Round 2 Update from Wharton

The Wharton admissions committee posted an update to its blog regarding Round 2 interviews:

"We will begin to send out interview invitations on Thursday, January 26. Invitations will continue to go out through Tuesday, February 28. During these weeks, you will receive an email that will provide next step information regarding your status with Wharton. If you are invited to interview, you will be given instructions on next steps to set up your interview. If you are not invited to interview, your process with Wharton is closed for this application cycle.

As a reminder, interview invitations are not released in any particular order, as we don’t read your applications in any particular order either. Please don’t stress if you don’t receive your invite until the last day; it indicates nothing about your candidacy.

Wharton offers two types of interviews for invited candidates: on-campus and in-person interviews in various major city locations around the world. All interviews are conducted by Admissions Committee members or a member of a selective, trained group of 2nd year MBA students. Many candidates enjoy the opportunity to come to campus and take part in our campus visit program that allows you to sit in on classes, speak with students and tour Wharton’s beautiful campus.

Starting on Wednesday, February 1, we will begin hosting interviews on campus, which will continue through Monday, March 12. Major-city interviews will be held during the weeks of February 13 - March 5. You will receive information on each city’s availability within those weeks when you receive an update on your interview invitation status. Your VIP page will provide further information as to where and when you can schedule an interview. Spaces are first-come, first-serve and are limited in international locations, so be sure to schedule yourself as soon as possible.

Our international interview cities for Round 2 will be:

INTERNATIONAL

Beijing

Dubai

London

Mexico City

Mumbai

New Delhi

Sao Paulo

Seoul

Shanghai

Singapore

Tokyo

US

Boston

San Francisco

As we have mentioned before, we understand completely that there may be extenuating circumstances that hinder your ability to interview at a major city location or on campus. For those applicants, we offer phone interviews with a member of our admissions staff."

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Expand Your Options...

Dear all,

Here is an option that many candidates aren't aware of - we decided to update you about this:

From Mid-January, there are about 40 deadlines (that are not last rounds deadlines!) for some of the world's top MBA programs (Top 25 programs, including Columbia, INSEAD, and others). These deadlines are for school start dates in September 2012 or January 2013. The admission chances in these deadlines are similar to second-round chances. Please see these options here:

http://www.vocaz.com/LowSeasonDeadlines.htm

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Update from HBS: Round 2 Interviews

Harvard updated that Round 2 interviews will be held between 2/15-3/9 in central cities around the world, as well as on campus. Candidates who cannot attend an in-person interview will be interviewed over Skype.

Interview invitations will be sent Tuesdays- 1/31, 2/7, 2/14. On 2/14, all candidates who were not invited to an interview will receive rejection notices.

Harvard emphasizes that interview invitations are not sent out in order of strength of candidacy. They estimate that the interview invitations will be sent out similarly to Round 1, when 750 were sent out the first week, 80 the second week, and 25 in the third week.

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Congratulations!

Another engineer (helped by our team) got accepted to Ross (MBA).

Some 2011 MBA Facts...

Ahead of the New Year, GMAC published data that might interest current MBA students:
First, employment numbers are recovering after the economic crisis of the last few years. Among all the MBA students who sought work in 2011, 54% received at least one job offer before graduation, as opposed to only 32% in 2010.

GMAC also emphasized the summer internship since those 2011 MBA graduates who were summer interns had a 26% better chance of a job offer before graduation than those who were not. A majority of companies in the employer poll reported that they offered paid internships in 2011, and 69% planned on offering paid internships in 2012. Twenty-two percent planned to increase the number of internships they offer.

Another encouraging finding was that 22% of the companies plan to increase the number of MBA’s they recruit in 2012. About a third of the companies that plan to recruit MBA graduates in 2012 plan to increase the base salary from 2011, while 65% plan to leave the starting salary unchanged.

In terms of MBA admissions, about 67% of full-time MBA programs reported a decrease in the number of applications for this year, but this does not mean it is easier to get accepted. Eighty-nine percent of programs claimed that the quality and academic numbers for this year’s candidates were identical to or better than last year’s.


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Congratulations!

Another engineer (helped by our team) got accepted to UCLA (MBA).

New GMAT to Require More Preparation

In another six months the structure of the GMAT exam will change, with the new integrative reasoning section replacing one of the two essay questions. An article published in The Financial Times claims that the change will increase the required preparation time for test-takers by 30-40 hours!

