Several impressions and take-aways for applicants from the different events and sessions:

MIT Sloan Panels:

From the MIT panels it is clear that MIT is looking for demonstrated success academically and professionally.  The latter translates into success or professional progression that is better than the norm for your peers. In terms of those fuzzy attributes and personal characteristics that schools talk about, Sloan wants to see drive; an ability to build relationships and influence others;  and the establishment, pursuit and achievement of goals.  A few details about the individual programs:

1. 100% of the MFin grads have jobs this year, this program’s inaugural graduating class.
2. The EMBA is a program for those in mid-management with a demonstrated record of success who either want to advance in their career or make a slight career change without leaving their job.  Neither sponsorship nor the GMAT is required. (the latter may be requested if MIT has questions about the applicant’s quant skills.)
3. The LGO program focuses on managing the global production and distribution of goods and services. It is a joint, quant-heavy 24-month program between MIT Sloan and MIT’s School of Engineering. Participants earn both an MBA and an MS in Engineering.

We also heard two presentations by MIT Sloan professors. If you have any doubt that MIT Sloan is serious about innovation and global reach, abandon them. The creativity and global impact evident in just these two hours would force you to reshape your views.

Impressions from Conference Day 2 (Multiple presentations by various schools reps)

• Schools and admissions committee members look at different elements when they evaluate an application.  Pay attention to the nuances.
• Your informal and personally identifiable interactions with school admissions personnel are highly revealing. They COUNT! Arrogance at any point in time is a death knell for your application (and most relationships too.) Rudeness to a receptionist is a ding. What qualities impress positively? In your essays and interviews, reveal dignity, generosity of spirit, self-awareness, authenticity, and consideration of others. These qualities cannot be faked or “spun.”
• Regarding financial aid, merit aid tends to go to the top X% based on academic stats. Generally, when evaluating fellowship essays, the readers do not refer to your application essays. Poor credit can prevent you from obtaining the loans necessary for you to attend the school of your dreams if merit aid and your resources don’t cover the tab; get your credit in order before you apply.
• Regarding career development, the MBA employment picture improved throughout 2009-10. Read the employment reports for schools before you decide to apply and certainly before you decide to attend; you need to know school strengths as revealed in these reports. Understand the role of the career services staff (educating students about effective career planning and job search) and the limitations of that role. (They don’t create or find jobs for you.) Networking, which is about building relationships not the size of your contact list, is more important than ever. In order to build relationships, you must move beyond email.

Harvard Business School

At Harvard, we enjoyed an interactive two-hour presentation that was stimulating and engaging. To the extent it reflected the dynamism of the Harvard educational experience, I was extremely impressed.

This visit clarified for me that Harvard’s unparalleled brand is not just a matter of US News Rankings or smoke-and-mirrors branding.  At the same time, HBS is not for everyone, but like any top graduate program, it can be a fantastic experience for the right individuals.

Before the conference started my husband and I met with an acquaintance who is a professor at HBS. The professor was curious about my work, and I was curious about his. He asked me what I believe distinguishes Harvard students from the rest of the applicant pool. I thought for a moment and replied, “Leadership and impact.” He smiled, and the conversation moved on. Just before leaving, I asked him, “From your perspective as an HBS professor, what is a common quality shared by HBS students?” He replied, “I smiled when you answered my question because the students come from incredibly diverse backgrounds. However, if I have to identify a common thread, it would be leadership and impact.” If you are serious about attending Harvard Business School, make sure you demonstrate leadership and impact.

Reflections and Thank yous

It is our job as admissions consultants to help you choose the best target programs and show that you  belong at your chosen schools. The candor and graciousness shown by the hosting schools as well as by the presenting admissions directors will help Accepted’s staff do exactly that.

I am proud to report that Accepted’s staff was well represented at  the conference. In addition to myself, Jennifer Bloom, Paul Bodine, Judy Gruen, Tanis Kmetyk, Cindy Tokumitsu, and Robbie Walker attended.

