2013 Top 10 EMBA Programs

1. UPenn Wharton
2. Chicago Booth
3. Northwestern Kellogg
4. Columbia
5. Duke Fuqua
6. NYU Stern
7. UCLA Anderson
8. Michigan Ross
9. UNC Kenan-Flagler
10. UC Berkeley Haas

This year’s U.S. News Executive MBA rankings offer an excellent reason to view rankings with skepticism. The reason is not so much because I disagree or agree with the information provided above, but because of the program ranked #13: Stanford University.

Stanford doesn’t have an Executive MBA program.

The closest it has is the Stanford Sloan Fellows program, which is aimed at older, middle managers, but it is not an EMBA program. EMBA programs typically are part-time programs where participants continue to work full-time. Stanford Sloan Fellows study in a full-time, one-year Masters in Management program. They do not even earn an MBA.

To the extent you use these rankings (or other rankings), do so with caution, skepticism, and a large dose of salt. Rank programs based on what’s important to you.

This article originally appeared on the Accepted Admissions Consulting Blog, the official blog of Accepted.com.

Accepted.com’s experienced admissions consultants can help you create the most impressive application possible with comprehensive packages, or provide targeted assistance from picking perfect programs to designing a dazzling resume, constructing engaging essays, or preparing for intense interviews…and more! Accepted.com has guided thousands of applicants to acceptances at top MBA programs since 1994 – we know what works and what doesn’t, so contact us to get started now!

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Here’s an excerpt from the report on one of Chicago’s EMBA application questions:

By listing its career resources, the Chicago adcom is showing that the program is invested in your career success. You should demonstrate your worthiness by delivering a thoughtful and detailed portrayal of your career objectives. Discuss not just general aspirations but specifics: industry, likely positions, which companies, possibly where, what you expect to actually do, possibly challenges you anticipate – and, as the question says, how. To transcend mere competence and make the essay compelling, also show how your goals are rooted in your experience, what motivates your goals, and your vision for your goals. Finally, discuss the educational needs these goals create that necessitate an MBA.

Want more tips like this on other questions from other applications? Get your free copy of 2013 Top Executive MBA Essay Questions: How to Answer Them Right now!This article originally appeared on the Accepted Admissions Consulting Blog, the official blog of Accepted.com.

Accepted.com’s experienced admissions consultants can help you create the most impressive application possible with comprehensive packages, or provide targeted assistance from picking perfect programs to designing a dazzling resume, constructing engaging essays, or preparing for intense interviews…and more! Accepted.com has guided thousands of applicants to acceptances at top MBA programs since 1994 – we know what works and what doesn’t, so contact us to get started now!

Accepted.com ~ Helping You Write Your Best

The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, the United States’ oldest business school, offers two distinct MBA programs: the regular, full-time MBA offered at the Philadelphia campus, and the EMBA, offered at both the Philadelphia and San Francisco campuses. While the curriculum, academic rigor and benefits of the degree are largely the same, the main differences between the programs lie in the makeup of students and the programs’ structures.

Wharton, in the heart of Philadelphia, is one of the world’s top-ranked business schools, having been ranked number one by the Financial Times each year from 2000 to 2009, and again in 2011. The EMBA program certifies students with a fully-fledged MBA degree and is aimed toward a student population where the average candidate has ten or more years of work experience. (In my experience, however, candidates can be successful with less work experience than this, and many of the applicants I have assisted to gain admission have been between the ages of 28-35.)

Wharton EMBA students are held to high admissions standards and academic requirements. Admission for the Wharton EMBA is generally one of the most competitive among the top EMBA programs. EMBA students follow the same academic curriculum and are taught by the same world-ranked faculty as full-time Wharton MBA students. With over 91,000 alumni in over 140 countries, Wharton offers all of its graduates a larger alumni base than any other top U.S. business school, supplying its students with resources that continue on far past graduation.

As opposed to the 20-month length that is required of the full-time MBA, the MBA for executives runs over the course of 24 months, starting and ending in May, and requiring students to attend classes during alternate Friday/Saturday weekends. In addition to mandatory weekend classes, EMBA students are also required to participate in a one-week international study trip, where students venture with their program to a foreign country to witness firsthand business growth, entrepreneurship, marketing dynamics, and other aspects of business building. Additionally, students in the residential EMBA program form tight bonds as they not only learn together, but live together on campus.