The new section will be incorporated in the June 2012 test and will include 4 new types of questions. According to Andrew Mitchell of Kaplan, this may require applicants to prepare a lot longer in order to achieve high scores. A GMAC study reveals that candidates today prepare for the GMAT for 100 hours on average, and Mitchell claims the number will increase to 130-140 due to the change. He therefore advises MBA candidates not to wait to the last minute.

It is important to note that the GRE exam is becoming more and more popular as an alternative to the GMAT. According to a Kaplan survey of 250 business schools, over 50% accept the GRE in addition to the GMAT, while the number of candidates who apply with GRE scores is still relatively low.

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Profile for INSEAD Class of July 2012

INSEAD published the profile of its July 2012 class:
The class consists of 496 students, split between two campuses in France (295) and Singapore (201).
The average age of accepted students is 29 (with 80% between 26-32).
The average GMAT score is 703.
The average length of professional experience is 5.5 years.
Students hail from 67 countries and 30% are female.
27% of students worked in banking and 25% in consulting.


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Crossing Fingers!

Another engineer (helped by our team) was invited to an interview at MIT (MBA).

The Financial Times 2011 European Rankings

The Financial Times published its rankings of the best European business schools for 2011, and placed HEC Paris in the top spot for the third year in a row. The magazine’s global rankings are expected to be released next month.

The rankings included 75 business schools from 18 different countries, with Britain in the lead with 21 ranked programs and France next with 18.

The following were at the top of the European rankings:

HEC Paris
INSEAD
LBS
IESE
IMD
IE
Rotterdam
ESADE
SDA Bocconi
Essec
Oxford

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Which companies are the top recruiters of MBA interns?

An article on the site Poets & Quants reports that the 6 companies that recruit the most interns from top MBA programs are McKinsey, BCG, Bain, J.P Morgan Chase, Deloitte Consulting, and Amazon. McKinsey hired 188 interns from 11 schools, BCG hired 138 interns from 11 schools, Deloitte hired 119 from 13 schools, J.P Morgan hired 103 from 12 different schools, Bain hired 95 from 5 schools, and Amazon hired 94 from 10 schools.

The survey included a number of top programs including Wharton, Kellogg, Chicago, MIT, Tuck, and Duke, but did not include programs that refused to provide data like Harvard, Stanford, Yale, and NYU. In any case, the study shows which school each company prefers to target, a factor that may help candidates choose a program according to the company at which they would like to work:

Apple recruited most of its 2011 summer interns (9) from Duke, PepsiCo hired 11 of its 18 interns from MIT, while Goldman Sachs recruited 24 interns from Wharton. Amazon hired 16 interns from Michigan and 14 from Carnegie Mellon.

Consulting firms took the lead in recruiting MBA interns, followed by finance companies and then technology companies. After Amazon, the company that recruited the most interns from top MBA programs was Google with 63 students from 9 different schools, followed by Microsoft with 54, Apple with 29, and Dell with 26.

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Congratulations!

Another engineer (helped by our team) got accepted to INSEAD (MBA).

Top Business Schools Merge Admissions for Different Programs

The Financial Times reports that a number of top business schools, including Duke, Columbia, Kellogg, and IE are combining the admissions processes for their different MBA programs, meaning that if a candidate is rejected from the Full-Time MBA, the schools can then offer a spot in the Part-Time or Executive MBA programs.

The combined admissions process will allow the schools to identify applicants whose profile is not strong enough for the Full-Time program, but can be a better fit for the school’s other MBA programs. For example, a candidate with a weak GMAT score but impressive professional experience might be more suited for an EMBA program.

Uniting the admissions process will also cut expenses and allow schools to market all their programs together so a candidate can choose which program offers the best fit. Columbia already merged the admissions process for its MBA and EMBA programs two years ago. IE boasts a new system that refers applicants rejected from its International MBA program to other programs and offers guidance in matching them to an alternate program. Using this system, 10% of candidates who applied to one program are currently studying in a different program.

At Michigan, the admissions process was unified about two years ago, and since then, 130 candidates applied to the Part-Time MBA program instead of the EMBA after the school’s admissions counselors advised them to do so.

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Congratulations!

Another engineer (helped by our team) got accepted to Columbia (MBA).

