The representatives were kind enough to respond to the following admissions questions and more in a post-Q&A interview, and we’ve added their answers to the transcript as well:

Q: I hear so much about students entering the job force post-graduating LBS, how about entrepreneurship? How does the school help address starting or continuing a business post-MBA?

Q: How would you describe the type of student LBS is looking for? What’s one word to describe an LBS graduate?

Q: Does LBS have any specific courses or programs that focus on management in the non-profit or public sector?

Q: The length of the program is 15-21 months. How would a student finish the program in 15 months? Would this impact the possibility of benefiting from an internship or exchange? Are there more course options offered in the 21 month program? Is there a difference in program cost?

Q: Can any of the current MBA students discuss how participating in the Global Leadership Development Programme has helped developed their leadership abilities?

Additionally, here’s a sneak peek into the scintillating transcript:

Linda Abraham: Ira asks, “With regard to the various essays in the application, would you recommend a more formal professional tone, or a lighter tone that reveals some of the applicant’s personality?”

Karen Benge: I think that is a personal decision, but the importance of the essays is that we can get a sense of the individual who has applied. While I don’t recommend being very informal, I would let some personality come through so that we can get a real sense of that. There are points in the application essays where it is more appropriate to do that. For example, there is the question about involvement in the student community. Another question is not as directly related to the course and your career goals.

Peter Johnson: I 100% agree with Karen, and I’m sure it’s something that you will back up Linda, from your years of experience. It’s remarkable sometimes how little effort people put into their essays, and the essays are the most critical part of the application. It’s the short opportunity people have to sell themselves. And sometimes people actually treat it so superficially despite the fact that the rest of their application may be very strong.….. What is critical is that your real personality shines through and that we can really get a sense of who you are and what you would add to the program. So Linda, I’m sure you tell people this all the time: however much time you were planning to spend on the essays, spend twice as much.

View the full Q&A transcript (which includes the post-Q&A interview at the end) to get the answers to the above questions or to review the Q&A from the beginning. You can also download an mp3 version of the conversation and listen to the Q&A on the go!

Accepted.com ~ Helping You Write Your Best

To review the entire dicussion, please read the full transcript or download the MP3.

Here is an excerpt from the Q&A that we found particularly illuminating:

Linda Abraham: The next question is, “How important is it that I rank my schools on the Consortium application?”

Karen Marks DARTMOUTH: It makes no difference; it’s not a factor in admissions decisions. It comes into play during the fellowship component, but in terms of your admissions decision, it doesn’t play in at all.

Jon Fuller MICHIGAN: When the Admissions Committee gets an application, the rank list is electronically blacked out, and that is not actually released until we’ve already made our admissions decisions. That is just our own internal process for that. So just as it was mentioned, the ranking plays no factor in admissions decision or in membership; it really only comes up from a fellowship perspective.

Shana Basnight EMORY: I would just advise that you do your due diligence before you lock in your ratings because once you do, they are set in stone and you can’t change them. So whether you get a chance to visit different campuses or talk to different alums that have attended different schools, do as much research as you can before you completely drop the Consortium application and put in your rankings because you only have one chance to do them.

Jon Fuller MICHIGAN: I think candidates spend some time thinking about whether there is a way to increase the likelihood of them getting a fellowship by how they rank a school, and there is  a lot of agony that goes into that. The advice I give to candidates is that if Ross is your first choice, then you should rank us first. If another school is your first choice and we’re your second choice, then you should put us second and you should put that other school first. Because just as it was mentioned, it’s an individual decision based on the school; it just goes down the rank order of the process that is explained relatively well through the

Consortium documentation that is available on their website. But don’t try to over-think because it just doesn’t work. So rank the order in terms of your enthusiasm of how much you want to attend that particular program.

Rebecca Dockery CONSORTIUM: I’m going to give you an Amen!

Jon Fuller MICHIGAN: Thank you!

Kellee Scott USC: Just to add a little more relief hopefully to this effort with the rankings, the process is that you are only allowed to hold one fellowship that you can call Consortium, but that doesn’t stop other schools from offering you school based scholarships if you qualify for them. So the rankings may say that you are only allowed to get one scholarship that is called Consortium, but if school #3 and #4 really want you, that doesn’t stop them from offering you aid outside of the Consortium scholarship, or offering you any kind of merit based money outside of the Consortium scholarship. So you are not limited in this process; the rankings do not limit you in any way.

