Consortium students at CMU Tepper

Thank you for attending our recent Consortium Strategy Q&As with Travis McAllister and the reps from participating Consortium schools UT McCombs, University of Wisconsin, UC Berkeley Haas, Yale SOM, Michigan Ross, CMU Tepper, Indiana Kelley, and Rochester Simon. The school adcom representatives each talked about what’s new at their schools and how their programs view Consortium applicants.

Here’s an excerpt that covers some info on Consortium member perks:

Linda Abraham: Maria asks is, “What is the most valuable aspect of being a member of the Consortium?”

Robyn Winstanley: One of the most beneficial aspects is that it does allow you the opportunity to create a whole additional funnel of corporate sponsors and relationships that you can develop for your future career goals. So within each business school that you ultimately choose to attend, of course you can work through the Career Management Center and then networking opportunities available through the alums of that particular business schools, but being part of the Consortium will also provide you an additional set of organizations that can be very useful to you, depending on what your future career goals are….

Obviously another large benefit is financially. We certainly encourage all students who believe that they can fulfill the values and mission of the Consortium absolutely to apply, as we’ve already mentioned the ability to receive a full-tuition fellowship….So a combination of both networking opportunities and the financial advantages are the two key things that I personally would highlight.

Jim Holmen: [R]emember that the Consortium has been around nearly 45 years. So when you join any Consortium member school, you become a member of their family of alums, but you are also part of the family of the Consortium alumni from all the member schools, and that significantly increases the pool of candidates that will be a part of your network of friends and colleagues.

Linwood Harris: I wanted to add the fabulous experience that students will actually gain by attending the Orientation program….You will get an opportunity to set your future career path on fire. And it’s a great way to connect with 300-400 students who are actually in the same shoes as you are, coming into this incoming class….Many of the students who actually come to campus in the fall, by attending that orientation program, they’ve already received some interviews and some great offers for internship before they even step foot into any class because of their relationship of being involved in the Consortium.

For the entire conversation, please view the transcript or listen to the audio file on our website. (This excerpt is from the second Consortium Q&A event we held. Here’s the link to the first.) You can also read up on Consortium-related news and advice by visiting the Consortium Zone.

To automatically receive notices about these MBA admissions chats and other MBA admissions events, please subscribe to our MBA event list. To listen to the Q&A recordings on-the-go, please subscribe to the Accepted Admissions Podcast.

Accepted.com ~ Helping You Write Your Best

Look no further – the MBA book of all books is here, MBA Admission for Smarties: The No-Nonsense Guide to Acceptance at Top Business Schools, written by Accepted.com founder, Linda Abraham, and editor Judy Gruen. And now, for a very limited time only (Monday, Dec. 5 – Tuesday, Dec. 6) you can purchase this must-have book for $10 OFF the cover price by using coupon code SMARTIES at checkout. That’s almost 2/3 off the list price!

In MBA Admission for Smarties you will learn how to:

• Determine “fit” with a program.
• Establish your post-MBA goals and present them in a compelling goals essay.
• Write dazzling, memorable application essays.
• Secure winning letters of recommendation.
• Optimize your MBA application resume.

…and much, much more!

So what are you waiting for?

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(Non-U.S. residents should buy MBA Admission for Smarties from Amazon.com where international shipping is available. Sorry – no coupon available to ship outside the U.S.)

Accepted.com ~ Helping You Write Your Best

Your essays will give us an idea of your personality, perspectives, and opinions and will let us know how closely your professional objectives match the objectives of the MBA program.

All applicants must answer essay number 1. You must also choose two of the next three essay questions (questions 2 through 4). Essay number 5 is optional.

Please limit each essay to no more than two pages.

Please include the essay number and your name at the top of each page.

We encourage you to be informative, creative, and concise.

Mandatory:

1. Please discuss your post-MBA short- and long-term professional goals. How will your professional experience, when combined with a Kelley MBA degree, allow you to achieve these goals?

This is a straight-forward MBA goals question. As always with this type of question, connect the dots. Let the reader see that your goals grow organically from your experience and are achievable given your past experience and an MBA from Indian Kelley.

Choose two of the next three:

2. Describe an ethical dilemma that you faced in your professional career. How was it resolved and what did you learn from the experience?

First realize that an ethical dilemma is not a choice between right and wrong. It is a choice between conflicting values or the lesser of two evils.  Briefly describe the dilemma you faced. Then describe the pros and cons of the available options and discuss how you handled the situation. Don’t forget the lessons learned.

