First, figure out how many possible five-digit codes there are in general. Since there are ten digits (0 through 9) and five different positions, the number of possible codes is 10 × 10 × 10 × 10 × 10, or 105 = 100,000.

Now, what must be true about five-digit codes that could be interpreted correctly either way (left to right or right to left)? These codes must be palindromes—they must be the same forward and backwards. If you represent each digit with a letter, then the code must be of the form xyzyx. The first and last digits must be the same (x), and the second and fourth digits must be the same (y). The middle digit can be anything.

Since you now only can determine three digits independently, you only have 10 × 10 × 10, or 103 = 1,000 possible palindromic codes.

The chance of choosing such a code at random is 1,000/100,000, or 1/100.

The correct answer is B.

Expected Outcomes

In this class you will accomplish the following:

• Understand how to view essays through the lens of the admissions committee
• Learn to identify the characteristics of a great essay and avoid common pitfalls
• Dig deep into your past experiences to reveal your most compelling stories
• Start constructing your essays with feedback and direction from your peers and the instructor
• Benefit from the workshop leader’s deep expertise on the admissions process and top programs
• Workshop your essays in an online session after the formal instruction sessions to enhance your drafts and move your work toward the final draft stage
• Get a head start on your recommendations and interviews in an extra hour of recorded content and develop a process for completing the rest of your applications

Class Dates:

Online Winter A:

• Sunday, Feb. 19 (10 a.m.—1 p.m.)
• Sunday, Feb. 19 (2—5 p.m.)
• Tuesday, Feb. 21 (8—11 p.m.)
• Tuesday, Feb. 28 (8—11 p.m.)

Online Winter B:

• Sunday, Mar. 11 (10 a.m.—1 p.m.)
• Sunday, Mar. 11 (2—5 p.m.)
• Tuesday, Mar. 13 (8—11 p.m.)
• Tuesday, Mar. 20 (8—11 p.m.)

*All times listed are in Eastern Time Zone

Fees:

Online Winter A: Regularly $699, but register before February 12 to receive a 10% early bird discount!
Online Winter B: Regularly $699, but register before March 4 to receive a 10% early bird discount!

Space is limited. Visit www.mbamission.com to sign up today!

April 2011 marked the 11th annual Tuck GIVES (Grants to Interns and Volunteers for the Environment and Society) auction, a student-led event that raises money to fund salaries for Tuck students who accept internships with nonprofits. The event includes both a silent auction and a live auction. According to Tuck’s admissions blog, students dress up for the event in their fanciest attire and watch two of their classmates lead the auction of donated items. These offerings can range from dinners with faculty (such as a Cajun-style group dinner cooked by Dean Paul Danos and a South African group dinner hosted by a professor) to vacations (including a vacation package at a luxury resort in Bermuda and a trip to a ski resort in Colorado) to student-hosted themed dinners, tickets to Red Sox games, tennis and fly-fishing lessons, babysitting services and a day-long workout session with Tuckies from the Armed Forces.

About the auctions, a member of the admissions staff told mbaMission, “Our goal is maximum participation of the Tuck community, which includes students, their partners, staff and faculty. I have donated two necklaces and bracelets that I made from African beads I purchased in Ghana, one of the deans auctions off an evening in his barn, which is actually a huge, wonderfully furnished place with a giant TV and bar, and other folks offer dinners, photography, painting and just all sorts of things.” The April 2010 Tuck GIVES auction raised more than $51,000.

For in-depth descriptions of social and community activities at Dartmouth Tuck and 15 other top MBA programs, check out the mbaMission Insider’s Guides.

George T. Geis (“Entrepreneurship and Venture Initiation”) has been voted Outstanding Teacher of the Year four times while at Anderson and currently serves as faculty director of the school’s Executive Mergers and Acquisitions Program. Geis is also the editor of a Web site that provides analysis of mergers and acquisitions deals in technology, media, and communications (www.trivergence.com) and writes a mergers and acquisitions blog (http://maprofessor.blogspot.com). One recent alumnus described him to mbaMission as an experienced investor and a funny and credible guy. He added that he had very much enjoyed the guest speakers Geis brought to class, as well as the strategic analysis of the board game industry, covered in a case discussion about the game Trivial Pursuit.