View the full Q&A transcript or listen to the mp3 recording of the event now!

Accepted.com ~ Helping You Write Your Best

We highly recommend that you view the full transcripts of these Q&As or listen to the audio files to get a complete picture of the admissions scene—you don’t want to be lacking info that’s already been shared with others!

Here’s an excerpt from the Michigan Ross Q&A (view or listen to the complete Q&A here):

Linda Abraham: When you are evaluating an application, what do you look at first and how do you go through the file?

Soojin Kwon Koh: I start with the resume and this gives me a snapshot of what this person brings to the table in terms of experience, education, interests; all those things that are perfectly standard on a resume. And I just want to make a point to encourage everybody to try and get your resume to one page, and to not include jargon or technical speech.

Linda Abraham: Thank you. Any other tips on the resume?

Soojin Kwon Koh: Sure. I would focus on the impact of each role and not what your responsibility was. I don’t want to know what your job description is; I want to know how you made a difference at the organization that you were employed with and what your impact was. And it should be understandable by your mother or by your brother; if you give someone your resume, it should mean something and be comprehensible. So if you are in some fields in which there is a lot of technical jargon, don’t include that. Try to make that fairly understandable to the lay person. And giving it to someone else to read as a test is a good way to gauge whether you’ve hit the mark. Also it’s perfectly fine to include extra-curriculars, hobbies, etc. I would not include summer internships from undergrad; we’re really primarily interested in your post-undergrad experience in terms of professional experience.

Linda Abraham: No high school grades, right?

Soojin Kwon Koh: No high school grades please. And even for college, we don’t want a whole laundry list of all of the activities and all of the courses you took; we are really looking for a snapshot. So given that you only have one page to get me familiar with who you are, make sure that you are not focusing on your undergrad days only; it should be driven by your work experience as well. After I look at the resume, then I will look at the recommendation letters, just to get another sense of how someone else sees you. It helps me get a gauge of whether I see a potential fit in terms of achievements, interests, work style, team work skills, and all those kinds of things that we ask your recommender. And a good way to understand what we are looking for is to look at the recommendation questions themselves. And on the ratings grid that we ask your recommenders to fill out, those are the things that we are looking for them to evaluate and those are the things we are watching to see in our students. A word of caution on the ratings grade: there is often a tendency for recommenders to put ‘top 1%’ for every category just to ensure that their candidate gets the highest chance of being admitted. We are very familiar with that approach, and it really doesn’t differentiate anybody given that everybody else is rating their candidates at the top 1%. So we’re looking less what the tier of the ranking is and more on how they rate you on the different dimensions, and how they differ one from another. Then after the recommendation letters, I read the essays to say okay, now why does this person want to get an MBA? What do they say about themselves and can I imagine this person fitting? After I bring all of that together, then I read the comments to see whether someone from the Ross community agrees with the picture that’s been established based on the written materials by way of the application, the recommendation letters, and the essays. And if there is a fit there and the academic quality is there, then they are a strong potential for an admit. If there is an inconsistent picture between the interview and what’s on paper, we will take an even deeper review of those candidates and have a discussion amongst the Admissions Committee. But in most cases, the interview lines up fairly well with the application materials, so it’s rare that we are so troubled by the inconsistency. Generally people are pretty good at representing themselves on paper as well as in person, once they get to that stage.

Here’s an excerpt from the Yale SOM Q&A (view or listen to the complete Yale SOM Q&A):

Linda Abraham: Ritcha asks, “Are there any specific criteria that Yale SOM looks at while reviewing an application from a career changer?” And Bruce, while you are thinking about how to answer that question, I want to ask the applicants how many of you are applying to the MBA program with the intention of changing careers? Okay. We have 48%, which would be right in line.

