Prestige
Prestige is not the same thing as “ranking”. A business school can be ranked as a “top-5” business school in one year and be only a “top-7” business school the very next year. Rankings can fluctuate greatly, even year to year. They can also be notably different based upon which organization provided the ranking. However, the “brand” you pick up from the business school you attend can continue on and on, regardless of ranking.

When considering which business school to apply to or to attend, focusing solely on business school rankings rather than also on the long-term prestige of each school can be shortsighted. For instance, when a student who intends to pursue a career outside of the USA must choose between NYU and Oxford, they must think hard about prestige. NYU is a well-ranked business school, but Oxford’s prestige on the whole is gold, even if the business school could improve its ranking. The prestige of an Oxford degree might outweigh the strong ranking of NYU’s business school for a candidate who will be pursuing their career outside of the USA. For a candidate who will pursue their career in the USA, when considering a choice between a respectable regional school and a nationally ranked school, prestige should also be considered. If you intend to move around the USA during your career, the more prestigious nationally ranked school may serve you better. But prestige is a subjective matter. In the South, for instance, Duke’s name carries far and may open more doors than an MBA from the University of Chicago, because in the South, Booth may not be as widely known in spite of its strong national ranking.

Career and Alumni
When applying to business school and also when choosing which business school to attend, you should have a general sense of where you want to take your career post-MBA, both in the years immediately following your graduation as well as in ten or twenty years. Companies that recruit on campus usually have a target list of “core schools” and longstanding relationships with those career management offices. More often than not, your degree is only a stepping stone towards what you want to do later in life. In many cases, you will have two or three job changes in your first post-MBA decade. It is during those crucial moments when your network can make a difference. Many schools offer lifelong career support. Alumni will often favor job candidates from their own school. Your classmates will start companies or rise to senior positions in various industries and offer resources, networks and career advice. Consider the school that will best help to fulfill your career aspirations.

Other significant factors to consider include the academics, culture, student life and financial assistance. I can comment about these factors in a separate posting.

Best wishes,
Shelly Watts
MBA Admit.com

http://www.mbaadmit.com

Write a Letter Restating Your Interest
If the school is your first choice, make it clear to the admissions committee that you will attend if accepted. Schools often use the waitlist to manage enrollment for the coming year, and would like to achieve a high conversion rate when they extend offers of acceptance.

Secure Another Letter of Recommendation
Seek an additional letter of recommendation from someone who can attest to your leadership and character. You can ask someone senior at your work or a key leader at an organization where you provide notable community leadership. You can consider securing a recommendation from an alumni member of the school in question, particularly if the alumni member has gone on to achieve notable success. The ideal additional recommendation letters will shed light on a new dimension to your applicant profile that wasn’t evident in your previous letters.

Address New Accomplishments
Let the school know if you have been promoted at work or if you have taken on a leadership role with a non-profit organization. You should let the admissions committee know if you received an employee recognition award. Let the committee know if you are shouldering more responsibilities at work or are helping to lead a new company initiative.

Improve Shortcomings
Directly address shortcomings of your application. If your GMAT score is lower than ideal, for instance, consider retaking the GMAT and showing improvement. If you lack an analytical background, take a math class at your local college and earn an “A.” The admissions committee will appreciate your commitment to improving your qualifications.

Visit Campus
Visiting the school can signal to the admissions committee that you’re serious about attending the program. In your letter, explain how the visit demonstrated that you were a good match for the school, how the specific program would help you achieve your long-term goals, and how you can contribute as a member of the community.

Best wishes,
Dr. Shelly Watts
www.mbaadmit.com
email: mbaadmit@aol.com

Here is an excerpt from the Q&A:

Linda Abraham: Can you give, perhaps, one or two guidelines for sending in updates, letters of recommendation, attempting to visit? Is there some guideline you can give waitlisted applicants to Cornell Johnson?