Profound thanks to the hosts and presenters as well as to AIGAC, led by Graham Richmond of Clear Admit, and specifically to Maxx Duffy of Maxx Associates and Anna Ivey of Ivey Consulting who co-chaired the event. Thanks also to the sponsors: Veritas Prep, Clear Admit, Hult International Business School, Manhattan GMAT, MBA Podcaster, and Zoom Interviews

Learn More: Best MBA Programs: A Guide to Choosing the One for You.

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

Despite these significant drops in job offers, the recent GMAC Corporate Recruiters Survey show that this year’s graduating class expressed much more confidence in the economy. In 2009, only 9% of MBA graduates felt that the global economy was strong, or at least stable, while 2010 findings show that 33% exude such confidence.

According to the survey, this optimism is due to the fact “that employers are shifting away from an emphasis on  cost-cutting and retrenchment, devoting more attention to expanding their businesses—and growing increasingly likely to hire business school graduates.”

David Wilson, GMAC president and CEO, says, “While the job market may be cyclical, the value of management education is constant.”

The press release also lists other major findings from the Graduate Management Education Graduate Survey, including:

1. The most popular industries among the Class of 2010 are finance and accounting
2. The second most popular industries are products/services and consulting
3. The highest success rate was found among students entering the manufacturing sector.
4. The second most successful industries are healthcare and energy/utilities.
5. Most than half of graduates expect to work in a different field upon graduation than before starting their MBA programs.

The survey also compared job offers and salaries by citizenship. See the chart on the GMAC press release for more information.

Meanwhile, over at Bloomberg Businessweek, a related article (”The MBA Job Picture Brightens“), indicates that while optimism may be on the rise, that positive attitude is only prevalent at top-tier schools. Recruiting opportunities at MIT Sloan, for example, picked up 40% this year, back to 2007 recruiting standards. Harvard Business School and Chicago Booth, the latter of which reported that 80% of its graduates had landed full-time jobs upon graduation, also experienced upticks in recruiting and in job offers.

But the fact that the top ten business schools are experiencing a rush of job landing success doesn’t help the rest of the MBA world. The job outlook for grads at most MBA programs is still bleak.

The BW article points out one more thing: While MBAs at top schools may be having an easier time finding jobs this year than last, the salaries at those jobs are not up to par with those of 2007. According to Chris Branin, a recent UVA Darden graduate, “It’s much easier to find a $50,000 a year analyst position somewhere than it is to find those jobs that come with an $80,000, $90,000, or $100,000 salary. My feeling is that it’s not really hard to find a job. I think what is difficult now is to find the jobs MBAs are expecting to see when they graduate.”

Also, obvious as it may be, the article reviews how graduates from top tier MBA programs not only have an easier time finding jobs, but finding jobs with higher salaries.

Related Accepted.com Blog Posts:

• GMAC Releases Results from 2010 Corporate Recruiters Survey
• GMAC Releases Global Management Education Graduate Survey Results
• B-School Students See Light at the End of the Job Market Tunnel
• GMAC: MBA Employers Express Job Market Optimism

Want our news sent directly to your inbox? Subscribe to the Accepted Admissions Almanac by clicking here!

• Harvard Business School, Yale SOM, Northwestern Kellogg, Chicago Booth, and Michigan Ross are all either in the midst of searching for or have just hired new deans. B-schools around the country are trying to revamp their programs, ramp up fundraising, and freshen the face of leadership in an effort to restore “the tarnished reputations of business schools,” states an article in the Wall Street Journal, “B-Schools Try Makeover.” We’ve discussed the MBA makeover quite a bit in this blog; see the following articles for more information: “The MBA Oath: Where Business and Ethics Meet…Maybe,” “B-Schools Implement Reform Long in the Making,” “Haas’ New Image: ‘Developing Innovative Leaders,’” “Chicago’s Ted Snyder To Become Dean of Yale SOM in 2011,” “Kellogg Names NYU Stern’s Sally Blount New Dean,” “HBS News: Dean Light to Retire,” and “Ross Sad to See Dolan Go.”

