Business School Admissions Archive

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December 2005

Hiring Stats for Cornell's 2005 MBA Grads: All year long we've been hearing great news about improved hiring and salary prospects for MBA grads from the top business schools. Cornell's Johnson Graduate School of Management has provided a nice end-of-the-year confirmation of that trend, in the form of its employment report for 2005 grads.

Over 92 per cent of the Johnson School's Class of 2005 had one or more job offers within three months of graduation. (Among the 8 per cent who did not receive job offers are students who are going on to advanced studies and who are not seeking full-time employment.) The average total salary and compensation package offered to those grads was $110,600, compared to $109,060 in 2004 and $99,880 in 2003. The top ten employers of Cornell MBA students in 2004-2005 were:

• Citigroup
• General Electric
• American Express
• Credit Suisse First Boston
• Lehman Brothers Holdings
• Bear, Stearns & Co.
• Deloitte Consulting
• IBM
• Johnson & Johnson
• JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Cornell also reported a 98.4 per cent success rate for MBA students who sought summer 2005 internships. The average weekly salary for interns from the Johnson School was $1,430.

Harvard Revises Its Grade Disclosure Policy: HBS Acting Dean Jay O. Light announced in a December 14 letter to students that Harvard has revised its grade disclosure policy, effective for 2008 MBA graduates. From that year onward, students will be free to discuss their grades with job recruiters if they choose to. Students graduating from the MBA program this year and next will continue to follow the grade non-disclosure policy that has been in effect at HBS since 1998 and which bars disclosure of grades to recruiters. The non-disclosure policy is meant to encourage students to be more adventurous in their MBA education than they might if they knew their GPAs would be seen by potential employers. Critics, however, have argued that non-disclosure denies high-performing students the chance to publicize one of their accomplishments and fosters an unfair perception that Harvard protects low-performing students.

Top b-schools that continue to follow grade non-disclosure policies, including Stanford and Wharton, may also change course if the switch to an optional disclosure policy proves beneficial at HBS.

Financial Times Rankings for 2005

The UK's Financial Times released its 2005 rankings of European business schools on December 5. Its top 10 European business schools are:

1. London Business School (UK)
2. INSEAD (France/Singapore)
3 .IMD (Switzerland)
4. IESE (Spain)
5. Instituto de Empresa (Spain)
6. HEC Paris (France)
7. University of Oxford - Said (UK)
8. London School of Economics & Pol. Sci. (UK)
9. City University - Cass (UK) and
    Imperial College London - Tanaka (UK) (tied
    for 9th position)

The FT's global rankings, released earlier this year, named these schools to the top ten slots:

1. Univ. of Pennsylvania - Wharton
2. Harvard Business School
3. Columbia Business School
4. Stanford University GSB
5. London Business School
6. University of Chicago GSB
7. Dartmouth College - Tuck
8. INSEAD
9. New York University - Stern and
    Yale School of Management (tied for 9th position)

November 2005

Higher Compensation Offered to Top MBA Grads: The total compensation packages offered to June 2005 MBA grads from Harvard, Stanford, and Dartmouth were at least 9.5 per cent higher than packages offered in 2004, according to a recent Bloomberg report. 2005 Harvard HBS grads reported an average compensation package of $174,580, while Stanford GSB grads reported $149,913, and Tuck grads reported $150,000. In other news, the Graduate Management Admission Council found in its recent survey of 126 US business schools that the average base salary of MBA grads nationwide is about $88,626 -- $10,000 higher than the figure reported a year ago.

Wharton Admissions Blog Offers B-School Interview Tips: The Wharton MBA Admissions Blog has posted some useful pointers on what to expect in a business school admissions interview. The tips it gives about the purpose and structure of interviews are useful for all b-school applicants, whether they are preparing to be interviewed at Wharton or elsewhere. Click here to read the post.

Dawna Clarke, Tuck's New Director of Admissions, recently gave an interview to Dartmouth's student paper. She discusses what drew her to Tuck, what she thinks is special about the school, and what's new in Tuck's recruiting and admissions processes. Click here to read the interview.

October 2005

September 2005

Chicago GSB Starts an Admission Discussion Forum: The University of Chicago Graduate School of Business has started an on-line admissions discussion forum for its full-time MBA program. Current threads address topics such as GSB culture and 'fit,' career tracks, and student and family life at GSB. Visit the site to read questions and answers on these topics, or to start a thread of your own. 

Updated Edition of the Official Guide for GMAT Review: The Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC) has released the 11th edition of its Official Guide for GMAT Review. This is a must-have for anyone preparing to take the GMAT, as it is the only source of actual questions from previous versions of the test. The book is now available through Amazon.com.