Currently, over 40% of Wharton EMBA students hold advanced degrees before entering into the program. With this picture, EMBA students are placed side-by-side with like-minded participants who share a love of high-level learning and will be able to apply their knowledge obtained at Wharton directly to their work from week to week. With such an integrative curriculum that allows for building close friendships and key knowledge bases, the Wharton EMBA offers not only an unparalleled MBA degree, but an unparalleled experience.

– Dr. Shel Watts and the Staff of MBA Admit.com
www.mbaadmit.com
Email: mbaadmit@aol.com

The changes take effect beginning with students who enter the program in June 2013. Students will be offered a capstone course that provides the opportunity to integrate concepts and tools from much of the Executive MBA curriculum in a complex, multi-round simulation culminating in presentations to a panel of investor-judges.

In addition, students will be able to specialize by choosing elective courses in a particular academic area. Those areas are expected to be capital markets, corporate finance, entrepreneurship, strategy, marketing and leadership and management. Previously, specializations were only possible by taking an optional week of classes at the end of the program, meaning only a fraction of students were able to take advantage of this feature.

By shifting these into the core, all students will be able to take advantage of the school’s well- regarded research faculty in these disciplines. The elective courses will be taught at Harper Center, Chicago Booth’s state-of-the-art facility on the University’s main Chicago campus, which also houses the school’s full-time MBA program.

The length of the program will remain at 16 weeks of instruction spread over 21 months, the school said. With the exception of the elective courses taught at Harper Center, students in the U.S. take classes at Gleacher Center in downtown Chicago, students in Europe take classes at the school’s London campus in the City and students in Asia take classes at the school’s Singapore campus adjacent to Orchard Road.

“With these changes, students will be exposed to more members of our faculty, create closer connections with our other MBA programs and will spend more time studying alongside Executive MBA students from all of our campuses,” said Dean Sunil Kumar.

“Many students have told us the international exchange is important and creates a unique learning environment.”

Before the changes, Booth Executive MBA students spent four weeks of class sessions studying with students from the school’s other campuses, with all students spending time in Singapore, London and downtown Chicago. Beginning next year, students will spend five weeks studying with students from the other campuses and will also spend two weeks on the main campus of the University.

To make room for the added courses, classes in strategic leadership and quantitative marketing have been shortened and some offerings such as technology strategy have been reorganized and will now be part of the elective offerings.

Booth has more than 500 students studying in its part-time Executive MBA Program on campuses in Chicago, London and Singapore. All courses are taught by members of Booth’s faculty.

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If you are looking for guidance on your MBA application, Stacy Blackman Consulting can help with hourly and comprehensive consulting services. Contact us to learn more. Visit the website for Stacy Blackman Reviews, and check out the company’s e-publications for more in depth school-by-school guidance.

The EMBA Edge will teach you how to:

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• Answer tough essay questions.
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Accepted.com ~ Helping You Write Your Best

Accepted.com’s experienced admissions consultants can help you create the most impressive application possible with comprehensive packages, or provide targeted assistance from picking perfect programs to designing a dazzling resume, constructing engaging essays, or preparing for intense interviews…and more! Accepted.com has guided thousands of applicants to acceptances at top MBA programs since 1994 – we know what works and what doesn’t, so contact us to get started now!

This article originally appeared on the Accepted Admissions Consulting Blog, the official blog of Accepted.com.

If you’re still wondering whether to do the GMAT or the INSEAD test, take a look at these points of comparison INSEAD has shared with us, which may inform your decision.

The final decision is yours, and INSEAD assures applicants that your choice won’t affect how the school views your candidacy. Keep in mind that testing is ultimately to your benefit, as it guarantees all of your classmates will have strong analytical and linguistic abilities.

To learn more about INSEAD’s alternative admissions exam, take at look at these FAQs, which offer insight on preparing for the test and lay out the five components that make up the test.
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If you are looking for guidance on your MBA application, Stacy Blackman Consulting can help with hourly and comprehensive consulting services. Contact us to learn more. Visit the website for Stacy Blackman Reviews, and check out the company’s e-publications for more in depth school-by-school guidance.