Drop in GMAT Scores at Top MBA Programs

The website Poets & Quants reports a drop in median GMAT scores at the top 25 programs for this year’s students, and 15 programs accepted more candidates this year than last year. These two facts can be explained by the decrease in number of applications to the top programs.

The MBA programs at Kellogg, MIT, Tepper, UNC, and USC listed a 10 point decrease in median GMAT score. In contrast, there were 8 schools that reported an increase in median GMAT score, like Stanford with a leap from 730 to 740 (10 points higher than Harvard), Berkeley, and Darden. GMAT scores at Stanford range between 530-790, 490-790 at Harvard, and 560-790 at Wharton.

Some business schools also reported the average GMAT score among all their applicants (including those rejected, or those accepted who chose not to attend): The median GMAT score of all applicants to Harvard was 701, 710 to Berkeley, 705 to Yale (with an average of 688), and 700 to Kellogg, Duke, and Michigan.

In terms of acceptance rates, most top programs reported an increase from 2010, with significant increases at Michigan (32% were accepted compared to 25% last year), USC, and Georgetown. Tuck (18%), Darden (25%), and Tepper (24%) actually reported a decrease in acceptance rates. The most selective program is still Stanford with a 6% acceptance rate, followed by Harvard at 11%, Berkeley at 12%, and MIT and NYU at 13%.

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Crossing Fingers!

Another engineer (helped by our team) was invited to an interview at Berkeley (MBA) and UCLA (MBA).

Waitlisted? Here are some tips...

At this time of year, many Round 1 applicants receive notification that they have been waitlisted, which means their candidacy will be weighed against applicants from the next rounds. This is disappointing for some applicants and the start of a nerve-wracking wait. What will you do at this time to improve your chances and strengthen your candidacy?

Here are some tips:

1. Take the GMAT again if you think there's some chance you can improve your grade significantly.

2. Visit the campus and request, in advance, a (second) interview with an admissions officer.

3. Get a couple more support emails from students/professors/alumni. Email them to the admissions office.

4. Write a cover letter to the head of admissions detailing recent, significant, positive developments in your career / life (GMAT improvement, new job, promotion, distinctions) and restating your strong interest in the program.

5. If the school doesn't object to additional recommendation letters, get an additional recommendation letter. If there was a significant development in your career (new employer, promotion, distinction) - you can get an additional recommendation letter covering this new development.

6. If the school allows additional essays, select a topic that adds information beyond your original application and write a new essay.

Good luck to all those waiting!

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Update from Chicago

Chicago posted an update to its admissions committee blog:

"With the Round One mid-decision deadline approaching on November 9, I wanted to provide you with a brief update on where we are in the review process. Last week we began extending interview invitations to our Round One applicants and will continue to do so through the 9th. You will also be notified if you have not been invited to interview at this time.

Our interviews will occur from Saturday, November 12 through Saturday, December 3.You can choose to interview here at the Harper Center or off-campus with one of our alumni. If you come to campus for your interview, the interview will be conducted by either an Admissions Fellow (one of our second-year students) or an alum. Interviewing on campus is also a great opportunity for you to experience life at Booth.You can sit in on a class (Monday-Friday) and meet current students through lunch and a tour of the building.

While we would love for everyone to come to campus for their interview, we understand that it’s not possible for some of you. Please be assured that we don’t place any preference as to where you interview. Interviewing with one of our fantastic alumni is a great way to learn about the impact that Booth has had on their careers.

Whichever option you choose, we’re looking forward to getting to know you better and hope that you will use the interview to learn more about us."

In addition, Chicago also provided Round 2 applicants with some tips to achieving a good recommendation. Here are a few:

"-Your first letter should be a professional recommendation from a supervisor. However, we understand that it's sometimes not feasible to ask your current supervisor to formally write a letter on your behalf. If you find yourself in this situation, find a professional contact that can speak to your strengths and your weaknesses, such as a past supervisor or client. There is a section on the application where you can explain why you have chosen your recommenders.

-The second letter is up to you. The purpose of the second letter is to give us a different perspective of your skill sets and provide you with an opportunity to add a new voice to your application. Your second letter can be professional in nature or from an organization, club or volunteer project that you are associated with. There is no preference on who supplies your second recommendation; our only guideline is that it should add new and valuable insights to the application.