Randall Sawyer: Applicants that are on the waitlist, those who call us every day, or every fifth day, or every week, that is a little much. We can get those [types of] students. That is really the quickest way to come off the waitlist with a “deny” because I have a very dedicated team here at the Johnson School, and many of the students that are on this call have interacted with them. They work very hard to bring in a great class, but taking a phone call every week or needing to call that person back is very taxing because we have 200 people on the waitlist right now. So imagine us getting 200 calls every week to just talk about the waitlist.

The best advice that I can give is to return the waitlist sheet that you have; sign it and return it so that you will stay on the waitlist. And then when something new happens in your life associated with applying to business school, send us an update by email. You can send that to your file manager. Say, “Hey, I just got promoted at work,” or “I was employer of the month,” or “I’ve just completed my finance class”; something like that – something new and noteworthy. Send that, and the file manager will add it to the file, and then when we review the waitlist, we will take a look at that.

Linda Abraham: I’m going to add something here. Every interaction that an applicant has with a school demonstrates their judgment and their character. And applicants, if you are showing a lack of judgment in terms of your interaction by wasting the school’s time, as Randall said, it is going to lead to a “deny”. What you are submitting has to be adding value and perspective and insight into your qualifications and your fit with the Cornell Johnson School.

Randall Sawyer: If I could just add to that to reaffirm your statement, in every phone call, every email, every conversation with students, we are judging you and evaluating you. So if you come across unprofessional or professional, or if you come in or call in, and are rude to my staff, we will take note of that. So understand that there are a lot of eyes on you every time that you contact the office. I don’t want that to make people afraid; I want them to use that to empower themselves to be professional, and to understand that Marcie, the receptionist out front, she and I talk every day about students that come in. And the same goes for the file managers. If someone calls up and has a fit with them, I hear that as well, so be careful.

View the full Cornell Johnson Waitlist Q&A transcript or listen to the mp3 recording of the event now or subscribe to the Apple iTunes MBA Admissions Podcast. If you like the podcast, please leave a 5-star review.



Accepted.com ~ Helping You Write Your Best

It’s April Fools Day so I feel like being a pundit, which is not that far removed from being a fool. The main difference between pundits and fools: Pundits are right, and fools are wrong. However events will determine which category the pontificator falls into long after the prediction is forgotten.

In any case, here are my predictions for application volume in various specialities:

• MBA application volume at the top 20 schools will increase in 2011-12. Recruiting is going well this year says the rumor mill, and reliable sources too. The economic news is predominantly upbeat. Barring some major catastrophe, like oil going to $200 a barrel or Japan taking a greater hit from the earthquake/tsunami/nuclear reactor meltdown than is anticipated now, good news will to dominate, and applications to business school are going to increase.
• The insanity in college admissions at elite schools will continue. More applicants applying to more colleges so acceptance rates continue to tank, making the programs look increasingly exclusive. And causing parents to become increasingly gray while their anxious offspring bite their nails and worse.
• Law school application volume will also continue to tank until the associate job market comes back. I am a big supporter of transparency in law school recruiting reports. I hope and believe that the nascent trends towards more transparency, more practical legal education, and greater realism among applicants who will insist on looking at the costs along with the potential benefits of a legal education, will continue, albeit slowly and with a lot of kicking and screaming along the way.
• Medical application volume. I don’t expect significant change.

So let me know whether I am a fool or a pundit.

By Linda Abraham, Accepted’s president and founder.

April Fool photo by baejaar

I just finished Seth Godin’s Poke the Box, an ode to initiative, innovation, and overcoming fear of risk and failure. In this short book, which Godin alternately and accurately refers to as a “manifesto” and a “rant,” he motivates the reader to just do it. Get going. In Godin’s words, “I’m merely encouraging you to start. Often. Forever. Be the one who starts things.”

I have had an idea percolating in my head for several months. But I hadn’t started. The idea has to do with MBA careers and MBA students, but inertia, and fear of rejection and failure were winning. I had more palatable and less honest excuses too: I was moving cautiously. I was busy. I had to check my email, Facebook, Twitter. Go to the gym. … You can probably imagine the list yourself.

As I finished Godin’s book, I decided to just do it. And I have started. I haven’t finished or “shipped” in Godin’s terms, but hopefully you will see the fruits of my start in a few weeks right here.