This set of essay questions culls those applicants who are agile thinkers; who discern, or even better create connections among disparate elements; and who have the desire and ability to transform ideas into effective action and lead change within a context of flux and uncertainty. The essays are your main means to show that you possess, as the website states, “strong leadership performance, global perspective, functional expertise, and innovation.” While the statement of purpose challenges you to succinctly create your portrait as an applicant, the three essay questions, each in its own way, probe how you create value while responding to challenge, opportunities, and ambiguity. The last two questions especially show that the MIT EMBA adcom views adeptness in handling ongoing difficulty of multiple varieties as an essential element of your candidacy.

In an overall plan for the essays, the statement of purpose works as a context, a positioner, an opening pitch. You will describe experiences in each of the three essays, so strategically try to select experiences that are somewhat different, to give a comprehensive view. Also, usually it’s advisable to discuss fairly recent experiences, to allow the adcom to see you working at a high level and showing what you’ll bring to the table.

Statement of purpose
Indicate your qualifications and why you are pursuing the MIT Executive MBA. Tell us about your distinctive characteristics/experiences and how you will contribute to the learning community at MIT Sloan. Specifically identify your current professional and career objectives. (500 words or fewer, limited to one page)

This is your portrait – your candidacy at a glance. Like any good portrait, painted or written, it should convey a vivid, immediate sense of you as a person and as a candidate. It should go beyond just the facts to present a point of view and a message. In structuring the essay, if you decide on the message first, it will guide you in selecting and elaborating the content details.

Beware of a potential pitfall: in discussing qualifications, do not repeat your resume in prose format. Also, don’t present all your qualifications. Select carefully which qualifications to discuss, focusing on those that (a) are really distinctive and relevant to the MBA and/or (b) support your goals directly or indirectly and also (c) reflect the message you opt to use. Don’t present it in did-this-did-that fashion; have a short, meaningful point to make about each qualification, such as the insight it lends or its influence on you.

For why you are pursuing the MBA, presumably the reason relates to your professional goals and objectives. However, do not focus only what you want to do, but also on what you want to accomplish for the organization and/or its customers/market.

Essay Question 1. The educational mission of the MIT Sloan School of Management is to “develop principled, innovative leaders who improve the world.” Please discuss how you will contribute toward advancing this mission based on examples of past work and activities. (500 words or less, limited to one page)

In answering this question, don’t neglect to clarify what “principled, innovative leader” and “improving the world” mean to you. These points represent your point of view, your “vision” in a sense – they should be short, but without them this essay lacks focus. (A similar essay question appeared last year, and in answering it people often assumed that everyone shares the same understanding on these points – hardly the case – resulting in bland presentations). The bulk of the essay will focus on action – your examples of past work and activities that make the case for how you have been and will continue to be a principled, innovative leader who improves the world. They key to making this a gripping, memorable essay is strong experiences and examples combined with your reflection on them in light of the essay’s theme. End by discussing how you will build on the experiences presented to be such a leader in the future – give a specific example or two of how this might manifest.

Essay Question 2. Please describe a time in the past five years when you had a significant organizational goal, but not enough time to achieve it. What were the main challenges and how did you approach them? (500 words or less, limited to one page)

The gist of this essay is decision making: if you lack the needed time to achieve a given goal, you have to decide – whether to change the goal and how, whether to push for more time and how, etc. Thus, this question captures both your thought process and your actions – how you framed the challenge in your mind, and then what steps you took. A straightforward storytelling approach is best. Start by describing the situation specifically (including the when, where, who, and why of the significant organizational goal). Then describe your perception of the situation, and your thought process of how you will address it. Next, describe what you did, weaving in your thoughts as the situation progresses, e.g., if one planned step didn’t work, how you adapted. This approach will naturally incorporate the main challenges and how you approached them.

Essay Question 3. Please describe a time when a peer disagreed with you. (500 words or less, limited to one page)

Another story; I suggest a straightforward narrative with your reflections, insights, and concerns woven into the story. Try to make this essay do double-duty – i.e., use a story that not only answers the question but that also portrays a beneficial aspect of your candidacy, say, a disagreement with a teammate on an important global project, or where you are disagreeing with a peer on an innovative new practice you are championing. Again, start with the details of the setting, and walk through the story, describing what happened, and adding details of interactions, your concerns, etc. at appropriate points. This may or may not have a “happy ending” – you don’t all have to be singing Kumbaya at the end. Sometimes a tough decision is needed to end a partnership, for example. But how you do it is the key. This question necessarily focuses closely on communication, interpersonal interactions, and leadership, but it also involves issues such as your resolve and ability to handle dissonance, make decisions, and balance competing interests, among others.