Bruce DelMonico: Obviously given the number of people who want to change careers through an MBA program, that is obviously a very important and relevant question. I would answer it on two different levels. The first is substantively in terms of the substance of what you want to do. We tend to be pretty agnostic; we are not valuing one type of career over another. So say you are in finance now and you want to go into marketing, or you’re in the public sector now and you want to get into finance, or you’re in the non-profit and you want to do healthcare, we are not making a judgment about which of those changes are better or worse. So we are indifferent and agnostic on that level. What we are looking for is to get a sense of how deeply held that switch is; how well thought out is, how much that switch is supported by evidence of commitment to that switch.

Linda Abraham: In other words, if somebody says that they want to save the whales but they’ve never been to the beach, that’s a problem.

Bruce DelMonico: Exactly. And because we have a reputation for being strong in the non-profit sector, we have a number of candidates every year who will throw in there that they want to go into non-profit. They’re not doing that right now, and they’ve got no evidence or indication anywhere that they’ve volunteered or have done anything to show an interest in this area. So it’s that exactly; save the whales, but I’ve never been to the beach. I like that example. One thing that goes along with that is that we are not judging the switch you want to make or what you want to go into, but we also want to get a sense that it is somewhat realistic, that you have a sense of what it takes to make that switch. I’ll give another example. Private equity has been very popular and every year we do have a number of students who go directly into private equity, but it’s very difficult to do if you are not coming from finance or you don’t have some background. And every year we get candidates who are doing something completely unrelated. They may have done good work, and it may be very interesting work, and it may be very valuable work, but they say that directly after the MBA program they want to go into private equity. Well, you need to have a better sense of what the trajectory of someone is to get into private equity, and what the steps you need are to make that switch. It’s not something you can just jump right into; there is a lot of work that goes into it. And so you need to have a sense of the steps that it takes; that you may need to get some more general experience in diversified financials, and then maybe do some investment banking, and then work your way into PE. That would show that you are a much more serious candidate, and you are being much more thoughtful about the process rather than just saying I’m going to go from retail to private equity and there is nothing in-between those two.

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Accepted.com ~ Helping You Write Your Best

Linda Abraham: Entreman asks, “What is the core strength of Johnson? Columbia is famous for finance, Harvard for entrepreneurs, what is it when it comes to Cornell Johnson?”

Randall Sawyer: I think that we’re a great general management program. When you make your way to Cornell and to our program, you are going to end up with a great general management degree. Underneath that we have our Immersion Program which is basically our strongest and greatest differentiator from other schools. First semester you take the core, and then the second semester we “immerse” you in your program, whether it’s brand management, investment banking, managerial finance, consulting, etc. We have nine different programs. And so we are known for four major programs: consulting, investment banking, entrepreneurship, and brand. But when you come to the Johnson School, you will have nine immersions. It will allow you to really get to know the subject matter–research, theory, and practicum– of what you want to go into once you come out with your MBA. I hear from recruiters all the time that the Johnson School students are the best prepared for their summer internships, regardless of their past experience. So it’s great when we know that we can take someone coming to us from perhaps the sales space, and turn them into a brand manager over six months of academic classes, and we know that they’ll be in the running to at least get an offer at the end of the summer for that first year internship. So I think we are known for those four programs I mentioned before, but over and above that, our biggest differentiator is the Immersion Program. It’s been widely successful for us over the last ten years and recruiters and students continue to mention that as the most important factor of coming to Cornell.

Linda Abraham: I have two questions here. One is from Aritchra and one is from Anna, and they are both interested in marketing and the Immersion Program, one specifically strategic marketing. The question from Aritchra is, “What internship opportunities does Johnson provide? And could you elaborate on the clubs, societies, and the extra-curricular activities?” And Anna asks relatedly, “How could students collaborate with companies on projects considering the remote location of Cornell?” And finally, Aritchra asks if she can get in touch with some students who are participants in these extra-curricular activities.