WSJ/Harris Interactive B-School Rankings for 2005: The Wall Street Journal and Harris Interactive announced the results of their 5th annual business school survey on September 21. The list is based on assessments from over 3,200 corporate recruiters of the strengths and weaknesses of various schools. Dartmouth was named the top b-school in the national category, winning extra points from recruiters for producing MBAs who value collegiality and teamwork. Purdue was named the top regional b-school, winning praise for producing grads with a good work ethic. The International Institute of Management Development (IMD) was named the top international school, with recruiters noting the maturity and depth its graduates bring to the job.

Exclusive Interview Transcript: "'Fit' is very important to all MBA programs," says Anne Richards, Associate Director of Admissions for Cornell's Johnson Graduate School of Management. "It is important that candidates look at each school individually....Don't use just the rankings, or just the reputation. Visit and make sure that it is just the right program for you." For more insights to choosing b-schools, and for what Johnson looks for in applicants, read the full transcript of our interview with Ms. Richards.

Hispanic Business has listed its Top 10 b-schools for Hispanic MBA students, based on the number of Hispanic students, school efforts to recruit Hispanic students, and employers' recruiting preferences. They are:

1. Stanford
2. UC Berkeley
3. UT Austin
4. Yale
5. University of Miami
6. Duke
7. Columbia
8. University of Michigan
9. Florida International University
10. University of New Mexico

August 2005

Deadlines and Essay Questions for 2006 Admissions: Almost all of the top b-schools have released their application deadlines and essay questions for the 2005-2006 application season. For deadlines, check our Business School Calendar or our Applications Deadlines page. For essay questions, see our Application Essays page.

Chicago GSB Moves Overseas Campus to London: The Chicago Graduate School of Business has completed moving its European campus from Barcelona to London, effective August 1. The move was made to take advantage of London's leading position in the European business world. London is home to the headquarters of over 80 international corporations, many of which employ GSB alumni.

July 2005

Cornell Sees More Applications and More Job Offers: Applications to the Johnson School were up by 9% from the previous year - which is a marked contrast to the recent trend reported by other business schools. Johnson also saw a record high number of 190 admitted students attend its April "Destination Johnson" event. Career placements are thriving at Johnson, too. 87% of graduating MBAs had at least one job offer as of the end of May (a 17% increase from the previous year), and 95% of first year students had offers of summer internships or employment (compared to 82% the year before).

Exclusive Interview Transcript: "Here at Tuck, we are very pleased that our applications continue to increase and that the pool of candidates gets stronger every year." Interview with Christie St. John, Senior Associate Director of Admissions for the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College. Click here to read the full, 4-page transcript free of charge!

Interview with Yale's New Dean: Bloomberg news service carries a July 1 interview with Joel Podolny, who assumed duties as dean of the Yale School of Management July 1. Podolny said he plans "to elevate Yale's second-tier M.B.A. program to the 'pantheon' of U.S. business schools" and to put more emphasis on accountability and ethics. The interview can be read online.

June 2005

HBS Dean Resigns: Kim B. Clark, Harvard Business School Dean, announced that he has accepted the position of President of Brigham Young University-Idaho and will be resigning from HBS on July 31, 2005. Click here for more on this announcement.

Exclusive Interview Transcript: "We have been very pleased by the overall quality of the applications we have received and by the number of applicants." Interview with JoAnne Starr, Assistant Dean for MBA Programs at UCSD Rady. Click here to read the full, 3-page transcript free of charge!

May 2005

2005 Best Hiring Year for MBAs Since 2001 - A Graduate Management Admissions Council report to be released on May 27 found that more spring 2005 MBA grads had job offers than any class had since 2001. Salary offers were up, too. The average offer reported was $84,318, over 10% higher than last year's average of $76,147. GMAC president Dave Wilson told CNN that employers are confident enough to go back to hiring rather than relying on consultants and contractors. "The market is back, the earnings are strong, there's solid growth. It's time to get back to building your own intellectual capital in-house as opposed to outsourcing it," he said.

Feature Article: Financial Aid - Click here to read the full 2-page article free of charge!

Reminder - Columbia Business School is now taking applications for its 2006 Accelerated January Program and for early decision admissions for fall 2006. The application deadline for both programs is October 12. Check our page on Columbia for more information, including links to essay questions from the application.

Change-Maker Moving to Rice – William H. Glick, who has been widely praised for raising Arizona State University's Carey School of Business to a respectable spot in the mid-range of business school rankings, has been named the new dean of Rice University's Jones Graduate School of Management. Glick, in a Rice University press release, said he is excited about the move. "Rice University has a tremendous reputation as one of the nation's best teaching and research universities, and the Jones School is a rising star among graduate schools of business," said Glick. Glick will take up duties at Rice in July.

