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Mako’s post, “My Adcom Essay Review: A Punch to the Gut,” raises two important questions:

1. Do schools value a more authentic, complete story over tighter essays that precisely answer their questions?
2. How can you be sure you are actually answering the questions posed, since we all tend to suffer from that very human tendency to fall in love with our own words?

My answers:

1. Don’t make them choose. This isn’t an either-or situation. One of the questions I most frequently hear is “What do the schools really want?” They really want the answers to their questions! And they want those answers told with authenticity, integrity, and individuality. Write tight essays that answer their questions and tell your story. No inherent conflict here.
2. Here is a test I use when checking client work, and I recommend it for you too. When working on the MBA essays, keep the essay question at the top of the page, front and center. After I read an essay, especially one I may have read many times, I go back to the question and ask myself, “Could I answer all parts of the question based solely on the essay?” If the answer is “no,” we have more work to do. If it’s yes, then the applicant is in good shape. You can and should perform this test on your essays too.

Finally, it is more beneficial to send your essays to a knowledgeable, experienced critic before submitting them.  We at Accepted are here to critique and edit your MBA essays when you can use the feedback to improve the essays — before submitting them.

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

• A recent Wall Street Journal article discusses the challenges business school graduates are facing with regard to the still-difficult-to-penetrate job market. Fewer students are receiving multiple job offers, salaries are still not quite as high as they were pre-recession, and companies are recruiting “closer to home” to save money. For more information, view the full article which contains specific data from a GMAC survey that was conducted in September, as well as an interview with Nicole Hall, president of the MBA Career Services Council and the career services executive director for Pepperdine’s Graziadio School of Business and Management.

• More and more non-Asian students are attending business schools in Asia, reports a CNN article, “MBA in Asia: Stepping stone into greater China.” The schools in the region (particularly in China) are becoming more attractive to western students because of the “projections of growth that are five, six, seven-times what they are for the Western world for the next decade.” Talk about growth—in the last 10 years alone the number of MBA programs in China tripled to more than 250!

Are you thinking about going global with your MBA? Download Internationalizing the MBA, a free special report, to explore the increasingly global canvas of leading MBA programs in the United States, Europe, Asia, and Africa.

Accepted.com ~ Helping You Write Your Best

“Our goal is to balance providing the fundamental business disciplines and giving students an opportunity to explore some topics of interest,” says Dave Gent, executive director of the Evening & Weekend MBA Program. “What is truly exciting about the Evening & Weekend Program is that students are able to take what they learn and apply it the next day in their workplaces.”

One new initiative is an increase in flexibility regarding electives. More options are available to the evening and weekend students, including the one-unit electives Game Theory, Behavioral Finance, and Corporate Financial Decision Making.

Furthermore, classes will place a heavier emphasis on real-world problem and real-world experience, as well as present students with intensive, executive education-style learning with visiting professors from other top MBA programs.

In terms of career initiatives, the Evening & Weekend Program has responded to the needs of its working student body by offering more services related to career change. Students are encouraged to strengthen their skills through peer coaching and are making greater strides when it comes to networking. Speaking to other MBAs about how their degree advanced their careers will help expose current students to the possibilities that lay ahead of them and the decisions they’ll need to make in a fluctuating economy.

Accepted.com ~ Helping You Write Your Best

Top 30 U.S. Business Schools of 2010 (2008 rankings are parenthetical.)

1. Chicago Booth (1)
2. Harvard Business School (2)
3. Wharton (4)
4. Northwestern Kellogg (3)
5. Stanford GSB (6)
6. Duke Fuqua (8)
7. Michigan Ross (5)
8. UC Berkeley Haas (10)
9. Columbia (7)
10. MIT Sloan (9)
11. UVA Darden (16)
12. Southern Methodist Cox (18)
13. Cornell Johnson (11)
14. Dartmouth Tuck (12)
15. CMU Tepper (19)
16. UNC Kenan-Flagler (17)
17. UCLA Anderson (14)
18. NYU Stern (13)
19. Indiana Kelley (15)
20. Michigan State Broad (2T)
21. Yale SOM (24)
22. Emory Goizueta (23)
23. Georgia Tech (29)
24. Notre Dame Mendoza (20)
25. Texas-Austin McCombs (21)
26. USC Marshall (25)
27. Brigham Young Marriott (22)
28. Minnesota Carlson (2T)
29. Rice Jones (NR)
30. Texas A&M Mays (NR)

Top International Business Schools

1. INSEAD (3)
2. Queen’s (1)
3. IE Business School (2)
4. ESADE (6)
5. London Business School (5)
6. Western Ontario Ivey (4)
7. IMD (7)
8. Toronto Rotman (8)
9. York Schulich (2T)
10. Cambridge Judge (2T)
11. McGill Desautels (2T)
12. IESE (9)
13. Cranfield (NR)
14. HEC Paris (2T)
15. HEC Montreal (HR)
16. Oxford Said (10)
17. Manchester (2T)
18. SDA Bocconi (NR)

BW bases its rankings on employer and student surveys, as well as what they call “intellectual capital,” or school research output. For more information on how the rankings are determined, read BW‘s “How We Rank Business Schools.”