Randall Sawyer: Sure. First off, we have more than 70 clubs here. You go online to find those clubs, and each will have a contact or two by email which you can just click on and send a note to them on whatever you’d like to know. While we have a great number of clubs, we urge students to only join 2 clubs; one professional like the Marketing Association and one personal where you can have fun. One of the people who work for me, her husband is involved in the Beer of the Month Club. Other people are in the Yacht Club down at Cayuga Lake. There are 70 of them to pick from. We don’t want you to get too involved in the clubs in the sense of all your time because of academics, info sessions, recruiting interview schedules, working on your resume, practicing cases and so forth. It’s all very busy stuff and that’s why we say to please take one that is for professional advancement and the other which is for personal advancement. And when we talk about brand as a whole with the immersion both this past year and the year prior, we had 100% placement for summer internships for our Brand Immersion students. So every single one of them had at least one offer and took an offer, and spent their summer in a corporation somewhere. So that’s a very great record, and we are very proud of that. There was one student several years ago who applied for 12 different marketing jobs. We have somewhere in the 40 companies space for the brand folks. The student applied to 12, got interviewed by 10 and got 7 internship offers from those. So it’s a dynamic where brand for us if very strong, and I think for those students who are interested in brand, you have to be looking at the Johnson School in some way, shape, or form because obviously our record speaks for itself. I don’t know of any other school that has 100% placement; I don’t really track our competitors in that space. Maybe they do, maybe they don’t, but I know that it works right here at the Johnson School so we’ll keep it the way it is.

For the entire dialogue, please view the transcript or listen to the complete audio file on our website.

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Accepted.com ~ Helping You Write Your Best

Here are a few questions and answers to get you started:

Linda Abraham: This is a question from me that all the applicants should be interested in. When you are evaluating the applications, and the numbers are competitive and the applicants are applicants who qualify and are competitive applicants, what puts one applicant in the admit pile and the others in the rejected or wait list piles?

Meghan Bass: That’s a good question. The applicant pool we get here at Wharton is an incredibly talented pool; they are all high achievers, they are all high scores. They are a very impressive group, and frankly 80% of the applicants we do receive are 100% admissible to Wharton. So then the question comes: how do we choose one over the other? Really it comes down to the compelling story they are going to share. At Wharton we admit 800+ a year. Of that, each student really needs to be able to bring a unique voice and perspective.

We need to have that feeling that this person is going to impact their incoming class; this is a valuable voice to be heard. And that really comes through in your essays. Your essays, your recommendation, the whole thing; it’s really how you choose to present yourself. I will say that we have a ton of people who are high achievers in their careers; we have a ton of high scores on their test scores and academic profiles. Use your essay as a chance to stand apart and introduce yourself. Don’t do anything crazy, but it’s a good opportunity to show who you are, what kind of a voice you are going to bring to Wharton, and the impact you are going to have. I think that is really the defining thing that can set two people apart; how they choose to present themselves.

Linda Abraham: This leads into a question that Stacy is posing. She asks, “What role does community service outside work contribution play in the admission?”

Meghan Bass: It definitely does play a role. Sometimes I see applications where people list a ton of different community service things that they’ve done. But then when I look a little bit closer, each one is maybe for a week, a month, or even a day. I don’t think it’s a good idea to collect things just for the sake of a business school application. I would rather see people perhaps invested in one or two things, whether it’s tutoring inner-city school kids, or doing several ‘Habitat for Humanity’ initiatives because they love to build, and they love to contribute that way to society. I would rather see people passionate about certain areas, rather than trying to blanket everything. Volunteering at soup kitchens and then running to tutor and then running to clean up the neighborhood; that makes me wonder if you’re just collecting for an application.

So again, it’s about you. Think what you are passionate about. We definitely want to see involved students. Social impact is a huge thing here at Wharton, so definitely think about where that is important to you and how you can present that properly.

View the full Q&A transcript or listen to the mp3 recording of the event now!



Accepted.com ~ Helping You Write Your Best

So here you go…a continuation of last week’s Consortium Admissions Q&A interview:

• When is the best time to apply through the consortium?

You should apply one year before you plan to start school (i.e. if you want to begin classes in Fall 2012, apply in Fall 2011).

• What would you say is the number one item prospective students often overlook but is extremely important to admission into the Consortium and their desired b-school?

The Consortium’s common application makes the process of applying easier for applicants, but there is still plenty of work for an applicant to do. Applicants should fully research their schools of interest, visit as many schools as possible, attend recruiting events, and communicate with recommenders and interviewers to ensure that supporting documents are submitted on time.

