It’s time again for another edition of Trivia Tuesday, our weekly examination of the programs and opportunities that differentiate the leading business schools. This week let’s take a look at an academic program that prepares students to enter careers in the public and non-profit...

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We have two MBA admissions Q&A's this week:

• Join us for our MIT Sloan Application Tips chat on Monday, Jan. 5th, at 10:00 AM PT/1:00 PM EST/6:00 PM GMT when Jennifer Burke Barba, MIT Sloan's Assistant Director of MBA Admissions, and other members of the MIT Admissions Committee will participate in this chat devoted to mastering MIT's application. Jennifer can answer any questions about MIT’s application process, from early preparation, and the steps you should be taking at this point to the key elements MIT’s adcom are looking for in your essays & interviews!
• On Wednesday, January 7, 2009 at 10:00 AM PT/1:00 PM ET/6:00 PM GMT, Kellee Scott, Senior Associate Director of MBA Admissions and other USC Marshall Representatives will participate in an online USC Marshall admissions chat at Accepted.com. Learn what USC Marshall values in an application and how they distinguish among qualified applicants. Don’t miss this great opportunity to learn more about Marshall’s programs and admissions practices. Join us on Wednesday, January 7th and find out the answers to your Marshall MBA questions!

Please join us in the Accepted chat room.

A piece in the New York Times yesterday weighed the pros and cons of applying to graduate school during a recession. Under certain circumstances it can make a lot of sense, the report concluded. For prospective applicants who have been laid off and are having trouble finding another job, applying...

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We often stress that, to present oneself effectively in one’s application essays, it is critical to think carefully about what a given question is asking and what this might indicate about a specific school’s admissions priorities. Of course, it’s also imperative to communicate clearly and...

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A Milan school is showing companies how they can manage globalisation and forge corporate identities in a world-wide marketplace

A Milan school is showing companies how they can manage globalisation and forge corporate identities in a world-wide marketplace

Small classes can turn failing American school students into out-performers. So what transformation can they deliver in bright business people seeking an MBA?

The job of the business school dean has never been easy, but the current competitive management education scene, compounded by business demands, has exacerbated its intricacy

Small classes can turn failing American school students into out-performers. So what transformation can they deliver in bright business people seeking an MBA?

The job of the business school dean has never been easy, but the current competitive management education scene, compounded by business demands, has exacerbated its intricacy

When BusinessWeek's 2008 MBA rankings appeared, I was disappointed that BW had seemingly done away with its MBA specialty rankings. I am happy to report, that they reappeared last month in a slightly different format. 

Table: U.S. Schools Specialty Rankings

Table: Non-U.S. Schools Specialty Rankings

The good in this year's specialty rankings:

1. You can look at individual schools and see how recruiters have ranked them in specific areas.
2. You can also find the rankings for the specialties and see which schools have strengths in your areas of interest. 
3. BW ranked additional areas like Analytical Skills, Communications Skills, and Innovative Curriculum, 

The bad in this year's specialty rankings:

1. A few previously ranked specialties, like entrepreneurship and technology, are not included. 
2. BW ranks US schools and non-US schools separately, but did not provide an integrated ranking, which would be appreciated. It may not be possible because recruiters probably work either domestically or internationally. 

I, like MBA applicant blogger BizWiz, believe that the specialty rankings are in many ways more valuable than the overall ranking. If you're interested in, let's say, operations research, you should know that recruiters generally regard your target programs well. The program's strength in ... accounting may not be terribly relevant to you. 

At the same time don't take these rankings as absolute Gospel. Again, like BizWiz, I wouldn't pay too much attention to minor differences in rankings within a specialty. Use the data in the rankings and the overall information as a launching pad.  Specialty rankings can be a good place to start your research and are a terrible place to end it.  

 

Students from the Haas School of Business at the University of California at Berkeley are headed to Beijing, Brazil, Bollywood and elsewhere over winter break to witness global business in action. Some of the planned trips are along more traditional lines, like the Finance Club’s annual Wall Street...

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Welcome to the first Fridays From The Frontline of 2009! On the second day of this brand new year, Clear Admit is happy to provide another round of b-school bloggers’ experiences. From posts looking back to looking forward towards worrisome interviews, this diverse blogosphere community had a...

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As we welcome in the year 2009, it is time to make a New Year’s resolution.  What better resolution than to read the newspapers of your top MBA programs?  Here is a list of the MBA programs which are regularly profiled in this section: Chicago: Chibus Columbia: The Bottom Line Harvard:...

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As we say good-bye to 2008 and welcome 2009, I want to thank you all for your loyal following of this blog, your participation in Accepted.com events, and of course, your patronage.  Accepted  has enjoyed its best year ever. Thanks to all of you.

Looking ahead to 2009, we plan to make this web site and our services even better. We will roll out changes on the site throughout 2009.

We are currently wrestling with a question:  Whether or not to continue publishing recent posts from this blog on the Accepted.com home page.  What do you think?

We would really appreciate your taking a minute to answer a quick, 3-question survey and help us design this site in a way that suits you -- or at least a majority of you. Thank you very much for your time.

Best wishes for a Happy, Healthy, and Prosperous New Year!

The New York Times reports that the controversial new SAT policy, called Score Choice, will enable high school juniors to decide which scores they want sent to colleges and which scores they want to “hide.” Set to take effect in March 2009, the College Board hopes that the new policy will reduce student stress. However, many critics claim that Score Choice is simply a marketing ploy to encourage students to retake the test repeatedly. Others say that the policy will actually increase stress and the testing frenzy.

Brad MacGowan, a college counselor at Newton North High School in Boston, says “In practice, it will add more anxiety, more confusion, more testing for those who can afford it and more coaching.” Yet the College Board disagrees. “It simply allows students to put their best foot forward...and feel very comfortable going into the test center,” says Laurence Bunin, a senior vice president at the College Board.

Some colleges, including USC, Claremont McKenna, Stanford, and the University of Pennsylvania have already declared that they want all student scores, regardless of Score Choice. “Our plan is to first tell students to relax,” said Bruce Poch, vice president and dean of admissions at Pomona College. “The habit here is like many colleges, which is to see it all, but consider for admission purposes the highest individual score.” Many are concerned with exactly how such colleges will handle Score Choice. What will happen when a student who chooses Score Choice applies to a college that requires all scores? Whatever the pros and cons may be, students, admissions officials, and college guidance counselors are not looking forward to the new admissions complication.

Jerome A Lucido, vice provost for enrollment policy and management at USC, sums it up, “Students will like it because it they’ll have a sense of control, but my sense is that it’s not worth the trade-off in terms of complexity and more gamesmanship.”

In a post last week, Harvard Business School (HBS) Director of Admissions Deirdre Leopold promised new details this week for round 2 applicants. Yesterday she delivered. In yesterday’s post, Leopold provided answers to some of the questions her office has been hearing the most over the past few...

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With 2009 nearly upon us, welcome to the final 2008 edition of Wiki Wednesdays, where we share fresh interview reports published in the Clear Admit Wiki, a repository of MBA applicants’ experiences and observations! As most schools have distributed decisions to Round 1 candidates, we’re...

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