Deadlines: The application opens November 16. Applications are reviewed on a rolling basis and admissions decisions are usually made within 4-6 weeks of submission;.

If you would like help with MIT Sloan’s executive MBA essays, please consider Accepted.com’s MIT Sloan Executive MBA packages or our other MBA admissions consulting and MBA essay editing services.

By Cindy Tokumitsu, co-author of The EMBA Edge, and author of the free special report, “Ace the EMBA.”

Accepted.com’s experienced admissions consultants can help you create the most impressive application possible with comprehensive packages, or provide targeted assistance from picking perfect programs to designing a dazzling resume, constructing engaging essays, or preparing for intense interviews…and more! Accepted.com has guided thousands of applicants to acceptances at top MBA programs since 1994 – we know what works and what doesn’t, so contact us to get started now!

This article originally appeared on the Accepted Admissions Consulting Blog, the official blog of Accepted.com.

Instructions:

The Admissions Committee will consider carefully the answers to the following questions. Please complete all of the essay questions beginning your answer below each question and giving word counts for each answer. Once complete, please attach this document to your online application following the instructions given on the web form. For queries regarding the application form please email emba-office@london.ed

LBS EMBA 2013 Essay Questions:

Question 1 (500 words max)

Please qualify the content and scope of your management experience and/or exposure to decision making. How would this help you contribute effectively to the learning of your EMBA classmates?

This question gets at what you really are (and have been) accountable for – it gets past the position title, which can mask a lack of meaningful responsibility. Describe and give actual examples of your most significant decision-making, managerial responsibilities in your current and previous positions. Draw on the particulars of these roles to show ways you can contribute to your classmates’ learning; i.e., the insight you’ve gained from addressing the particular factors, constraints, circumstances, etc. of your industry, company, function, and so forth

Question 2 (500 words max)

Our students participate in the Executive MBA for many valid reasons. Please outline your career objectives and explain how London Business School’s Executive MBA would help you achieve them.

Since the preceding essay sets up nicely for this goals essay, you can start by describing briefly your immediate goals in your current role – after all these goals are part of what you’ll bring to the table at LBS, because you’ll be working on them during your studies. The bulk of the goals discussion will focus on your post-MBA goals. Present a trajectory of five to ten years – beyond that it becomes too speculative. In describing your goals at each given point, indicate why you are taking that step or pursuing that role. In discussing how the program will benefit you, be specific: describe what skills and knowledge you need, and how the program meets those needs. Refer to the structure and special features of the program, detailing how they will support you and your goals.

Question 3 (500 words max)

The Executive MBA will expose you to broader networks from outside your sector. Describe the current trends in your sector and how your organisation’s strategy is addressing them, ensuring that this not-specialist audience will be able to understand and learn from your perspectives.

With so much dynamism in the global business world and in almost every industry, thinking of possible trends to discuss won’t be hard. Rather, the hard part – the challenging part – is selecting which trends to discuss. I suggest focusing on two to three (not necessarily at equal length). Select trends that you have been directly involved in. Present your first-hand experience through anecdote, and then reflect on and give insight into the trend(s) based on that experience. This approach will avoid abstract or generalized (i.e., doze-inducing) discussion while simultaneously showcasing your distinctive experience and perspective.

Question 4 (300 words max)

Describe a piece of constructive feedback that you have received regarding an area of weakness. What was your response?

This is essentially a story; treat it as such – a straightforward approach is needed with only 300 words. Select a meaningful experience that further illuminates your character and/or your level of responsibilities. Summarize the situation that led to the feedback, then describe the feedback – be specific, who gave it, when/where, etc. Note how you responded – and importantly – action you took based on it. End with a statement about how this feedback has influenced you going forward.

Question 5 (500 words max)

If you could choose any three people who have ever lived to join you for dinner, whom would you invite and why?

First, a don’t – avoid Mahatma Ghandi and similar paragons. Look at this essay from the adcom’s view – they’ve read probably hundreds of such essays extolling the globe’s undisputed exemplars. Be creative in selecting three people who reflect various facets of you – and ideally people who will be new to the adcom, or at least not well known to them. If you can reveal relevant aspects of yourself while engaging the adcom with interesting people, you’ve got a hit with this essay. For each invitee, tell a little about him or her, clarify why they are important to you, and add a bit about what you’d expect them to contribute to the evening and/or what you’d like to discuss with or learn from them.