• Is the diversity essay looking for a response that revolves around your ideology or your actions?

To be invited for membership in The Consortium, an individual must demonstrate a commitment to The Consortium’s mission using examples from his/her professional or community activities.

• What type of career background do most Consortium applications come from?

Consortium applicants come from a wide variety of academic and professional backgrounds, and are pursuing numerous career paths. One of The Consortium’s greatest assets is the alumni network, where applicants can find contacts in almost every industry and function.

• Is there a better chance of consideration for Consortium Membership and Fellowship by applying in the first round versus the second round?

The timeframe in which admission decisions are released by member schools varies greatly, and can range from December to early March. All Consortium membership and fellowship decisions are made in mid-March, regardless of when an application was submitted.

For more information on The Consortium please listen to the audio clip or view the full transcript from last week’s Q&A session.

Accepted.com ~ Helping You Write Your Best

If you’re considering applying to any of these schools (or any schools in our forthcoming chats), then these sessions are must-attend events. Of course, if you do miss out on a live Q&A session, or if you simply wish to review what you’ve heard, then these Q&A transcripts and audio clips will become your new go-to guides. Each one provides indispensible information that will help you get better acquainted with your target programs, and ultimately demonstrate fit with them.

Here’s a sampling of what’s been going on so far:

UC Berkeley Haas Q&A with Sephanie Fujii

Linda Abraham: Okay. Stephanie, Scott asks, “How does the admissions team view layoffs in regards to a candidate’s application? Is it something that needs to be addressed or is it understood that layoffs are often out of the hands of the candidate?

Stephanie Fujii: Oh, certainly. I think especially given the past couple of years, we’ve definitely seen that. You know, it’s something that if it happens, certainly tell us. I think as a general rule for our application — don’t leave any questions unanswered because we will make up answers and we can be quite creative in it and it won’t always be in the applicant’s favor. So just make sure that you are answering any questions that we might have.

With layoffs, we understand — especially in certain sectors who’ve been hit really hard. What we’re interested in is what you have been doing with your time since that layoff. I think especially for people who are thinking about switching careers, are you involved in activities? Have you done things that will really help you move in that direction? But I think honesty, and being upfront about anything that we might have questions about — that’s very important.

Chicago Booth Q&A with Kurt Ahlm and Julie Morton

Linda Abraham:: What is the difference between applying round one versus round two from the admissions committee perspective? I know the answer is apply when you’re ready but what does the round that someone applies in signal to you?

Kurt Ahlm: Sure, to be candid, I mean, our hope is you’re applying, again, when you feel that you’re most ready. So we don’t really extrapolate anything else from it and honestly those rounds are equally competitive. So if you try to put yourself in our shoes to think about what we might be thinking if you apply round one and round two, we’re just trying to pull the best people we possibly can from the entire process and in order to do that, in order to be one of those people you really want to put in your best possible application. So I would say, again, take the time that you need to put your best foot forward and hopefully you’re successful and that’s really the only way I would look at it.

Northwestern Kellogg Q&A with Beth Flye and Carla Edelston

Linda Abraham: When you are evaluating applications, what puts one applicant in the admit pile and others in the rejected or wait-listed pile?

Beth Flye: Wow, big question. You know, honestly, it really comes back to quality. And our approach is very holistic, meaning we’re not anchoring on a certain GMAT score, a certain GPA. We’re not anchoring on a specific number of years of work experience. Really it comes back to looking at all of the criteria, collectively. And you know, the other thing is taking into account what the quality of the overall applicant pool is at that particular point in time. How does round one look? And then we get into round two. What is that pool looking like in comparison to round one? I would say that when we, philosophically speaking, when we do give a decision, one of these three decisions is usually for more than one particular reason. You know, when we admit somebody, it’s for a broad number of reasons, that we think that person is a very high quality candidate. Just as when we typically deny someone, there’s usually more than one thing that was not as up to par on their application as we would have liked to have seen. And then lastly I would say with the wait list in particular, we wait-list for different reasons. Sometimes, we may want to just hold off making a decision because we want to see more of the applicant pool. There may not be anything in particular about that application that is weak. But we may decide that we just need to see more candidates to help us make a final decision. Oftentimes, we will also wait-list someone because we were wanting additional information, whether it’s a new test score, or a grade from a class that they indicated that they were taking. But the one thing I would like to comment about Kellogg’s wait-list is, to be wait-listed is not a negative thing at all, you are still in the running for admission.

