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* In the State of the Union address, President Obama urged colleges to “get serious about cutting their own costs.” To assist in the goal of making higher education more affordable to the greatest number of students, Obama plans to increase federal support for education by 6% in 2011. Obama also supports the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act which, if passed by Congress, would eliminate bank-based federal student loans. This bill, according to the presdient, “will finally end the unwarranted taxpayer subsidies that go to banks for student loans.”A more lenient payback plan is also being discussed. (The Chronicle)

* According to The Chronicle last week college endowments have declined by about 23% in the last two years. In fact, the investment return for 2009 was the worst return recorded in the history of the endowment study, at -18.7%. According to John D. Walda, president of the National Association of College and University Business Officers, however, “the picture for endowments is a lot cheerier than it was a year ago.” Optimism for the future, though, doesn’t help the fact that certain schools that had been dependent on endowments are now in pretty bad shape, especially considering the sizable loans they’re now forced to take out. The only reason why these schools didn’t go under was because of fortunate investment returns from previous years.

* The Moscow Times reports that “Russia’s business education market was among the world’s worst hit in 2009.” In some cases, admissions fell about 50% from last year. Some schools are even dipping into their own funds to create lending programs for students in order to maintain adequate student enrollment. Besides the fact that students (or their sponsoring companies) can no longer afford to pay for business schools, students in general seem to have lost interest in pursuing an MBA, at least for the time being. However, despite the decrease in MBA program enrollment, interest in EMBA programs in Russia is on the rise.

* Women are equally represented in medical and law schools, but still lag well behind in numbers in the b-school sphere. “Business Schools Sweeten Lures for Women,” a recent article from WeNews, suggests that in order to increase female enrollment in America’s business schools, MBA programs are forced to lure women in by their sweet teeth, both figuratively and literally. Recruitment events for female MBA prospects are popping up all over the country, including a private party at New York City’s Dylan’s Candy Bar.

* Do students benefit from being in a diverse educational climate? Is affirmative action, or “race-conscious admissions,” justified? Will diversity improve education? These are questions raised by Peter Schmidt, author of a recent Chronicle article on campus diversity. The answer: It depends (of course). If situations are handled optimally then educational benefits will increase and the inherent problems of affirmative action will decrease. Most agree that affirmative action is not a policy that can be accepted on its own, but most be implemented along with other educational and diversity initiatives and even at that, with caution. Still, many universities are skeptical of the educational benefits derived from race-conscious admissions and believe that accepting more qualified students will benefit the students and the school, both long- and short-term, more than were they to focus on boosting classroom diversity.

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Math (DS)

Do lines and cross?

1.
2.

OA and Explanation

Verbal (CR)

In the United States, of the people who moved from one state to another when they retired, the percentage who retired to Florida has decreased by three percentage points over the past ten years. Since many local businesses in Florida cater to retirees, this decline is likely to have a noticeably negative economic effect on these businesses.

Which of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the argument?

(A) Florida attracts more people who move from one state to another when they retire than does any other state.
(B) The number of people who move out of Florida to accept employment in other states has increased over the past ten years.
(C) There are far more local businesses in Florida that cater to tourists than there are local businesses that cater to retirees.
(D) The total number of people who retired and moved to another state for their retirement has increased significantly over the past ten years.
(E) The number of people who left Florida when they retired to live in another state was greater last year than it was ten years ago.

OA and Explanation

To start off, let’s quickly review the essentials. These are formulas/concepts you must know:

1. a² + b² = c², but only when a right triangle. If you don’t know it’s a right triangle, Pythagorean theorem does not apply!
2. Common special right triangles include 3-4-5, 5-12-13, 8-15-17, 7-24-25 (and their multiples.)
3. 45-45-90 triangles are ALWAYS in the ratio 1:1:√2
4. 30-60-90 triangle are ALWAYS in the ratio 1:√3:2
5. Angles and opposite sides are in the same relative size order, but are NOT proportional.

Let’s continue with a standard diagram in which we have an equilateral triangle inscribed in a circle, which is inscribed in a square.

The center point of all three figures (triangle, circle, square) are all the same, but this is ONLY true if the triangle is equilateral. Therefore, if given ANY piece of information about the circle, square or triangle, we can derive the rest. We draw a perpendicular line from the center to the side of the triangle.

Note that the hypotenuses of the smaller triangles are equal to the radius of the circle. We also know that the smaller triangles are each 30-60-90 because you are taking the 120-degree internal angle from the circle’s center and cutting it in two. Here are your basic conversions:

r = ½d = ½s, where s is the side of the square.
The sides of the 30-60-90 triangles become ½r : (r√3)/2 : r respectively
The side of the equilateral triangle becomes 2*(r√3)/2 = r√3

If given the area of the square, we should be able to derive essentially any other information.