• A related article (”Changing Course” in The Economist) also highlights changes b-schools have made to heighten ethical awareness, modernize and make more relevant curricula, and to churn out good people, as well as good businessmen. HBS’s MBA Oath has taken a front seat in this discussion, as well as Berkeley Haas‘ curriculum reform. Haas’ Dean Lyons says, “This feels like exactly the time for a business school to take values seriously—not just post them on the wall, but to really go for it.” Lyons explains that the MBA Oath, while a good idea, needs to be transformed from a b-school conversation into an integral part of universal culture. Enforcing the important role of strong, innovative leaders is also at the forefront of Dean Lyon’s evolving strategy.

Related Accepted.com MBA Resources:

• B-School Zones
• Submit a Stellar Application: 42 Terrific Tips, an instantly downloadable ebook
• Navigate the MBA Maze, a free email course

Want our news sent directly to your inbox? Subscribe to the Accepted Admissions Almanac by clicking here



Accepted.com ~ Helping You Write Your Best

An article in Boston.com, “Executive honor,” explains that business school students and graduates are achieving this lofty goal by encouraging new business leaders to take a simple oath pledging ethical behavior in their careers, not unlike new doctors who pledge their honor with the Hippocratic Oath.

The MBA Oath, an affirmation of ethical business behavior, was created by two professors at Harvard Business School, Nitin Nohria (who has since been named HBS dean) and Rakesh Khurana. But even before the oath had been accepted nation-wide as the MBA graduation creed, other schools had instituted their own pledges (including honor codes at the Thunderbird School of Management and Columbia Business School).

The MBA Oath is to attempts “to create…a value system for business—to turn management into a profession with aims beyond simply keeping share prices high.”

Critics of such a creed say the oath is just “fuzzy thinking.” In order to grow the economy, they say, businesspeople need to keep their eyes on the prize—keeping share prices high is what serves the greater good ultimately (at least economically). Articulating ethical standards is not only ineffective, but may even serve as an obstacle.

The supporters of the oath point to the Hippocratic Oath for support. This code of professional conduct provides the power to shape and form ethical behavior in the medical field. Since the beginning of time people and institutions have developed—and then clung to—verbal oaths and codes to prevent the breaking of boundaries from becoming a common or accepted occurrence. Some believe that the simple act of taking an oath—not to mention ceremonializing it—is enough to reinforce the values reflected in the oath.

That being said, nobody is so naïve as to believe that an oath alone will fix all of the ethical problems that business faces. Instead, MBA Oath supporters “see it as a first step in the larger project of ‘professionalizing’ the practice of management—turning it into a field, like law or architecture, whose practitioners are united not only specialized knowledge buy a shared set of values beyond personal enrichment.”

The MBA Oath (the most popular of the b-school honor codes) has made an international impact: The United Nations and the World Economic Forum are working with some HBS graduates to create “The Oath Project,” a website that currently has 2,800 pledges from b-school students around the world.

Not all b-school graduates sign the MBA Oath. The question is still out—what will putting people before profit motives do to the field of business and to the economy? Thinking beyond profits is nice, and maybe even essential, but is it good for business?

Related Accepted.com Resources:

• B-School Zones
• B-Schools Implement Reform Long in the Making
• How Business Schools Have Failed Business
• B-School Ethics

Want our news sent directly to your inbox? Subscribe to the Accepted Admissions Almanac by clicking here!

Accepted.com ~ Helping You Write Your Best

Top western business schools are also working to extend their reach to diverse and non-traditional b-school zones. Esade, for example, will be starting a manager training program in Cuba in an effort to expand its global footprint and to help build-up a developing business school education.

One thing schools are doing to strengthen their relationships with clients and other global programs is to take advantage of modern technology by distributing course materials online. IMD, Harvard Business School, and Wharton are leaders in this area. These programs are able to expand their executive education programs (at home and abroad) because of the simple technology of videoconferencing.

Such short programs in these far corners of the world have trouble attracting course participants, faculty/scholars, and corporate clients, but, according to Kim Taylor-Thompson, chief executive of Duke Corporate Education, optimism is on the rise. “There is an uptick. We’ve hit the bottom and we’re on the way up.”