3. Suppose you had to choose three people—people alive now or people from another era—to travel with you on a cross-country automobile trip. Who would you choose and why? What would you hope to learn from them? (Think carefully about the company you want on those long stretches through Nebraska or Kansas.)

Have fun with this question and use it to show a non-professional side of you. What  books, movies, sports, artists, or thought leaders would you love to spend time with? Who from the past has fascinated you.  More important than the person you choose is why you picked these individuals and what you would like to learn in those endless stretches through Kansas and Nebraska.

4. Describe what there is about your background and your experiences that will contribute to the diversity of the entering class and enhance the educational experience of other students.

What is the distinctive stone or hue that you will add to the mosaic that is a Kelley class. Think about this diversity question broadly, not just in ethnic or professional terms. What are you going to add? Is it an enthusiastic commitment to Barak Obama, a local environmental cause, your church, or a hobby, sport, or art form? Is it an unusual personal background? Perhaps, overcoming distinctive challenges?  And then, how will this unique facet cause you to contribute?  Will it lead to involvement in a specific club or Kelley project? An active role in classroom discussions on a specific topic?  Interest in a particular program? Show your knowledge of Indiana Kelley as well as your  fit with this great MBA program.

Optional:

5. Is there anything else that you think we should know as we evaluate your application? If you believe your credentials and essays represent you fairly, you shouldn’t feel obligated to answer this question.

It is almost impossible for three essays plus a bunch of boxes, a transcript, and a GMAT score to represent fully the uniqueness and talents of a truly impressive candidate. That comment has nothing to do with writing style and everything to do with the complexity of accomplished human beings. While I certainly agree that if you have nothing to say, you should say nothing, you should have something valuable to add in your optional essay.

Indiana Kelley 2012 MBA Deadlines

If you would like help with your Indiana Kelley MBA application, please consider Accepted’s MBA essay editing and MBA admissions consulting or our Indiana Kelley School Packages, which include advising, editing, interview coaching, and a resume edit for the Kelley MBA application.

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

Are you applying to other top MBA programs? Check out our 2012 MBA application tips!

BusinessWeek‘s 2011 ranking report reveals that more than ever, college applicants are seeking a global experience, especially those who plan on pursuing an undergraduate degree in business. Undergraduate business programs are responding by creating more immersion options, overseas internships, and business-related study abroad opportunities. Some schools are even offering business courses that require students to go abroad. Many schools are implementing international experience requirements, maintaining that global exposure is essential in today’s market.

For example, Notre Dame Mendoza, BW‘s top pick for the second year in a row, offers study abroad options in Haiti, Egypt, and South Africa, among many other places, and encourages students to pursue business research projects abroad as well.

Below we have posted BW‘s top 20 undergraduate business schools.

Top 20 Best Undergraduate Business Schools 2011 (Last year’s position is in parentheses.)

1.      Notre Dame Mendoza (1)

2.      UVA McIntire (2)

3.      Emory Goizueta (7)

4.      UPenn Wharton (4)

5.      Cornell (5)

6.      Michigan Ross (8)

7.      Villanova (20)

8.      UNC Kenan-Flagler (14)

9.      MIT Sloan (3)

10.  Georgetown McDonough (23)

11.  Brigham Young Marriott (11)

12.  Richmond Robins (15)

13.  UC Berkeley Haas (6)

14.  Washington Olin (13)

15.  NYU Stern (12)

16.  Boston College Carroll (9)

17.  Texas McCombs (10)

18.  Indiana Kelley (19)

19.  Wake Forest (18)

20.  Babson (17)

You’ll notice there were quite a few significant shifts this year. Three new schools made it into the top 10—Villanova, UNC Kenan-Flagler, and Georgetown McDonough—ousting UC Berkeley Haas, Boston College, and Texas McCombs from their top 10 positions of last year. The only school new to the top 20 list this year is Georgetown, taking a slot away from Miami Farmer.

For more information on methodology, please see BW‘s article, “How We Ranked the Schools.”