UCLA Anderson Q&A with Mae Jennifer Shores and Jessica Luchenta

Linda Abraham: The next question is from Riya. She asked, “What do employers like most about UCLA Anderson graduates?”

Jessica Luchenta: What I would say goes back to your earlier point Linda, that you made about Anderson students known for collegiality. And so I think that Anderson grads are known for being extremely sharp, very well prepared and well educated during their time here. We have a very challenging and rigorous curriculum that prepares them for all the different issues that they face in a business environment. Our students are also incredibly broad in terms of their experience. Because our program is so diverse, all of our students are coming from various academic and professional backgrounds, they really learned well how to work with an incredibly diverse group of people during their two years here. And that translates well into the business and workplace environment after the MBA. So much of what we do here at Anderson is team based, that our graduates fit right in when it comes to team based office environments. And they are known for knowing how to martial resources and get the job done and be successful. But at the same time, maintaining that sense of community and support and working together that is really the hallmark of our student culture.

Mae Jennifer Shores: To add to Jessica’s comment, we see a broader diversity of people coming into the student body each year than you see in a lot of schools. There is not as much of this herd mentality of people coming primarily from a couple of key industries. Because of that, our students were exposed to a huge set of diverse disciplines among their classmates. And the fact is that all of you may tell us that you know what you want to do, coming into an MBA, but very few of you actually know what you want to do. So this exposure actually prepares you for a variety of careers. So when you do shift gears, maybe change careers or focus during the program, you are a little more nimble and able to adapt to some new areas and have exposure to it, rather than having a change that seems quite so radical to the employer.

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Accepted.com ~ Helping You Write Your Best

Don’t miss out on this exceptional opportunity to interact with Chicago Booth’s new Senior Director of Admissions and Associate Dean of Career Services.

Challenge Everything: Chicago Booth MBA Admissions Q&A with Kurt Ahlm, Senior Director of Admissions and Julie Morton, Associate Dean of Career Services, on Monday, September 13, 2010 at 10:00 AM PT / 1:00 PM ET / 5:00 PM GMT.

Register ASAP to reserve your spot.

Los Angeles, CA, September 1, 2010—Linda Abraham, a graduate school admissions expert and president of Accepted.com, will provide college students and graduates with an overview of what they need to know about applying for and preparing for graduate school during #CollegeChat on Twitter on September 7, 2010 at 6 pm Pacific/ 9 pm Eastern, Theresa Smith, principal of Pathway Communications and moderator of #CollegeChat announced today.

Attending graduate school is a goal of many college graduates especially in a turbulent job market. Long term statistics show that this strategy may pay off. According to the Census Bureau, in 2008 college graduates between 25 and 29 with a master’s degree made on average $7,954 more annually than those with only a bachelor’s degree.

During the upcoming live #TwitterChat, Abraham (http://twitter.com/accepted) will address questions on  how college students and graduates can best prepare including:

• Does going to graduate school make sense financially
• What are the differences between the graduate school admission process and the undergraduate admissions process
• Should college students go directly to graduate school
• What is a personal statement and why is it critical
• Where are good places to start researching graduate programs, especially MBA, Law and Medical School
• What steps should college students take during college to prepare for graduate school
• How to finance graduate school, how much can be borrowed

Linda Abraham has been a leader in the admissions consulting field since 1994. Today her consultancy, Accepted.com, serves thousands of applicants each year through its web resources, information products, and premier advising and editing services. Abraham is also is a co-founder and first president of the Association of International Graduate Admissions Consultants (AIGAC), the only organization dedicated exclusively to the field of private graduate admissions advising. Abraham has also written or co-authored 13 ebooks on the admissions process.

New to Twitter?

