Losee set off to work in the Dallas office of Boston-based management consulting firm Bain & Company. A couple of years into the job, in part inspired by the many talented MBAs he worked with, he began to feel the pull of business school himself.
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