I poked the box. Now it’s your turn. While I am not sure Godin is a big fan of grad school or graduate business education, despite his MBA from Stanford GSB, Godin’s message is particularly pertinent for 2012 applicants.

Yes. You should start. This week. Today. Now.

Here are a few suggestions for 2012 graduate school applicants:

1. Register for the GMAT, MCAT, LSAT, or whatever test is required of you, as well as the relevant prep course, if you haven’t already done so. You want to get the test out of the way and you want as high a score as possible. (See the video below “3 Action Items for 2012 Graduate School Applicants” from Eye on Admissions for a my mild rant on this topic and other suggestions to start your 2012 application. Now.)
2. If you are an MBA applicant who will need to write a goals essay or someone who will need to write a statement of purpose for grad school, research your goal/purpose. Email 3 people to request an informational interview about your field so that you can clarify your reasons for pursuing graduate study and your intended path for achieving your goals.
3. Assess your qualifications and begin to shortlist schools based on your goals and qualifications.
4. I wouldn’t start writing application essays or personal statements yet, but I would create a file where you can jot down ideas for topics to include, notes from your informational interviews, and thoughts about schools and possible essays topics.

As I read Poke the Box, I also thought of the many programs, especially top MBA programs that ask applicants about times they took a risk or their response to failure. Understandably, applicants squirm when they have to respond to these questions.

Stop squirming. Godin has something empowering to say on this point too. “Change is powerful, but change always comes with failure as its partner. ‘This might not work’ isn’t merely something to be tolerated; it’s something you should seek out.” Failure is a tough partner to embrace, but embrace it nonetheless. It is Initiative’s significant other.

So whether you are facing memories of failure or fear of failure, just start. And consistently plow forward. Poke your box.

By Linda Abraham, Accepted’s founder and president.

• Another article about the Wharton School (this time from London’s Times Higher Education) focuses on the changes the top b-school has made to increase its global footprint. The MBA program has established week-long modules that take students to places around the globe and that provide them with a first-hand look at global business issues. An emphasis on social impact is another key element to Wharton’s recent curriculum overhaul and is further discussed in the article.

• Last but not least, BusinessWeek recently published an article about how to make the most of business school rankings, a subject that we at Accepted.com have discussed quite a bit (for example, see our free special report, MBA Rankings). According to the BW article, b-school applicants rely too heavily on the published rankings — that is, the numbered position of each school on the list — rather than the information that accompanies the rankings. Linda Abraham, CEO of Accepted.com, is quoted in the article saying, “Stop thinking of them as rankings of anything. They are collections of data and surveys. They are opinions.” Later on in the article Linda advices applicants to use the information only in their preliminary school research and only alongside additional research like the programs’ websites and conversations with students and alumni. Please read the BW article and the MBA Rankings special report for more information on how you should approach the rankings.

Accepted.com ~ Helping You Write Your Best

In short, you’re going to need to provide the best answers possible to the application essay questions.

Accepted’s newest special report, Top Executive MBA Program Essay Questions: How to Answer Them Right, will help you answer the required and optional essay questions on top executive MBA applications thoroughly, thoughtfully, and compellingly.

View or download Top Executive MBA Program Essay Questions now!

Accepted.com ~ Helping You Write Your Best

If you’re considering applying to HEC’s MBA program, then you should definitely read the full transcript. In the meantime, here’s an excerpt from the HEC MBA Q&A:

Linda Abraham: Konstantin asks, “How can applicants with no international professional experience demonstrate their “international profile”?”

Marie-Laurence Lemaire: That’s a very interesting question. To that question I always answer, especially in some regions of the world where there is a huge melting pot of communities, that although you have a nationality, you might not have the culture of that nationality. Sometimes you may have been brought up with a double culture. You may have been brought up with parents coming from two different cultures. Or maybe you’ve been brought up in a country which is not the country where you were born, so you have this exposure to international backgrounds. So your international focus is not necessarily professional; it can also be personal.