In order to participate in the chat, attendees will need to have a Twitter account.  To sign up for a Twitter account, go to http:// twitter.com. The easiest way to follow the chat is to use TweetChat (http://tweetchat.com). Simply log in to TweetChat with your Twitter information (email or username followed by password) and then enter in CollegeChat without the “#” and you will be placed into the chat room with only those participating in #CollegeChat. More detailed information about signing up for Twitter and using TweetChat can be found at http://pathwaypr.com/how-to-participate-in-a-twitter-chat.

About #CollegeChat

#CollegeChat is a live bi-monthly conversation intended for teens, college students, parents, and higher education experts on Twitter. Questions for each #CollegeChat edition can be sent to Theresa Smith, the moderator of #CollegeChat via http://Twitter.com/collegechat, by entering questions online on the CollegeChat Facebook page at http://ht.ly/1XIqV, or by email. CollegeChat can also be found on Twitter at http://Twitter.com/collegechat.

Accepted.com ~ Helping You Write Your Best

• Monday, December 14, 2009 at 10:00 AM PT/1:00 PM ET/6:00 PM GMT Randall Sawyer, Director of Admissions at Cornell’s Johnson School of Business, along with other staff members will answer your questions. Our earlier Cornell Chat was standing room only, so make sure to use this outstanding opportunity to learn about Cornell’s close-knit student life, admission policies and programs. Join us on December 14th!
• Wednesday, December 16, 2009 at 10:00 AM PT/1:00 PM ET/6:00 PM GMT, Dawna Clarke, Director of Admissions at Dartmouth Tuck, will participate in an online admissions chat with Accepted.com. Discover Dartmouth’s vibrant, intellectual environment, as well as its exceptionally close-knit community. Learn how the Tuck MBA has been providing a world-class business education since 1900 and how you can be part of this legacy of business excellence.

Mark your calendars and then join us in Accepted’s chat room.

Also, this past week we posted two excellent transcripts from earlier Consortium and London Business School chats.

Here is a taste of the Consortium chat which had representatives from Cornell, Darden, McCombs, Ross, Simon, Stern, and Wisconsin answering questions about their programs as well as Consortium policies (The excerpt is a little longer than usual, but really good):

ES (Dec 1, 2009 7:31:15 PM)
Can I send the Consortium applications with my current score and then retake my GMAT and send the new scores? If the answer is yes, can I do that after Jan 5th or it has to be done before that?

ErinNicklesburgWISCONSIN (Dec 1, 2009 7:32:14 PM)
ES – There are limitations to how far beyond the deadline a school may be willing to accept a new GMAT score. Again, I encourage you to reach out to those individual schools to determine their time-line.

Linda Abraham (Dec 1, 2009 7:49:49 PM)
To the entire panel, what are the most common mistakes you see in MBA essays? In Consortium essays?

ChrisGaetaNYU (Dec 1, 2009 7:51:27 PM)
Hi Linda – A common mistake is a poorly written essay. A good career essay will be specific in terms of short-term goals. The applicant really needs to show that they have done their research and they have a solid and logical reason for attending business school.

TonyGreenROCHESTER (Dec 1, 2009 7:52:17 PM)
Regarding essay mistakes, one mistake is lack of thought and research into a decision for an MBA. This is shown by a lack of connection between prior experience and career goals.

AnnRichardsCORNELL (Dec 1, 2009 7:52:49 PM)
Linda – We are always concerned when we see a sloppy application – misspellings, wrong titles or programs. It’s an indication to us that the candidate doesn’t pay attention to detail – if they display this in their application to us, they may be as careless when recruiters.

Linda Abraham (Dec 1, 2009 7:52:52 PM)
I frequently find that candidates confuse areas of interest with career goals.

TonyGreenROCHESTER (Dec 1, 2009 7:52:59 PM)
Great applicant essays clearly state personal skills, and how an MBA will enhance these skills to obtain future career plans.

JonFullerMICHIGAN (Dec 1, 2009 7:53:22 PM)
Linda, one common mistake I see is that the applicant answers a question that s/he *wishes* the school asked instead of actually thoroughly answering the question that was posed. Make sure you answer the question! One good way to check – give your essays to a friend/family member *without* providing the question. Ask them to tell you what was being asked after they’ve read it. If they get the question completely wrong, it’s time to go back to the drawing board.

