Round I and Round
II application dates have passed for a matriculation of Fall 2008.
However, it's not too late to apply to most business schools,
as Round III deadlines are still a few weeks away. See our
school
profile,
application deadline, and
application essay pages for the information you need to
get started on your applications.
We continue to conduct and publish interviews with b-school
admissions officials every so often, so check back
frequently. Here is where you can view our growing list of
business school admission interview archives.
February 2008
Financial Times Releases Rankings for
2008
The Financial Times released their new MBA program rankings for 2008 this week.
Retaining the top spot is Wharton for the third year in a row. Surprisingly, in
second is the London Business School, previously fifth on the list the last two
years.
The top twenty programs are:
-
Wharton
(University of Pennsylvania)
-
London Business School
-
Columbia
Business School
-
Stanford University GSB
-
Harvard
Business School
-
INESEAD
-
Sloan (M.I.T.)
-
IE Business School
-
Chicago GSB
-
Judge School of Business (Cambridge)
-
Ceibs
-
IESE Business School
-
Stern (NYU)
-
IMD
-
Tuck (Dartmouth)
-
Yale
-
Hong Kong UST
-
HEC Paris
-
Saïd (Oxford)
-
Indian School of Business
The complete rankings can be found at
www.ft.com.
January 2008
Columbia Changes Up the Case Study
Responding to executive rumblings a few years ago regarding
the quality of MBA graduates, Columbia Business School has
created a new approach to the classic MBA teaching method of
the 'case study.' The case study method was invented by
Harvard business school nearly a century ago and is used by
most b-schools. Columbia hasn't abandoned the method, but
given it a new twist.
Concerned that today's MBA graduates were intelligent but
ill-prepared to handle an important managerial
responsibility - solving problems quickly with minimal
information - Columbia's dean came up with the "decision
brief" method. This offers less information than a standard
case study and more importantly, doesn't provide a solution
until after students have wrestled with all the issues on
their own.
These days, the skill to frame a problem, finding the data
and effectively analyzing it - often without all the
information - is an important one. The method is blended
with the more traditional method of case study and reflects
contemporary issues while doing away with the traditional
Harvard formula.
The standard case study formula presents a narrative arc,
containing a protagonist and story line. Students are
provided with a wealth of information ranging from the
company's history, market share and other factors. The
students are then guided along the decision-making process
as the protagonist 'solves' the problem.
The Columbia decision brief breaks that mold. Students are
given basic information and the protagonist's challenge,
along with a few documents that enhance the background of
the situation. Students then discuss possible solutions;
afterwards, the group then sees how the protagonist handled
the issue and their thought process. The students then
debate whether or not it was the correct decision.
Columbia's new technique is still in its infancy, having
been taught this year. It's first "field test" will be
during the summer, when most MBAs head out to their various
internships. It is hoped that these corporate recruiters
encounter students who are more independantly-minded
thinkers and decision-makers, more able to handle the
complexities of today's growing markets.
Georgetown and ESADE Global EMBA Partnership
Georgetown University and ESADE Business School in
Barcelona, Spain, have partnered to create a new executive
management program. Known as the Georgetown-ESADE Global
Executive MBA, the program will be offered by Georgetown's
McDonough School of Business and Walsh School of Foreign
Service with ESADE Business School. It will be delivered in
six 11-day modules on four continents, and is designed to
meet the needs of accomplished executives whose scope of
work is global.
The Global EMBA has been developed using the expertise of
the McDonough School in inter-disciplinary teaching and
international residencies, ESADE's know-how in executive
leadership, social innovation and international business as
well as the Walsh School's recognized leadership in the area
of international relations and global policy. The result is
an intellectual challenge and an academic experience that
goes beyond classrooms, cases and textbooks. The program is
believed to be the first of its kind to include a strong
global policy dimension within an executive business degree.
"This program will give accomplished executives a chance to
both crystallize their professional experience and better
understand the complexities of global business in a
world-class program that is adapted to their schedule," said
McDonough School of Business Dean George Daly. "I am excited
about this new Global MBA program, the result of our
collaboration with ESADE Business School."
The Georgetown-ESADE EMBA program will begin in Washington,
D.C. in June 2008, with subsequent modules in Barcelona,
Buenos Aires/Sao Paolo, Bangalore, Barcelona/Moscow, and
Washington/New York over a 16-month period.
Applications are now being accepted for the inaugural class.
The three application deadlines are February 28, April 1,
and May 15, 2008. Participants will be notified of
acceptance within two weeks of their admissions interview.
GRE a MBA Admissions Option?
The Educational Testing Service (ETS), producers of the
Graduate Record Examination (GRE), is going after a new
market - the business school applicant. Though nearly all
b-schools require students to take the GMAT (owned and
produced by the Graduate Management Admissions Council), the
ETS is attempting to persuade some schools to consider the
GRE as an alternative.
In 2006, both Stanford University's Graduate School of
Business and M.I.T.'s Sloan School of Management quietly
announced they would accept the GRE in lieu of the GMAT.
However, according to some officials at both schools, the
GMAC is pressuring them to keep such acceptance quiet, due
to the contracts between the GMAC and the b-school.
Some schools do accept the GRE in place of the GMAT, but
only on a case-by-case basis. Chicago GSB is one such
b-school, where the GRE has been accepted if the applicant
is located nowhere near a GMAT testing facility. All of
these exceptions involve international applicants.
ETS has begun placing advertisements claiming that "MBA" can
also mean "more business-school applicants," with the
selling point being that a larger number of students are
available in the GRE pool who are weighing grad school
options. Many of these students would apply to business
school if a separate test isn't required.
For the time being, ETS officials are working with schools
such as Stanford to track the performances and successes of
GRE-admitted students, in order to gauge the test's
effectiveness in identifying promising applicants.
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