-Choose people who know you well. Fancy titles and famous companies are great, but they won't help if the Admissions Committee senses the recommender doesn't know you or your work well. Make sure your recommenders are close enough to provide specific and relevant examples.

-Meet with your recommenders beforehand. It's an opportunity to refresh their memory on your past projects and goals, as well as to tell them about Booth. Recent connections can make for richer and more powerful letters of recommendation, which is important in making a great impression.

-Don't rush your recommender. Be mindful of a recommender's time. You want them to feel they have enough time to write a great letter, not just a good one. We suggest a month's notice at minimum, if possible. Plus, that gives you time to meet with him/her before they write the letter and for a follow up meeting.

-Don't write your own letter. In today's busy world where everyone is multi-tasking and overscheduled, it's not uncommon for a recommender to suggest that you write your own letter. But take our advice - please don't do it! Since the committee can usually recognize your writing style from other parts of the application, it's best that the recommender write the letter.

-Send a thank you note. Your recommenders took time to write letters on your behalf so it's important that you follow up with a thank you note or card. They'll know that you appreciated their help."

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Put Me in Business (applying in more than a year)

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Crossing Fingers!

Another engineer (helped by our team) was invited to an interview at UNC (MBA).

Crossing Fingers!

Another engineer (helped by our team) was invited to an interview at LBS (MBA).

Crossing Fingers!

Another engineer (helped by our team) was invited to an interview at Wharton (MBA).

Update from Wharton about Round 1 Interviews

Last week Wharton’s admissions committee published in its blog that on 10/27 they began to send out interview invitations to Round 1 applicants, and invitations will continue to be sent out until 11/11. The invitations are sent via email in no specific order.

Beginning from Wednesday 11/2, Wharton will begin interviewing on campus until 12/2. In addition, interviews will be held at a number of central cities around the world between 11/7-11/30. All interviews are judged equally regardless of their location. There is a limit to the number of off-campus interviews, so it is recommended to schedule them early.

Wharton emphasizes that each interview takes about 30 minutes in which the interviewee will be asked behavioral questions which will require him or her to tell about specific life events and situations.


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Tuck Tops Economist's 2011 Ranking

The Economist published its 2011 ranking of MBA programs around the world. Tuck, ranked first, and Chicago, ranked second, switched places from last year’s ranking.

The Economist’s ranking, considered relatively unusual and surprising, considers four elements when evaluating a program: availability of new career opportunities (35%), personal development and educational experience (35%), salary increase (20%) and potential of the alumni network (10%).

The ranking’s surprises include LBS ranked at only 13, Wharton at 15, Kellogg at 18, and INSEAD only at 19, while IMD ranked third in the world, Darden fourth, and York ninth!
With the ranking, the magazine also reported that the yield on investment in an MBA degree decreased significantly in the past 5 years, especially at schools not included in their top 15.

The rest of the top ten after Tuck and Chicago:
IMD
Darden
Harvard
Berkeley
Columbia
Stanford
York-Schulich
IESE

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HBS sends out interview invites

Harvard published in its blog that they will be sending out interview invitations this week to Round 1 applicants. The invitations will be sent out over the next three Wednesdays (10/26, 11/2, and 11/9), and by 11/9 all Round 1 applicants will have received some sort of response- an interview invitation, an invitation to join the waitlist, or rejection.

The interviews will take place either on campus, at different cities around the world, or over Skype with no preference given to any interview location or method.

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Stanford Named "Greenest" MBA Program

An article published in Businessweek reports that Stanford took the top spot in the Beyond Grey Pinstripes’ new MBA ranking. This ranking, as opposed to the more popular rankings that focus on students’ grades or their post-MBA salaries, focuses on the way MBA programs integrate social, ethical, and environmental topics into their curricula. The survey checks programs both in terms of course offerings and extracurricular activities. Stanford’s MBA program was ranked #1 since it offers numerous courses as well as research opportunities related to the environment.

The survey that was conducted to determine the ranking found a 38% increase in the number of core MBA courses relating to social interests, ethics, and the environment in the areas of finance, and an increase of 41% in the areas of marketing.

The ranking, released once every two years, ranked Schulich second, IE third, with Mendoza and Yale occupying the fourth and fifth spots.

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Put Me in Business (applying in more than a year)

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