GettingThere (Dec 1, 2009 7:54:06 PM)
Similarly, what are the most common mistakes you see in the interviews (once you receive feedback)?

Michelle (Dec 1, 2009 7:54:36 PM)
Chris: In terms of being specific in the essays, does it weigh favorably to name the company or organization for which you would like to work? Or should the goal(s) remain broad enough to encompass only an industry or position?

ChrisGaetaNYU (Dec 1, 2009 7:54:47 PM)
Hi Michelle-The more research you can do the better. Industry and specific function are most important. However, if you know some target companies and you want to mention them that is usually a sign that you are on the right track!

JonFullerMICHIGAN (Dec 1, 2009 7:54:51 PM)
GettingThere, make sure you’re prepared and take it very seriously – like you would a job interview. But don’t come across as being cocky or arrogant. You need to show you can play well with others.

KellieSaulsVIRGINIA (Dec 1, 2009 7:54:52 PM)
GT: Interviews where the interviewee asks for feedback on the spot are not okay.

ChrisGaetaNYU (Dec 1, 2009 7:55:14 PM)
Regarding interviews, it is always evident which students have not prepared. Answers should be succinct and on point. A 10 minute answer is usually an interview hazard!

AnnRichardsCORNELL (Dec 1, 2009 7:55:17 PM)
Getting There – I like to see confidence in candidates during the interview, so be prepared and be yourself.

KellieSaulsVIRGINIA (Dec 1, 2009 7:55:20 PM)
Yes, have confidence in yourself.

And last but defintely not least: excerpts from the transcript of Monday’s London Business School chat.

Niranjan (Dec 7, 2009 12:10:30 PM)
Hi Oliver & team, I would like to know about the opportunities for entrepreneurial studies and entrepreneurship at London Business School. Specifically: 1) Networking Opportunities (in terms of industrial networking) 2) Help provided by the school post-MBA in start-up 3) Success stories of past from the school.

ErikWilterdingLONDON (Dec 7, 2009 12:13:57 PM)
Niranjan: In addition to Oli’s response, you also have one core course geared towards entrepreneurship, Discovering Entrepreneurial Opportunities. Although I’m looking to pursue a career in Strategy after LBS, this was one of my favorite courses and was principally about how to identify the needs of a given market

OliverAshbyLONDON (Dec 7, 2009 12:16:08 PM)
Hi Niranjan: Entrepreneurship is an extremely important element of the London Business School experience. We have a Centre for Entrepreneurship, bringing top faculty to School. Our alumni network consists of a huge range of entrepreneurs like Tony Wheeler, the founder of the Lonely Planet, who recently gave a multi-million pound donation to the School for a dedicated Entrepreneurship Chair. The School hosts frequent entrepreneurial competitions on campus including the recent Global Security Challenge for Start-ups in the military arena.

MaryFerreiraLONDON (Dec 7, 2009 12:23:28 PM)
Niranjan: I know that Oliver and Eric have outlined some of our entrepreneurial opportunities which run through student and alumni life from things such as student involvement in the Global Social Venture Competition (London Business School is one of the organisers) through to work carried out by Sussex Place Ventures which helps provide seed capital and access to development finance. We have a helpful link on our website which outlines just some of the entrepreneurial activity across London Business School.

Mihir (Dec 7, 2009 12:27:26 PM)
Hannah: How is the CleanTech activity at LBS – activity clubs, internships & recruitment, etc?

MaryFerreiraLONDON (Dec 7, 2009 12:40:31 PM)
Mihir: In connection to CleanTech, I suggest having a look at some of the activity linked to the student organised Responsible Business Club . There is a great elective that our degree programme students can sign up for too. This is called Sustainability – Implications of Environmental and Demographic Change and will be taught by members of our Strategy and Economics group. In addition, just today I heard from two MBA alumni, one (Ishani), whose start-up business, Arctic Holdings, was featured in the papers this weekend. Another, (Gabrielle Weybrecht) has recently written a book that stemmed out of a project she undertook whilst an MBA student at London Business School. Her book is called “The Sustainable MBA: The Manager’s Guide to Green Business”.

By Linda Abraham, President and Founder of Accepted.com.