Accepted.com ~ Helping You Write Your Best

• A Financial Times article, “Masters in Management takes a three continent twist,” discusses the efforts of three international business schools to create a unique, collaborative Masters in Management program. The one-year pre-experience degree, called the 3Continent Master of Global Management, will be launched in September 2011 by Belgium’s Antwerp Management School, New York’s Fordham University, and India’s Xavier Institute of Management. 60 students (20 from each continent) will spend four months at each of the business schools, studying business topics as they relate to each school’s home continent.
• Indiana’s Kelley School of Business hosted its second annual MBA Case Invitational for women last month. Four-woman teams gathered at the Kelley School from UCLA, Boston College, University of North Carolina, University of Southern California, and other participating schools. The competition focused on developing a business strategy for Global Gifts, an Indiana-based nonprofit Fair Trade store that supports global artisan co-ops. According to an email received about the event, “It is the only competition designed solely for female MBAs and it is an event the Kelley School was absolutely thrilled to host this year.” See the Kelley Women’s Case Invitational site for more information.
• Long standing dean at Toronto’s Rotman School of Management, Roger Martin, was just appointed to his third term as dean. He will now hold the position of dean until June 2014, 16 years after he began his post in 1998. Check out the Financial Times article “Roger Martin gets third terms at Toronto’s Rotman school” for more information.
• According to another Financial Times article, “The growing appeal of healthcare,” business school students are showing an increased interest in the healthcare field since the U.S. and U.K. placed healthcare reform on the agenda. Experts say that this growth field “offers business graduates opportunities to solve complex challenges, work toward the public good and draw a substantial salary.” The healthcare industry is still not so popular, but the increase in company recruiting and student interest is significant: Last year 33 out of 426 Duke Fuqua graduates took jobs in the healthcare sector, up from just a few five years ago. At Indiana Kelley last year, 17 graduates took healthcare-related jobs, compared to six just two years prior.

Not sure where you should apply? Sign up for Accepted’s FREE 10-day email course, Best MBA Programs: A Guide to Selecting the Right One, to receive the tips you need to select the b-schools that are right for you!

Accepted.com ~ Helping You Write Your Best

More and more highly qualified applicants are applying to business school, which means that if you want to gain admission to a top b-school, you’re going to need to show some serious skill, that is, serious multimedia skills—at least that’s the recommendation according to a recent Financial Times article, “Express Yourself.”

High test scores, a strong academic record, impressive letters of recommendation, and killer essays may not be enough to gain you admission to your dream MBA program. Many schools are now introducing an optional essay, or “third essay,” often in the form of an electronic submission, including PowerPoint slides, PDF files, videos, CDs, DVDs, and links to personal websites or YouTube videos.

The thinking here is that an admissions reader can gain a better, more complete, picture of an applicant by taking a look at his or her creative abilities, rather than by simply reading an essay entitled, “Why I Want to Go to Business School.” Kurt Ahlm, senior director of admissions at Chicago Booth, explains that “while the other two essays are ‘valuable,’ they are also ‘somewhat programmed’.”

Also, it’s harder to cheat or plagiarize when it comes to multimedia submissions. 

Still, some schools believe that their current admissions process works just fine and that there’s no reason to complicate things by adding a new component. According to James Holmen, head of admissions at Indiana Kelley, “[T]he [application] process we have now works really well for us… My concern with the multimedia option format is: would [the admissions committee] be getting a good sense of who the applicants are and what they bring to the table, or would they be swayed by style over substance?”

Accepted.com ~ Helping You Write Your Best

Indiana Kelley 2011 MBA Essay Questions

This Indiana Kelley 2011 MBA Application tip post is one of a series of posts providing MBA application and essay advice for applicants to top MBA programs around the world. You can access the entire series at http://blog.accepted.com/acceptedcom_blog/tag/2011-mba-application-tips. My tips for answering Kelley‘s essay questions are in blue below.

Your essays will give us an idea of your personality, perspectives, and opinions and will let us know how closely your professional objectives match the objectives of the MBA program.

Below you’ll find five essay areas. All applicants must answer number 1. You must also choose two of the next three essay questions (2 through 4). Number 5 is optional. Please limit each essay to no more than two double-spaced pages.

Finally, please include the essay number and your name at the top of each sheet.

We encourage you to be informative, creative, and concise.

Mandatory:

1. Please discuss your post-MBA short- and long-term professional goals. How will your professional experience, when combined with a Kelley MBA degree, allow you to achieve these goals?

This is a straight-forward MBA goals question. As always with this type of question, connect the dots. Let the reader see that your goals grow organically from your experience and are achievable given your experience and an MBA from Kelley.

Choose two of the next three:

2. Describe an ethical dilemma that you faced in your professional career. How was it resolved and what did you learn from the experience?

First realize that an ethical dilemma is not a choice between right and wrong. It is a choice between conflicting values or the lesser of two evils.  Briefly describe the dilemma you faced. Then describe the pros and cons of the available options and discuss how you handled the situation. Don’t forget the lessons learned.

3. Suppose you had to choose three people—people alive now or people from another era—to travel with you on a cross-country automobile trip. Who would you choose and why? What would you hope to learn from them? (Think carefully about the company you want on those long stretches through Nebraska or Kansas.)