For more information about the UCLA Anderson School of Management and 15 other top-ranked MBA schools, check out the mbaMission Insider’s Guides.

For many candidates, Round 3 is a time to sit back, relax and wait for the MBA admissions committees to make their decisions. However, for others, this round is a time to be conservative and apply to a safety school. But what constitutes a safety school?

Although determining exactly what a safety school is can be difficult (given that many variables are involved and the definition can shift depending on each candidate), a good place to start is with scores. If a candidate’s GMAT score and GPA are significantly higher than the target school’s averages, then the school is—at first glance, at least—a “safe” choice. So, for example, if you have a 720 GMAT and a 3.8 GPA and you are applying to Emory’s Goizueta School (average GMAT 680 and GPA 3.3), you are off to a promising start.

Next, you might consider your work experience relative to the target program. For example, many Goldman Sachs investment banking “alums” apply to and are admitted to the so-called M7 schools (Stanford, Harvard, Wharton, Kellogg, Chicago, Columbia and MIT). So if you happen to be such a candidate, choosing a school outside this tier would certainly make you more competitive (keeping in mind scores, community service and recommendations as well).

Finally, you might consider the general selectivity of the program. If you consider yourself a competitive candidate at Columbia Business School, which accepts 16% of applicants, applying to Texas, which accepts 34%, may be a safe option.

Before you start applying to any safety schools, however, you should ask yourself this relatively simple question: “Would I go if I got in?” Spending time applying to an MBA program that you would not be willing to actually attend is pointless. If you choose to apply to such a school (as some do), anyway, you will, rather ironically, find yourself with no “safety” net at all.

As we always mention when reporting on MBA rankings, business school applicants should take any ranking system with a grain of salt. Rankings simplify that which cannot be simplified and assign a numeric value to that which cannot be quantified. Rather than focusing on a school’s ranking (or change in ranking from year to year or from publication to publication), you should take time to determine the factors that are most important to you in an MBA program (e.g., pedagogy, academic/professional specializations, location, class size), and then do your research to identify the schools that best meet your needs by fulfilling these factors…not arbitrary ones like rankings.

For more information about how to assess rankings within the context of choosing the right business school for you, download our free Selecting Your Target MBA Program E-Book.

Over the years, we have found that one of the essay questions that gives candidates the most grief is the dreaded one about an “ethical dilemma.” Although most candidates clearly understand what is and is not ethical, the problem usually lies in the word “dilemma.” As you can tell from the definition provided, a dilemma occurs when two equally conclusive sides exist simultaneously—with the emphasis on “equally.” Here we offer two examples of responses to an “ethical dilemma” essay question. The first presents only one reasonable side, and the second offers two.

Example 1: “While I was working at ABC firm, my boss asked me to book our second quarter revenue in advance so that we could create the appearance of a great first quarter. I firmly told him that this was unethical and refused.”

In this example, the candidate is asked to do something that is clearly unethical. However, because the argument really has only one reasonable side—the reader would not want to hear the story if the candidate had agreed to book revenue ahead of schedule!—no ethical dilemma actually exists in this case.

Example 2: “As the marketing manager for a small pharmaceutical company, I had to set the price for our breakthrough drug. I needed to consider that on the one hand, a rock-bottom price would mean that our life-saving drug would be available to all. But on the other hand, even though a high price would serve a smaller market, it would make the drug far more profitable and would ensure that we could continue to conduct valuable research into additional life-saving compounds.”

In this second example, the candidate outlines a true dilemma. This applicant could be entirely comfortable telling the reader that he pursued either of the pricing strategies, as long as he walks the reader through his/her rationale.

The test to determine whether the experience you would like to discuss in your essay involves a true dilemma is fairly simple. Ask yourself, “Could I comfortably discuss the alternative to the path I chose?” If the answer is “yes,” you are clearly on the right track. If the answer is “no,” try again.

For more information on the defining characteristics of the MBA program at Chicago Booth or one of 15 other top business schools, please check out the mbaMission Insider’s Guides.