April 2005

European Business Schools still accepting applications - Those interested in international MBA programs should note that several fine European business schools are still taking applications for their fall 2005 classes. IMD (Lausanne, Switzerland) has a June 1 deadline for round 3 applicants. Oxford's Said Business School (UK) has a May 27 deadline for "stage" (round) four applications. IESE (Navarra, Spain) has a May 18 deadline for round 5. The Rotterdam School of Management (Netherlands) takes applications on a rolling basis through July 15. INSEAD's (Fontainebleu, France) fall 2005 deadlines have passed, but it is taking round 2 applications for January 2006 through May 18.

UCLA Anderson students win Business Plan Competition - 3 MBA students from UCLA's Anderson School of Business won the prestigious 2005 Rice University Business Plan Competition. Their proposal, for a high-tech service that tracks broadcast advertisements, won a grand prize worth over $135,000, as well as the respect of a judges including venture capitalists, patent lawyers, and entrepreneurs. The competition drew 130 entries from U.S. and international business schools, including Harvard, MIT, the University of Chicago, and the London Business School. Winners Nicholas Seet, Johanna Wright, and Erik Haus credit Anderson's business plan development course, taught by Professor Bob Foster, with helping them prepare their prize-winning plan.

MBAs back in demand - A recent survey by the National Association of Colleges and Employers concluded that U.S. employers intend to hire almost 25 per cent more MBA grads in 2005 than they did the previous year. Businesses are especially eager to find employees able to handle increasingly complex questions of corporate governance and ethics. According to Washington Business Journal, employers are looking for "the best of the best" - people not only with quality MBAs but also with a record of achievement at their previous employment.

March 2005

First time GMAT takers have a chance to take the test for free if they visit GMAC's web site on April 1 and register for the upcoming test. GMAC is introducing procedural changes to the test over the coming year and will reimburse the test fee to qualified test takers who complete the exam under the revised conditions.

The 11th edition of The Official Guide for GMAT Review should be in bookstores this summer. Unless you're taking the test in the very near future, this revised edition is worth waiting for. Read more on the GMAT Test Book Reviews page.

Dartmouth's Tuck School of Business has announced that it will admit some of the 17 applicants who attempted to learn about their admission status ahead of time through the ApplyYourself system. The decisions were made on a case by case basis, following individual interviews. Tuck is the first school to admit any of the hackers - Harvard, Sloan, Tepper, and Fuqua have all rejected these applicants (see below).

Harvard Business School announced it will reject all 119 ApplyYourself 'Hackers.' Click here for more information.

Applicants Hack Into B-School Admissions Databases: Impatient applicants hacked into online application databases used by Harvard and other top business schools during the night of March 1 to 2, in an effort to learn their admissions status weeks ahead of schools’ notification dates. The move is likely to backfire on them - for good reason. For more information, click here.

Vanderbilt Confirms New Dean for Owen School: Vanderbilt University has confirmed James W. Bradford as Dean of the Owen Graduate School of Management. Bradford had been Owen's acting dean since June. During his time as acting dean, the school introduced a new master's of finance degree program and began development of a new health care MBA.

February 2005

New England Patriot Joins HBS! New England Patriots COO and HBS '83 alum Andy Wasynczuk is leaving the Super Bowl champs to become a senior lecturer at the negotiation, organization and markets unit at Harvard Business School. According to HBS spokesman Jim Aisner, Wasynczuk will be the first sports executive to join the faculty.

January 2005

Changes at Tuck! Admissions Director Kristine Laca announces she is stepping down.

Feature Article: MBAs are back in demand! And the Class of '05 is enjoying the rebounding economy with large salary offers.

Chicago GSB Round 2 deadline extended: Due to a tremendous amount of user traffic, the Chicago Graduate School of Business system has been significantly slowed in its ability to process all the demands of such high user volume. The school has decided to extend the second round deadline to Wednesday, January 12th (12:00 PM CST).

Stanford Round 2 Application Extension: Stanford Graduate School of Business is giving its Round 2 applicants from countries affected by the Dec 26 tsunami an additional 3 weeks to submit their applications. Click here to read the transcript of the email sent to these applicants.

Exclusive Interview Transcript: "The size and location of our program allow us to send all of our MBA students abroad for international exposure as a mandatory part of their education in the PRIME class." Interview with Keith Vaughn, Director of Admissions for the MBA Program at USC. Click here to read the full, 3-page transcript free of charge!

Want more news and more links to interview transcripts? Here is the link to our archived business school admission news from 2004.