Area of an Equilateral Triangle

The area of an equilateral triangle equals (s²√3)/4. Memorize this. It will save you the time of drawing a 30-60-90 triangle, solving for the base, finding the height, multiplying and dividing by 2. That was long to write, imagine how long it takes to do!

If  the area of the square = 64 and we needed to find the area of the triangle, we just use the conversions above:

d = 8
r = 4
side of triangle = 4√3

Area of triangle = [(4√3)²√3]/4 = 16*3*√3 / 4 = 4*3*√3 = 12√3

Angle Relationships

Another important rule is that the interior angle created from of two radii extending to the outside of the circle is exactly twice the measure of any angle on the circle extending to those same points.  In the image above, 2b = a. This information is never explicitly stated on tests, but will come up on DS questions over and over.

Let’s take a look at this practice question:

In the figure above, a circle is inscribed in a square. What is the area of the shaded region?

(1) The perimeter of the square equals 32.
(2) x = 35

Statement 1 seems irrelevant to the question, but we can determine r by knowing that the length of the square’s side. If s = 32/4 = 8, then d = 8 and r = 4. This is insufficient, since we do not know the interior angle.

Statement 2 provides information about x, and from this, we know that the interior angle of the shaded region is 2(35) = 70. This is insufficient, since we do not know the size of the circle.

Together, we know both the size of the circle and the degree measure of the interior sector angle.

A(shaded) = (2x/360) * πr² = 70/360 * 16π, whatever the hell that comes out to. Remember, since it’s a Data Sufficiency question, we don’t actually need to calculate the number.

There are infinite variations of these concepts. Be flexible in your reasoning, and practice makes perfect!

Good luck!

Read other articles in this series:
Geometry Series pt 1, Circles inscribed in squares

9 Questions with a GMATClub Member – looking for volunteers for Class of 2012 candidates
Veritas Prep Annual Reports - free Business School Guides
Disclosing Information on B-School Apps - how did you handle the personal questions?
Recommendation Letters - how do you ask your supervisor for a recommendation?
Admitted to a Top B-School with a Low GMAT or GPA? - what components of your background can help?

Here are some of the best forum posts from this past week:

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NYU Stern was hit particularly hard during the financial crisis, mainly because of its proximity (both in location and in interests) to NYC’s Wall Street. Now, according to a recent article in BusinessWeek, Dean Peter Henry (the new NYU Stern Dean as of January 15), is working towards creating a more global educational profile with a lower dependence on investment banking.

In short, Dean Henry is attempting to remove Stern’s reputation as a “finance school” and instead transform the school (and its reputation) into a more diverse program that doesn’t just churn out students for careers in finance, but for a wide range of other career fields as well.

In 2007, 44% of Stern graduates entered investment banking. In 2008 that number was down to 37%. In 2009, only 32% entered that same field.

In 2008 only 8% of Stern graduates did not receive a job offer three months after graduating. In 2009 that number jumped up to 18%.

Relying on investment banking is just not as wise as it once was.

The challenge of transforming the Stern class profile is a twofold challenge: First, restructuring the career services department—this will require the addition of many new resources as new recruiting relationships need to be forged in new industries. The second challenge is more difficult—the restructuring of the academic program itself. These changes will require getting new faculty members and shifting around management duties, in addition to the actual changes that need to be made in the curriculum.

Students for the most part are welcoming these changes with open arms. Stern graduates are somewhat notorious for taking jobs in North America alone and perhaps look forward to the program’s forthcoming global footprint expansion.

The new dean makes it clear that despite his ambitious plans to expand Stern’s program and diversity, one should not conclude that he plans on severing relationships with Wall Street. In fact, Henry says “he will continue to strengthen relationships with Wall Street and the finance sector in general.”

Thomas Cooley, Professor of Economics and former Stern dean reflects on Stern’s past and present situation. He explains that this is not the first time that Stern was faced with such a challenge. In the last decade, he explains, when everyone was turning towards the dot-coms, Goldman Sachs actually had trouble recruiting.

Cooley ends by making two final points: First, he says, “[w]hatever you think the world is right now, hold on because it can change very quickly. And second, “Stern will always tilt slightly toward Wall Street, but then again most business schools do.

Accepted.com ~ Helping You Write Your Best

Math (PS)

For any numbers and , . If , which of the following cannot be the value of ?

(A) -2
(B) -1
(C) 0
(D) 1
(E) 2

OA and Explanation

Verbal (CR)

A conservation group in the United States is trying to change the long-standing image of bats as frightening creatures. The group contends that bats are feared and persecuted solely because they are shy animals that are active only at night.
Which of the following, if true, would cast the most serious doubt on the accuracy of the group’s contention?