Other articles in the report that may interest you include:

• “The Best U.S. Business Schools 2010” – This article highlights ways that business schools are dealing with the sour job market—putting a new emphasis on job placement, reaching out to alumni for job leads, using technology to connect with recruiters, and bolstering career services departments.
• “Top Global Business Schools” – Read about how the Great Recession has affected the international MBA scene, why new schools have popped up on the top 10, why students are being drawn to emerging markets, and more.

Related Accepted.com Resources:

• The Rankings, a free special report on how you should interpret the rankings in your own b-school quest.
• Internationalizing the MBA, a free special report that will help you determine whether an international MBA program is right for you.

Accepted.com ~ Helping You Write Your Best

Let’s start with the actual rankings.

Top 15 International EMBA Programs

1.   Kellogg / Hong Kong UST Business School – China

2.   Columbia / London Business School – USA / UK

3.   Trium HEC Paris / LSE / NYU Stern – France / UK / USA

4.   INSEAD – France / Singapore / UAE

5.   University of Chicago, Booth – USA / UK / Singapore

6.   London Business School – UK

7.   IE Business School – Spain

8.   University of Pennsylvania, Wharton – USA

9.   Duke University, Fuqua – USA

10.  Chinese University of Hong Kong – China

10.  City University Cass – UK

12.  IMD – Switzerland

13.  UC Berkeley Haas / Columbia – USA

14.  Kellogg / WHU-Otto Belsheim School – Germany

15.  Columbia Business School – USA

15.  ESCP Europe – France / UK / Germany / Spain / Italy

You can tell simply by looking above where the EMBA “hot spots” are—the USA, UK, China, Singapore, Paris, France, and Spain—or you can take a look at the FT‘s interactive map: Hot spots: the most popular cities in the world for Executive MBAs.

For an analysis on how the rankings were determined, check out “The ranking decoded.”

For an explanation on the challenges business schools face with this executive degree, see the lead article in the report, “Business schools face EMBA challenge.” (Just to give you clue—it has something to do with the economy and companies becoming less than willing to shell out $100,000+ in sponsorship funds. Surprise, surprise.)

Yet challenges aside, many EMBA programs (especially those in countries that have been, until recently, underserved by business schools) are seeing an increase in enrollment. For more on EMBA success, read “Rising demand: executive MBA sector shows healthy growth.”

Accepted.com ~ Helping You Write Your Best

• Chicago Booth
• MIT (Sloan)
• UC Berkeley (Haas)
• Michigan (Ross)
• Duke (Fuqua)
• UCLA (Anderson)

GMAT to Applying Time – is applying 5 years after the GMAT a disadvantage?
Inspiring You Tube Videos – Updated Weekly – Inside the HBS Case method, Bill Gates’ speech, and the next Lebron James

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.

Like what you see? Subscribe to Accepted.com’s event list to stay current with the latest Q&A sessions and other admissions events!



Accepted.com ~ Helping You Write Your Best

Top 10 Schools for Consulting:

1. Northwestern Kellogg
2. Harvard Business School
3. Chicago Booth
4. Wharton
5. Michigan Ross
6. Columbia
7. Duke Fuqua
8. MIT Sloan
9. Stanford
10. NYU Stern

Top 3 B-Schools for Consulting in New York

1. HBS
2. Columbia
3. NYU Stern

Top 3 B-Schools for Consulting in Boston

1. HBS
2. MIT Sloan
3. Dartmouth Tuck

Top 3 B-Schools for Consulting in Washington, D.C.

1. UVA Darden
2. Wharton
3. Northwestern Kellogg

Top 3 B-Schools for Consulting in Atlanta

1. Emory Goizueta
2. HBS
3. Duke Fuqua

Top 3 B-Schools for Consulting in Silicon Valley

1. UC Berkeley Haas
2. MIT Sloan
3. Michigan Ross

Note the role of geography in determining top schools in specific regions. Something to keep in mind if you know where you want to live.

Related Accepted.com Resources:

• The Rankings: An Accepted.com Special Report
• The Consultant’s Guide to MBA Admission, an instantly downloadable ebook



Accepted.com ~ Helping You Write Your Best

Top 10 Schools for Consulting:

1. Northwestern Kellogg
2. Harvard Business School
3. Chicago Booth
4. Wharton
5. Michigan Ross
6. Columbia
7. Duke Fuqua
8. MIT Sloan
9. Stanford
10. NYU Stern

Top 3 B-Schools for Consulting in New York

1. HBS
2. Columbia
3. NYU Stern

Top 3 B-Schools for Consulting in Boston

1. HBS
2. MIT Sloan
3. Dartmouth Tuck

Top 3 B-Schools for Consulting in Washington, D.C.

1. UVA Darden
2. Wharton
3. Northwestern Kellogg

Top 3 B-Schools for Consulting in Atlanta

1. Emory Goizueta
2. HBS
3. Duke Fuqua

Top 3 B-Schools for Consulting in Silicon Valley

1. UC Berkeley Haas
2. MIT Sloan
3. Michigan Ross

Note the role of geography in determining top schools in specific regions. Something to keep in mind if you know where you want to live.

Related Accepted.com Resources:

• The Rankings: An Accepted.com Special Report
• The Consultant’s Guide to MBA Admission, an instantly downloadable ebook



Accepted.com ~ Helping You Write Your Best