Related Accepted.com Resources:

• Executive MBA: Applying to EMBA Programs
• Ace the EMBA: Admissions Advice for EMBA Applicants, a free, 6-day email course.
• The EMBA Edge: A Guide to EMBA Admissions, an instantly downloadable ebook.

Want our news sent directly to your inbox? Subscribe to the Accepted Admissions Almanac by clicking here!



Accepted.com ~ Helping You Write Your Best

Robert Dammon, CMU Tepper associate dean and professor, explains the price-wage connection: “The kinds of students that the best schools attract are going to get the highest-paying jobs.”

Paul R. Dorf, managing director of the consulting firm, Compensation Resources, adds, “The cream-of-the-crop companies hire the cream-of-the-crop grads.”

Top-ranked b-schools generally offer the most expensive programs and generally churn out the highest paid graduates. Harvard Business School, for example, has the most expensive MBA program, and the best paid alumni.

PayScale, a salary-comparison company, recently evaluated salary data of 23,000 MBA graduates from Bloomberg Businessweek’s top 45 American business schools.

Their data shows that on average, MBAs from top programs make $2.5 million (base-pay plus bonuses) over the course of 20 years in a single industry. HBS alumni make closer to $4 million, while alumni from lower ranked programs (but still in the top 45) like Iowa Tippie, make less than half of that.

Another interesting comparison between the higher ranked and lower ranked programs was the growth of salary over the two-decade period. Graduates from Yale SOM, for example, were awarded with extremely high starting salaries, but then experienced only small increases over the following 20 years. Grads from University of Connecticut’s business school, on the other hand, received lower starting salaries that more than doubled over that same 20-year period.

Below are the top median salaries earned after less than 2 years out of b-school and then the estimated career total for a 20-year long career:

Related Accepted.com Resources:

• B-School Zones
• The Rankings: An Accepted.com Special Report
• Forbes ROI MBA Rankings for 2010
• BusinessWeek’s Top 10 Undergraduate Business Schools with the Best Returns on Investment

Want our news sent directly to your inbox? Subscribe to the Accepted Admissions Almanac by clicking here!

Accepted.com ~ Helping You Write Your Best

The option to take the GRE instead of the GMAT exam is a somewhat recent development. What began as a trend (started by Stanford GSB) among a few schools has exploded into an almost-standard option available at 27% of the U.S. News‘ 433 b-schools on the Best Business School rankings report. More than 300 b-schools total accept the GRE as a GMAT alternative (including those not included in the U.S. News rankings).

This expanded option allows b-schools to widen their applicant pool, attracting potential MBAs from other GRE-required graduate paths.

US News ranked b-schools that now accept the GRE include:

1. (tie) Harvard Business School and Stanford Graduate School of Business
3. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Sloan)
7. Dartmouth College (Tuck)
9. New York University (Stern)
11. Yale University
13. University of Virginia (Darden)
14. Duke University (Fuqua)
16. University of Texas—Austin (McCombs)
19. Washington University in St. Louis (Olin)

According to David Payne, VP and COO at ETS, accepting the GRE is a smart move, specifically from a business perspective. “At no cost to the schools,” he says, “it allows them to increase the size and diversity of their applicant pool.” More than 600,000 people take the GRE every year, while only 270,000 take the GMAT.

Both tests have experienced an increase in the number of test takers every year for the last six years.

Advantages to test-takers of the move of b-schools to accept the GRE include:

• The GRE costs about $110 less than the GMAT.
• Students who wish to apply to both b-school and another graduate or PhD program can do so easily (and affordably) by taking only one test.
• Those with weaker quant skills will have an easier time navigating the GRE’s math section than that of the GMAT.

Related Accepted.com Blog Posts:

• More B-Schools Accepting GRE in Lieu of GMAT
• GMAT or GRE: Which is Best for You?
• Record GMAT Registration Volume in 2009
• GMAT Advice

Want our news sent directly to your inbox? Subscribe to the Accepted Admissions Almanac by clicking here!

