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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Jon Fuller MICHIGAN: Thank you!

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

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

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The class of 2010 also reported higher starting salaries than did the class of 2009. The median starting salary for this year’s graduates was $78,820, compared to last year’s $75,000.

“Companies are managing through an unprecedented economic environment,” said Dave Wilson, president and CEO of GMAC. “It is precisely because of these pressures that they place such a high value on newly minted MBAs to help them survive and thrive.”

Now let’s compare this to the less optimistic picture that Businessweek draws for us in the lead article to its 2010 MBA rankings. The article begins by focusing on the difficult job market as it affected students pre-graduation (in February), not as the GMAC release discusses, at the time of graduation. This past year, for example, only 64% of UVA Darden students had secured jobs by February, a drop from the previous year’s 69%, and considerably lower than the 81% who had landed jobs in 2008, pre-crash.

The article does, however, let some optimism seep in, especially when it comes to the role alumni played in generating job leads for the class of 2010. Alumni were encouraged to step up and generate job leads. By graduation, 77% of the class had received job offers; three months later, the job rate surged to 87%.

The article continues to explain that difficult economic times call for non-traditional job seek methods, such as the alumni call to action above. On-campus recruitment visits by major companies are on the decline; there are fewer jobs out there and more MBA grads to fill them. Regional companies are now “on the radar” for top MBAs, as well as jobs outside of a top choice industry and/or location. Networking is more important than ever. “I had to expand my job search to include potential jobs and industries I would otherwise have never considered,” says Tyler Fenelon, a 2010 UCLA Anderson graduate.

Another hint of optimism—the article concludes by stating that “[h]appily, there are signs that the job market for MBAs is picking up.” More second year students returned to campus this fall with firm job offers from internships than did second year students last year. Also, certain industries (such as health care and energy) are increasing their job recruiting activity. That should, at least, be good news for the class of 2012.

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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.

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Related Accepted.com Resources:

• Navigate the MBA Maze, a free email course
• 5 Fatal Flaws, a free email course

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Of course, each school will attribute its recent drop in selectivity to different causes. Michigan Ross, for example, opened a new building which allows for a larger class, thus allowing the adcoms to accept more students this year than in the past.

University of Maryland’s Smith School of Business, the school that reported the greatest selectivity decrease among the top 30, attributes its drop to “better marketing.” The school also increased its class size by 22% this year.

Randall Sawyer, assistant dean of admissions, financial aid, and inclusion at Cornell’s Johnson School, states that the program’s decrease in selectivity is due to the increase in the quality of applicants. “Candidates are getting smarter about where they apply,” he says, “giving admissions committees fewer but better choices.”

Some programs, on the other hand, are bucking the drop-in-selectivity trend. While some schools are expanding their class size, some are decreasing it. Georgia Institute of Technology’s College of Management is one such example of a program that decreased its class size; 38% of applicants were admitted in 2005, but only 20% in 2010.

Other schools that have reported higher selectivity or no changes include Chicago Booth, Harvard Business School, Notre Dame Mendoza, and Northwestern Kellogg.

And of course this article reflects last year’s application stats. This year both Cornell and Ross happily report that their first round application volume has headed north in comparison to last year’s round 1.

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• 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.

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Related Accepted.com Resources:

• The Rankings: A Free Accepted.com Special Report
• Essays that Stick Webinar

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• Can we blame the recent economic crisis on MBAs and business schools? An exclusive CNBC interview with Harvard Business School‘s new dean, Nitin Nohria, provides insight into the current economic condition and offers readers (or viewers) with an overview of Dean Nohria’s opinions on businessmen, business schools, and the global business community at large. You can view the televised event or read a copy of the transcript here.

• UCLA’s The MBA Insider’s Blog recommends that motivated “early career” (EC) candidates (b-school applicants with less than three years of professional work experience) take some time to reflect and consider how an MBA might help shape their professional goals. According to the blog post, UCLA Anderson warmly welcomes ECs: “We are every bit as interested in your career potential and ability to give back to your academic, work, and local communities as what you have accomplished to date.” The post offers specific advice geared towards ECs and is a valuable read for all younger applicants.

Need help navigating your way through the MBA admissions process? Sign up for Accepted.com’s free 9-day email course, Navigate the MBA Maze, today to learn valuable tips to help you reach your MBA dreams efficiently, effectively, and confusion-free!

Accepted.com ~ Helping You Write Your Best

The immediate trigger for my post is an excellent, thoughtful piece by UCLA Anderson’s Asst. Dean and Director of MBA Admissions & Financial Aid, Mae Jennifer Shores on the MBA Insider’s blog entitled “Thoughts on MBA Coaches and Consultants.” For your convenience I am going to excerpt main points and then provide my thoughts on her thoughts.

1. “On the plus side, there’s the general knowledge that consultants have of MBA programs.”

Completely agree. We have tremendous knowledge of the programs and the options out there.

2. “On the downside, consultants can so finely tune your essays that your own personal voice is lost. Or, even worse, your essays may read like they were written by multiple authors.”

The downside is more of a risk when you show your essays to multiple amateurs — to your mom, your dad, your cousin who got an MBA two years ago from a school you are not applying to, your significant other, your friends on Facebook, and the list goes on and on. Consistently using one advisor/editor/mentor who has taken the time to get to know you, your goals, your reasons for wanting an MBA and who also has insight into the specific schools will help you sharpen your message and maintain your voice.

3. “While a consultant may seem like a quicker route to your MBA destination, he or she can be expensive and not without possible pitfalls. So, if you are to use a consultant, use him or her in an advisory capacity only – as a sounding board and someone with whom to discuss your thoughts and ideas.”

Yes a good MBA admissions consultant requires an investment. And it comes as no surprise to me when Forbes ROI rankings’ top 10 schools correlate closely to the schools our clients tend to apply to. Using an admissions consultant could enable your acceptance to a “better” school than you would gain acceptance to on your own. “Better” implies more professional opportunity, increased earnings, and an educational experience more to your liking. Just looking at dollars and cents, “better” potentially represents tens of thousands of dollars in your pocket during your career. Considering that your MBA can easily cost over $200K (including out-of-pocket and opportunity costs) and the potential benefits of using a consultant, the cost of an admissions consultants, as a client once told me, is a “rounding error.”

Furthermore, writers need editors. Professional writers have editors because their writing benefits from a knowledgeable, critical, objective eye. The same is true for non-professionals. In fact, it’s more true.

4. “All the resources you need to present the best application you can are readily available.” Mae Jennifer Shores then encourages applicants to take advantage of the many valuable online resources including school websites, mba.com, and student blogs as well as offline options like school visits, forums and receptions.

I completely agree that applicants need to take advantage of these resources and learn as much as possible about their target programs. We here at Accepted constantly encourage applicants to take advantage of school visit programs and to attend receptions and school-sponsored events. I personally have hosted hundreds of chats so that applicants can learn more about the schools. Accepted.com has dedicated pages to many of the top MBA programs. We are proud that www.accepted.com has become a major free information resource for MBA applicants.

However, there is is a HUGE difference between information and mentorship. Information is static. Consulting is dynamic. Gathering data is a one-way street. Consulting is two-way. Information is for most, the crowd, the general. Advising is personal, individual, and specific to you and your target programs.

5. “At the end of the day, most MBA programs select the best applicants rather than the best applications.  Spend less time on “impression management” and more time on letting us get to know the true you.”

Accepted.com’s MBA experienced admissions consultants aim to help you do just that by guiding you to present the best of the true you.

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