(A) Bats are steadily losing natural roosting places such as caves and hollow trees and are thus turning to more developed areas for roosting.
(B) Bats are the chief consumers of nocturnal insects and thus can help make their hunting territory more pleasant for humans.
(C) Bats are regarded as frightening creatures not only in the United States but also in Europe, Africa, and South America.
(D) Raccoons and owls are shy and active only at night; yet they are not generally feared and persecuted.
(E) People know more about the behavior of other greatly feared animal species, such as lions, alligators, and snakes, than they do about the behavior of bats.

OA and Explanation

Brian Galvin is the Director of Academic Programs at Veritas Prep, where he oversees all of the company’s GMAT preparation courses.

They say that “elephants never forget”, but, when you think about it, is that really all that impressive?  How much do elephants really have to remember?  Aspiring graduate students, however, have quite a bit to keep track of: dozens of internet passwords, bank account and phone numbers, mothers’ and significant others’ birthdays, and years’ worth of academia that we’ve accumulated over time.  Human ingenuity, however, has created computer memory – we carry gigabytes of storage space in our pockets everywhere we go – so that we don’t need to rely on our more-limited natural capacity for memory. (Note to elephants:  Now who’s impressed?)

Given that, why would business schools be overly concerned with your capacity to memorize, when you’ll spend the majority of your professional career with databases and Google at your fingertips?  Naturally, there are several items for the GMAT that you’ll “just need to know”, but the authors of the GMAT are more than just clever in their ability to bait you toward incorrect answers; they’re also quite adept at creating a reward system that lines up with what business schools value.  Memorization capacity is infinitely less important than is problem solving ability, and so the authors of the GMAT do a laudable job of incorporating mostly skills that you can, if necessary, derive for yourself.  Consider the triangle ratios for which you are responsible:

45-45-90 – Isosceles Right Triangle: x, x, x√2

Here, if you simply use the Pythagorean Theorem, a² + b² = c², you can also note that, because the triangle is isosceles, side a will be equal to side b.  Accordingly, if a = b, the Pythagorean formula becomes 2 a² = c².  Then, solving for c to find the ratio, you can follow the steps:

2 a² = c²

√(2 a²) = √c²

a√2 = c

Therefore, you can prove that the hypotenuse, c, is going to be equal to the square root of 2 multiplied by the length of either shorter side.

The 30-60-90 right triangle ratio, x, x√3, 2x, can be derived in similar fashion.  An equilateral triangle has all sides equal, and all angles equal to 60 degrees.  If you were to bisect the triangle down the middle, you would create two identical triangles, each with a right angle, one length that is the side of the equilateral triangle, and one side that is half of the equilateral side:

Let’s call the long side, the side of the equilateral triangle, 2x (you’ll see why in a second.  Then, the shortest side of the half-triangle will be equal to half of the long side, or x.  Then, the height of the equilateral triangle, the new line we drew, we’ll call h, for height.  Because the long side is opposite the 90-degree angle, it takes the place of “c” in the Pythagorean Theorem, giving us the formula:

x² + h² = (2x)²

Solving for h, we’ll find that:

x² + h² = 4x²

h² = 4x² – x2

h² = 3x²

h = x√3

Therefore, we can prove that the triangle ratio for a 30-60-90 triangle is x, x√3, 2x.  Naturally, if you can memorize these properties, it will make your calculations go much more quickly, but keep in mind this:  most of the “knowledge” that you need for the GMAT you can derive for yourself if you absolutely have to.  Because of this, if you blank on a particular formula or property, see if you can quickly prove it back to yourself. The authors of the GMAT can’t simply reward memorization, so they almost always provide you a way to create what you need for yourself.  Just knowing this fact, and practicing it if you blank on a formula while you study, can help you develop a supreme confidence heading in to the exam.  That’s the thing about the authors of the GMAT – when they seem their “cruelest”, setting trap after trap to keep your score down, they usually also provide you with a path out of the trap if you’re willing to seek it out.

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Math (DS)

represents the tens digit in integer . What is ?

1. is divisible by 9
2. is divisible by 4

OA and Explanation

Verbal (SC)

The exhibition of ancient Egyptian funerary art — imposing statues, intricately painted coffins, and numerous accoutrements, drew hundreds of people each day, equivalent to the number of visitors to last year’s Impressionist show.

(A) equivalent to the number of visitors to
(B) the equivalent of those that visited
(C) equal to those who visited
(D) as many as the visitation to
(E) as many as visited

OA and Explanation