Accepted.com ~ Helping You Write Your Best

My tips are in red:

As an opportunity to present your distinctive qualities, your essays are an important part of your MBA application. You will be asked to submit your personal statements online with the balance of your application materials. Essays should be single-spaced. Please limit your response to the length indicated.

All applicants must submit answers to four essay questions. The first two questions are required of all applicants. The remaining two essays should be in response to your choice of the next four sub-questions.

Joint program applicants for the Harvard Medical School, Harvard School of Dental Medicine, Harvard Law School, and Harvard Kennedy School must provide an additional essay.

ESSAYS:

Essay 1- What are your three most substantial accomplishments and why do you view them as such? (600-word limit)

This is practically Harvard’s signature question. It has been around for years, and it goes to the heart of Harvard’s values. HBS wants highly accomplished individuals entering its program. It wants leaders.

At least one and probably two of the three accomplishments should show leadership and/or teamwork with the emphasis being on leadership. I also like to have this essay reveal breadth. My ideal would be to have one professional, one community, and one personal accomplishment in this essay, but that breakdown is neither set in stone nor imperative.

Finally, realize that the “why” is as important as the “what.” Think about why you view those events as “substantial accomplishments,” and concisely convey those reasons in your response.

Essay 2- What have you learned from a mistake? (400-word limit)

People of initiative err. They must learn from those mistakes to be effective leaders.

A friend went to her daughter’s graduation and quoted the valedictory address, “In school you learn lessons and then take tests. In life, you have tests and then learn lessons.” If you view your mistakes as experiments, lessons, or tests, you can grow and make sure you don’t repeat the failures. Show HBS through this essay that you are the kind of person who learns from your mistakes.

Again, try to have this question reveal you making your mistake, preferably in a leadership capacity, and applying lessons learned in a sphere of your life not covered by other essays. In the best HBS applications, each essay uncovers a different facet of the applicant and his or her experience. Together they paint a portrait of a dynamic, talented leader with initiative and exceptional ability.

Essay 3-Please respond to two of the following (400-word limit each):

1- What would you like the MBA Admissions Board to know about your undergraduate academic experience?

This question was originally mandatory, but has been optional for the last several years. When introduced, I thought it was going to produce monotonous, boring essays, but it didn’t. To my pleasant surprise, I reviewed several of these essays as part of our quality control program, and they were revealing, excellent essays. They have remained so.

This question reflects Harvard’s interest in early career applicants and really gives them a chance to shine. This essay also can give you an opportunity to show a pattern of leadership over time, especially if you are not an early career applicant.

Obviously responses will vary depending on your experience and the rest of your application, but my ideal answer discusses a leadership experience from your undergrad career to show that you are a natural leader with a history of leadership. Remember: HBS wants to develop leaders, not create them.

2- What is your career vision and why is this choice meaningful to you?

Harvard is one of the few top business schools that has made the goals question optional. And even this one is a little different than the typical “What do you want to do and why do you want to do it?” The interesting twist to Harvard’s question is “career vision.” Reflecting Harvard’s focus on strategy, Harvard is asking you to develop your career strategy and discuss its importance to you. But don’t leave your answer entirely on a theoretical plane. Bring it down to earth with your plan for implementing that vision. In other words writing that you seek “a career leading an innovative enterprise, providing work-life balance, and allowing me the opportunity to contribute to my community” sounds great. But it will also sound a lot like other people’s visions. You need to have some idea of how to achieve that vision, define it more narrowly, and explain why it resonates with you.

For more on the concept of vision, please see “The Parable of the Three Stone Masons.” I believe that HBS is attempting to identify those who are like the third stonemason — perhaps with less religious fervor but with well… that kind of vision. They are still working hard, with feet on the ground, but they radiate enthusiasm for a distant goal and pride in their ability to contribute to something much larger than themselves.

3- Tell us about a time in your professional experience when you were frustrated or disappointed.

This question replaces last year’s question about difficult decisions and is both a little broader and narrower than its predecessor.  It is broader in the sense that frustration and disappointment can stem from situation stat you have little control over. Your decision may not have been a factor at all. (Think of those people stuck at airports or in foreign cities because of the Iceland volcano. Lots of frustration and disappointment; Almost no control or decision-making ability.) It’s narrower in the sense that it is limited to your “professional experience.”