Have fun with this question and use it to show a non-professional side of you. What  books, movies, sports, artists, or thought leaders would you love to spend time with? Who from the past has fascinated you.  More important than the person you choose is why you picked these individuals and what you would like to learn in those endless stretches through Kansas and Nebraska.

4. Describe what there is about your background and your experiences that will contribute to the diversity of the entering class and enhance the educational experience of other students.

What is the distinctive stone or hue that you will add to the mosaic that is a Kelley class. Think about this diversity question broadly, not just in ethnic or professional terms. What are you going to add? Is it an enthusiastic commitment to Barak Obama, a local environmental cause, your church, or a hobby, sport, or art form? Is it an unusual personal background? Perhaps, overcoming distinctive challenges?  And then, how will this unique facet cause you to contribute?  Will it lead to involvement in a specific club or Kelley project? An active role in classroom discussions on a specific topic?  Interest in a particular program? Show your knowledge of Indiana Kelley as well as your  fit with this great MBA program.

Optional:

5. Is there anything else that you think we should know as we evaluate your application? If you believe your credentials and essays represent you fairly, you shouldn’t feel obligated to answer this question.

It is almost impossible for three essays plus a bunch of boxes, a transcript, and a GMAT score to represent fully the uniqueness and talents of a truly impressive candidate. That comment has nothing to do with writing style and everything to do with the complexity of accomplished human beings. While I certainly agree that if you have nothing to say, you should say nothing, you should have something valuable to add in your optional essay.

If you would like help with your Indiana Kelley MBA application, please consider Accepted.com’s Indiana Kelley School Packages or our essay editing services.

Indiana Kelley 2011 MBA Deadlines

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

Fact: Not everyone can go to a top 10 business school. Businessweek‘s new MBA specialty rankings give the other 90% of us a solid place to begin research when you know what you want to do but can’t attend or afford a top 10 program.

Such rankings allow schools that don’t always make it to the top 10 for overall marks to finally see what it feels like to be on top regarding specific impressive elements of their program.

Top 10 U.S. MBA Programs – Accounting

1. Chicago Booth

1. Texas-Austin McCombs

3. Rochester Simon

3. Boston College Carroll

5. U. of Washington Foster

5. Vanderbilt Owen

5. Babson Olin

5. Arizona State Carey

9. Harvard Business School

10. Wharton

Top 10 U.S. MBA Programs – Finance

1. Wharton

2. Chicago Booth

3. Columbia

4. Northeastern

5. Boston College Carroll

5. Case Western Weatherhead

7. Harvard Business School

8. Minnesota Carlson

8. Wisconsin-Madison

8. George Washington

Top 10 U.S. MBA Programs – Most Innovative Curriculums

1. Stanford

2. Chicago Booth

3. Indiana Kelley

4. Yale

4. USC Marshall

4. Texas A&M Mays

4. Tulane Freeman

8. Boston University

8. Rochester Simon

8. George Washington

Top 10 U.S. MBA Programs – Most Improved

1. Georgia Tech

1. Boston University

1. Northeastern

4. Indiana Kelley

5. Wake Forest

5. Arizona State Carey

7. Dartmouth Tuck

7. Brigham Young Marriott

7. Texas A&M Mays

7. Pittsburgh Katz

For rankings based on global competition, general management, communication skills, teamwork, or operations, as well as for an analysis on how the rankings were determined, please see the BW article. There is also a section there on global MBA programs ranked by specialty.

Accepted.com ~ Helping You Write Your Best

Businessweek just released its biannual full-time MBA rankings. There were some minor shifts in this year’s U.S. top 30 compared to those of 2008, and some more significant changes in the international rankings, as you’ll see below.

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.

Accepted.com ~ Helping You Write Your Best

We have added four new MBA program-specific Essay Packages to our catalog of services. As with all of our other Essay Packages, these flat-rate deals allow you to work one-on-one with an experienced editor/consultant to create a winning program-specific application strategy, draft compelling essays that answer each of your target school’s required and optional questions, and, in the case of our Premier Packages, perfect your resume and prep for your interview.

Our new essay packages are:

• Duke Cross Continent MBA Package
• Indiana Kelley MBA Package
• MIT Sloan Fellows MBA Package
• London Business School EMBA Package

Would you like comprehensive consulting and editing for your target MBA programs at a flat rate? Check out our list of business school application consulting and editing packages. If you don’t see your program on the list, contact us and we’ll create a new package for you.

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Accepted.com ~ Helping You Write Your Best