Linda Abraham: Ankit asks, “Is the number of years of work experience considered from the time of joining the program or from the time of application?”

Marie-Laurence Lemaire: We will always consider the years of experience at the time of entering the program. Let’s say that you apply for the January 2012 intake today and you have just two and a half years of work experience, don’t be too scared of applying because we will consider all your work experience until you join the program.

Linda Abraham: Sergiu asks, “Could you please tell us more about the bilingual option of the program as well as the dual degree? Does it have an impact on admission?” I’m assuming he is asking here whether it impacts admission if you express interest in those programs. So could you tell us about the two options to start with?

Marie-Laurence Lemaire: Just to answer very quickly on the admission, there is no impact whatsoever if you tick the box that you want to do a dual degree or a bilingual track. This has no effect on your application. I’d just like to define dual degrees and the bilingual section. They are really two different things. The bilingual section is meant for people with very good knowledge of French, who would really like to acquire business expertise and business language on a specific subject. So for people with a very good knowledge of French, if they want to work in France, I’d advise you to go for the dual degree option because it will really give you a very specific language in the topics that we’ll cover in French, and it will give you a really solid background in the specific topics. So it is very interesting for people who would like to work in France.

The dual degree programs that we offer are quite specific and we have quite a large number of partners around the world — in the US, in Asia, and we also have partners in Europe. How this dual degree works is that most of the time for most of the partners that we have, you earn two MBAs. You start either at HEC or at the partner school. You do fundamental classes at whichever university, and then you move to the second university for the personalized space of your MBA. At the end, you will earn two MBAs, plus obviously access to two networks and two career services. So it’s a real added value for the candidate to apply for a dual degree.

Linda Abraham: What are some of the partner schools?

Marie-Laurence Lemaire: We are a partner with NYU and Fletcher in Boston; we have a joint degree with MIT, Fundaçao Getulio Vargas in Brazil, ESADE, and several others in Latin America. We have LSE as well in Europe, so we have quite a few listed for double degrees.

The partner school is really the body that will decide if the applicant will be granted the double degree or not. HEC has no input whatsoever in that choice. So it’s up to the partner to decide whether this candidate will be accepted or not. Since they are delivering their own diploma, they have full right to accept or refuse a candidate. For this double degree, there is also a cost involved. Because you are not doing the full HEC curriculum, we will only charge you for the number of months that you will spend at HEC. And the partner school will charge you for the period of time that you will do at the partner school.

View the full HEC Paris MBA Q&A transcript or listen to the mp3 recording of the event now or subscribe to the Apple iTunes MBA Admissions Podcast. If you like the podcast, please leave a 5-star review.

Accepted.com ~ Helping You Write Your Best

We recently posted a blog on the most common motivations among business school applicants. Data in a related GMAC article shows that applicants view high b-school tuition as a worthy investment into their futures. The point of the article is that, contrary to what one may believe, the rocky economy has had little effect on GMAT and b-school application volumes.

A BusinessWeek article, “For MBA Applicants, Economy Doesn’t Matter,” elaborates on the GMAC survey findings. It explains that for the first time ever the survey asked participants about the impact the economy had on their decision to either attend or not attend business school.

51% said that the economic climate didn’t affect their decision to pursue an MBA; 36% reported that it was actually the poor economy which motivated them to pursue an MBA; and 13% said that the economy dissuaded them from considering attending business school.

However, just because applicants choose to attend an MBA program doesn’t mean that they’re not concerned about the costs. In fact, 50% of survey respondents said they were worried about the cost of their MBA, while 48% feared the financial debt and loans would be too much. Another 22% showed enormous concern over the job outlook post-MBA. Only 14% claimed that they had no reservations about pursuing an MBA in the current economic climate.

View the mba.com Prospective Students Survey for more information.

Accepted.com ~ Helping You Write Your Best

Should you kick back on a beach? Or go for a latte with a colleague? Find out why both may be in order in this video from Eye on Admissions where Linda Abraham outlines four action items that should be on the to-do lists of all accepted graduate school applicants matriculating this fall.

Accepted.com ~ Helping You Write Your Best