Back to the question. Where in your professional life have you experienced frustration or disappointment? More importantly, how did your react? Did you calmly analyze your options? Control your emotions or perhaps channel that negative energy into an effective response that eliminated the cause of the frustration and disappointment? Did you really your colleagues? Put the source of frustration in perspective and thereby shrink the challenge? How did you handle it?

4- When you join the HBS Class of 2013, how will you introduce yourself to your new classmates?

This too is a new question, albeit a variation on last year’s question that asked you to introduce yourself to the Admissions Board.

Have some fun with this question. You can choose to reflect a non-professional and non-academic side of you here, because most of the other questions are fairly directed to work and school. You can also use this essay to show that you have researched extra-curricular life at HBS.  Would you seek someone to train with you for your next triathalon, perhaps participating in the Triathalon Club? Would you be interested in finding travel mates for one of Harvard’s Global, Field-Based Immersions? Which of the 70+ clubs appeal to you? Would you ask your classmates to meet for coffee and perhaps discuss an idea for a new conference or club? Would you take an entirely different approach and discuss something having nothing to do with HBS?

If you would like help with your Harvard MBA application, please consider Accepted’s MBA essay editing and admissions consulting or a Harvard MBA Premier Package, which includes advising, essay editing, interview coaching, and a resume edit for the Harvard MBA application.

Final suggestion, actually from Dee Leopold, Director of Harvard’s MBA Admissions, watch the video Inside the HBS Case Method.

Harvard HBS 2011 MBA Application Deadlines

Additional Accepted.com Resources

• As social media penetrates the business world, business schools have no choice but to jump on the bandwagon and make sure that their students are well equipped with social media knowledge, reports the New York Times article, “Business Schools Respond to Demand for Use of Social Media.” Top b-schools, including Harvard Business School, INSEAD, and London Business School, are now incorporating social media material into their MBA curriculums. Anthony Salcito, VP of worldwide education at Microsoft, explains that as businesses adopt and adapt to the commercial value of social media networks, universities need to keep their students up to speed on the profitable potential of internet marketing.

Related Accepted.com MBA Resources:

• B-School Zones
• Navigating the MBA Maze, an ecourse.
• Submit a Stellar Application: 42 Terrific Tips, an instantly downloadable ebook.
• MBA BlastOff: 45 Terrific Tips to Launch Your MBA Application, an instantly downloadable ebook.

Want our news sent directly to your inbox? Subscribe to the Accepted Admissions Almanac by clicking here!

Accepted.com ~ Helping You Write Your Best

“I work hard and I work quickly,” Prahalad told Adi Ignatius, Harvard Business Review blogger, when asked how a single man could create so much literature. “But once I’m done with a project, I like to move on to a new one, and leave it to my collaborators to deal with the legacy of the last one.”

C.K. Prahalad was known as a management guru around the world and was perhaps made most popular by his theory about “the fortune at the bottom of the pyramid,” a concept that is followed by many emerging market corporations. His book, The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid: Eradicating Poverty through Profits was a New York Times bestseller and was what catapulted him to management fame.

In “C.K. Prahalad: Thoughts and Remembrances,” a Wall Street Journal article dedicated to “one of the world’s best-known management experts and authors,” the dean of the Indian School of Business, Ajit Rangnekar, says of his experience with Prahalad: “He has always been a close friend and inspiration for the school. We have been motivated by his philosophy to reach out and make a difference to the people who have remained untouched by the fruits of economic growth.”

Prahalad was a graduate of Harvard Business School class of ‘72. He spent much of his career on the faculty at Michigan’s Ross School of Business.

Prahalad was a man widely respected and appreciated. “He had the rarest of combinations: deep insights coupled with compassion and practical relevance,” explains Morten T. Hansen on the Harvard Business Review’s special memorial website. “His path was not one filled with trivial academic articles but one of big ideas that moved leaders, academics and the world.”



Accepted.com ~ Helping You Write Your Best