Deadlines:

Apply now to secure your place for the January 2013 intake of the Executive MBA. Early admission also means you can be considered for a scholarship.

The recommended application dates for the London and Dubai January 2013 intakes are:

By Cindy Tokumitsu, co-author of The EMBA Edge, and author of the free special report, “Ace the EMBA.”

If you would like help with London Business School’s executive MBA essays, please consider Accepted.com’s LBS Executive MBA Packages or our other MBA admissions consulting and MBA essay editing services.

Accepted.com’s experienced admissions consultants can help you create the most impressive application possible with comprehensive packages, or provide targeted assistance from picking perfect programs to designing a dazzling resume, constructing engaging essays, or preparing for intense interviews…and more! Accepted.com has guided thousands of applicants to acceptances at top MBA programs since 1994 – we know what works and what doesn’t, so contact us to get started now!

This article originally appeared on the Accepted Admissions Consulting Blog, the official blog of Accepted.com.

In a profile of professor Scott DeRue’s Advanced Leadership in Action: Kilimanjaro course, DeRue  explains how this unique on-the-ground experience will challenge students with high-impact leadership development exercises, and provides insight on how these lessons translate back at the office.

One of the key takeaways from the interview, which I heartily agree with, is that you can’t learn leadership from a book. DeRue points to abundant research supporting the theory that transformational experiences forge one’s leadership skills. So what, you may ask, is a transformational experience? The professor describes its five core features like this:

• The experience must present a person with novel situations that break habits and routines.
• The experience asks the person to facilitate change within a group or community.
• The experience puts the person in high-stakes, high-visibility situations where success and failure are consequential.
• The experience requires the person to work across boundaries and influence people without relying on formal authority.
• The experience challenges the person to work with diverse groups of people that have different cultural norms.

The climb up Mt. Kilamanjaro fits the bill and then some, DeRue explains, as it forces the team to confront physical and emotional challenges, as well as challenging group dynamics.  While professional guides will support the team, the students must transform themselves into a cohesive unit and establish trust among participants.

Each day of the climb, DeRue will devise specific team-building and leadership challenges, and as a group work together to connect and apply the lessons of those experiences to their professional lives.

“You are part of a diverse group of high-achieving individuals,” De Rue says, “But to succeed you have to become a team. You have to work together to make tough decisions. You really learn how to work together and leverage others to overcome adversity. It is the perfect laboratory for learning leadership.”

What do you think about the leadership lessons provided by a trek up Mt. Kilamanjaro? I’d love to hear reactions from my readers, so please leave a comment below.

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If you are looking for guidance on your MBA application, Stacy Blackman Consulting can help with hourly and comprehensive consulting services. Contact us to learn more. Visit the website for Stacy Blackman Reviews, and check out the company’s e-publications for more in depth school-by-school guidance.

The new program—tailored for executives averaging 12 years of professional experience—stresses a convenient, business-friendly schedule, with classes meeting every three weeks on Thursdays through Saturdays over the course of 19 months.

Students stay at a nearby hotel while attending classes, and most meals are provided.  The majority of sessions will be taught on the Berkeley-Haas campus, but other sessions–each with a special focus–will be held overseas and in various locations.

The program will include a campus-based lecture series;  study trips to Washington, D.C., and the entrepreneurial San Francisco/ Silicon Valley area; as well as a week-long, required international trip to Asia that will further deepen familiarity with problem framing tools and the innovation process applied to an international challenge.

“Our strength lies in teaching students how to bring fresh thinking and new ideas to every facet of the organization, and to motivate others to do so as well,” says Haas School Dean Rich Lyons.

“We do so by providing them with a set of tools that empowers them to enter any situation – no matter how ambiguous – and to find a way to frame the challenge and develop creative solutions from it.”

Students of the Berkeley MBA for Executives Program will be able to network with alumni of the Berkeley-Columbia Executive MBA, as well as the larger Berkeley-Haas alumni network of 40,000 undergraduate, MBA, financial engineering and PhD students around the world.

 Recruiting for the first class begins with information sessions in Berkeley on August 30th and in San Francisco on September 13th. The program will enroll its first class in May 2013.

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If you are looking for guidance on your MBA application, Stacy Blackman Consulting can help with hourly and comprehensive consulting services. Contact us to learn more. Visit the website for Stacy Blackman Reviews, and check out the company’s e-publications for more in depth school-by-school guidance.