MBA Admissions News: Chats, No money, Blemishes

This post is going to be a round-up.

• The Oct. 6 UCLA Anderson chat transcript of our chat with new Admissiosn Director Mae Shores is now online. An excerpt:

hrishika (Oct 6, 2008 12:20:02 PM)

Hi Mae: This years audio question is a really interesting addition. However, the questions seem to be focused around our opinions rather than experiences - is that a valid statement, or would you like us to draw more from our personal/professional experiences?

Hello Hrishika, we have no expectations regarding content for the audio clip. We selected topics we thought would be easily answered in a one minute time frame.

Apaar (Oct 6, 2008 12:23:41 PM)
Hi Mae! Will responding to essay 4 in audio format be more useful than replying in a text format?

MaeShoresANDERSON (Oct 6, 2008 12:25:23 PM)
Apaar - we have no preference for the audio clip vs. text. Respond as you prefer.

• The 2009 MIT Sloan Chat with Jennifer Burke Barba and current Sloan students is now online. This was an extremely active chat, and we simply couldn't answer all the questions. Consequently, we will host another MIT Sloan chat on Oct. 23.  An excerpt from last week's chat:

Badger(Oct 7, 2008 12:25:58 PM)

Jen, a follow-up on work experience. I've been in the workforce for 12 years - I realize that this is atypical of prospective full-time MBA students; my question is how atypical is this at Sloan?

Hi Badger, we have students with all types of backgrounds and varied amounts of experience. Currently there are students in the class with 0-15 years of experience. However, we're much more interested in the quality of your experiences than the brand name of the company you're working for or how long you've been there.

Hi Shauna, is there any differences for applicants who have not joined the info sessions or campus visits?

HJ, the more you know about the program, the better you can determine if the fit between you and the MIT Sloan community is a good one. MIT Sloan is a unique community- a small class size- approximately 340 in our entering class and students who are intellectually strong and "doers." I think it makes sense to step foot on campus and also to interact with current students/alumni if this is possible. That said, many students apply and THEN come to visit - the choice is yours.

Jen: the MIT website says that you accept GRE scores in place of GMAT. Are the students submitting GRE scores at a disadvantage as compared to people submitting a GMAT score? What is the average GRE score expected?

Tria, we take either test score. No disadvantage if you use the GRE!

• BusinessWeek published "Clearing up an Application Blemish."  And we're not talking about acne -- more like DUIs, academic discipline, and misdemeanors.  I am quoted extensively in the article. The key passage: "'Our advice is, always deal with it forthrightly, succinctly, take responsibility, and move on,' Abraham said. 'What is more difficult to deal with is academic discipline, especially if cheating is involved.'" I would like to add to this quote that if you can mention lessons learned or a time when you faced a similar challenge and handled it responsibly and without succumbing to temptation, you will strengthen your handling to of the blemish. Almost like face wash.
• At many of our chats, more and more schools discuss cancellation of the CitiAssist loan program, which had provided no co-signor loans to international students at US b-schools. This topic came up in both the MIT and Cornell chats. Both schools reluctantly acknowledged that program's demise and an inability to offer no-cosignor loans to international applicants.  Clear Admit has a good summary of the situation. The availability of financial aid is clearly in flux, and it is a topic we wlll address in all future chats.

If you would like to be notified of future chats and other MBA admissions events, please join our MBA Admissions Events list or follow me on Twitter.

JenniferBurkeBarbaMIT (Oct 7, 2008 12:28:47 PM)

tria(Oct 7, 2008 12:28:30 PM)

ShaunaBarryMIT(Oct 7, 2008 12:28:46 PM)

HJ (Oct 7, 2008 12:25:59 PM)

JenniferBurkeBarbaMIT (Oct 7, 2008 12:26:48 PM)

MaeShoresANDERSON (Oct 6, 2008 12:22:27 PM)

Comments

[Brie]

Hi there. We thought your readers may be interested in previewing the Manhattan GMAT Third Edition Strategy Guides, which will be released in the coming weeks. The Third Edition Guides, which have been redeveloped according to the feedback of our students and Instructors, come with new and expanded sections to keep up with the continually-changing GMAT.

As we get closer to the release date, more information will be available on our website to help everyone understand the changes made to the books and how they’ll affect study plans. Right now, though, people can head over to our website to check out examples of the updates to the new Strategy Guides.

Thanks!