The GMAT Club Blog

Tuck and Its Terrific Alumni

One of those MBA admissions truisms that isn't necessarily true: larger MBA programs provide better networks by virtue of their size. Critics of this bit of wisdom question whether the size of the alumni network counts more than the quality of connections among alumni and between alumni and the school.

Tuck, with its fiercely loyal alumni network and small size, firmly resides in the quality over quantity camp. Furthermore, Tuck argues that its alumni's generosity reflects a significantly higher level of student satisfaction with their MBA experience. This particular debate will continue to rage, but for now let's look at a recent proud press release from the folks in Hanover, New Hampshire:

Tuck surpassed its own alumni giving record this year, both in terms of funds raised and the alumni participation rate in the 2008 Tuck Annual Giving (TAG) campaign.

In 2007-08, 67.5 percent of all Tuck alumni made a financial contribution to the school. This exceeds last year's record by more than a full percentage point. In addition, the total amount of money TAG raised reached $5.9 million, up 18 percent from the previous year.

"This extraordinary support is a testament to the real value that our alumni continue to see in their Tuck education, throughout their entire lives," said Tuck Dean Paul Danos. "You'd be hard-pressed to find a better way of measuring alumni satisfaction with the education they received than by the percentage of alumni who financially contribute to their school. On this metric I'm proud to say that Tuck scores off the charts."

According to BusinessWeek, Tuck is the only business school whose alumni giving rate exceeds 50 percent, with the majority of schools falling below 20 percent. On average, Tuck's alumni participation rate of more than 67 percent tops its peer schools by 30 percentage points.

Thomas Caleel Leaves Wharton Admissions Office

The Wharton Adcom Blog announced today that

"After three years of service, Thomas Caleel (WG’03) will be vacating his role as Director of Admissions and Financial Aid as of 30 June, 2008.  In his role as Director, Thomas has been a passionate ambassador of the School and the MBA Program, and Wharton faculty, staff and students alike are enormously grateful to have had Thomas serve the School in this important role."

The post also announced that "Anjani Jain, Vice Dean and Director of Wharton's Graduate Division and Adjunct Professor of Operations and Information Management, will serve as Acting Director until a permanent Director is named."

The blog described Thomas superbly when it said he was a "tireless ambassador" for Wharton. I personally wish him well in all future pursuits.

I hope that Wharton finds a full-time director quickly.  I am sure that Vice Dean Jain already has a full plate, and the Wharton admissions office alone is a full-time job.

Admissions Consultant's Conference

The AIGAC conference was great. Worthy of all my anticipation, excitement, and gushing.

Twenty-six graduate admissions consultants representing 15 consultancies from six countries and four continents gathered to improve skills, talk shop, and share best practices on Wednesday and Thursday of this week. I am proud to say that seven Accepted editors participated in the conference, the largest contingent from any consultancy.

On Wednesday morning we toured Chicago GSB, met with Rose Martinelli -- who addressed us and took questions -- and other Chicago staff. In the afternoon, we traveled to the other end of Chicago, and met with Kellogg staff, a student in Kellogg’s 1Y program, and then heard from Beth Flye.

On Thursday we had three presentations. I served on a panel discussing “Best Practices in Admissions Consulting.” Later that morning, directors of admission from Anderson, Haas, Kenan-Flagler, London Business School, and Tuck, participated in a panel discussion hosted by AIGAC. In the afternoon we had a chance to speak to additional admissions directors including representatives of Michigan Ross, Georgetown, Cornell, Indiana Kelley, Haas, Anderson, Tuck, Kenan Flagler, INSEAD, and Yale. It was a wonderful learning experience for all who attended.

OK. Enough about us.

A few points of interest to you:

• Chicago plans to release the 2009 questions in roughly two weeks. There will be changes in the questions. The PowerPoint question will return.
• Kellogg plans to release its question in two weeks.
• We discussed the current high interest in CSR. The panelists emphasized that interest in CSR has to be substantiated by previous behavior. They also emphasized that while idealism is wonderful, they are teaching business skills. Show that your goal requires what they teach.
• Although HBS has made the goals essay optional and other schools may move away from it, these panelists stressed the importance of goals. While acknowledging that goals do change, they unanimously believed that direction and a good reason for pursuing an MBA are valuable. Furthermore, if you don’t know what to do after your MBA and are in “self discovery” mode, you will suffer from stimulation overload and an inability to prioritize among the many activities and recruiting events that begin as soon as classes start.
• Christie St. John of Tuck emphasized the importance of refreshing or acquiring quant skills before you arrive on campus. The others agreed. If you haven’t had or aren’t comfortable with accounting, calculus, and statistics, take courses either at a local community college or online.
• We asked about trends: Their response: Increased applications last year and this year.

A couple of pictures:

Accepted Editors at the AIGAC Conference (from left to right) Linda Abraham, Cydney Foote, Sonia Michaels, Sachin Waikar, Tanis Kmetyk, Robbie Walker, Katherine Kidd (non-staff ), and Judy Gruen.

The Best Practices in Admissions Consulting Panel and Discussion with (from left to right) Jeremy Shinewald, Linda Abraham,  Anna Ivey, Chioma Isiadinso, and Maxx Duffy.

MBA Admissions Round-up

Let's look at a few MBA items:

• Accepted and Manhattan GMAT are teaming up for a free MBA admissions information session. on  Thursday June 26 from 6:30 PM - 8:30 PM at MGMAT's Santa Monica Center.
  

  During the first part of the session, I will explore the purpose of the MBA application essays, suggest an effective structure, and recommend writing tools you can use to craft distinctive, engaging essays that will personalize you and take you well beyond the boxes and numbers contained in other parts of your application.

  Then, one of ManhattanGMAT’s expert instructors will separate fact from fiction with respect to the grueling GMAT exam – you’ll walk out knowing how the GMAT works, what it tests, how business schools interpret scores, and why short-cuts and tricks will only get you so far. Sign up today!

  Remember, if you purchase an MGMAT prep course or tutoring and enter  the coupon code  AACMG, you will get 10% off your GMAT prep.

• Beautiful B-School Photo Contest Winners.

And the winners are...

1. Eric Nie for a delightful Darden shot.
2. Melanie Kanter for  a stellar Stanford photo.
3. Brian Kindle for a spectacular picture of the Chicago skyline.

Thanks again to our judges:

• Graham Richmond – Co-Founder and CEO of Clear Admit; Co-founder of AIGAC
• Iday (Chicago) - Author of etc, etc.
• Necromonger  Author of Let me wear a Suit. Please!
• Achilles - Author of Experiences- My Life
• MBA Runner Girl - Author of MBA Runner Girl
• Christof Meyer - Author of Square Method Design

• Wondering about Chicago's Powerpoint question? BW's Alison Damast interviewed Rose Martinelli, associate dean for student recruitment at The University of Chicago’s Graduate School of Business, about that very question in the new BW Getting In blog.  Here is an excerpt:
  
  
  The [powerpoint slides] that stood out were from the students who showed a side of themselves that wasn't in the rest of their application, Martinelli said. "You could tell when someone figured out how to work with the ambiguity and really embraced that, rather than saying, 'I'm going to play it safe and regurgitate what is in my application already.'"
  
  Hint: Every essay -- not just the powerpoint or creative ones -- should show "a side of [you] that wasn't in the rest of their application."
• Social Networking and MBA Admissions. The Wall St. Journal surveys the MBA social networking scene in "Internet Gives MBA Schools Global Reach." MBA forums, chats, Facebook, blogs all provide you with great ways to learn about the different schools. There is no shortage of information. Perhaps there's even a glut.

Beautiful B-School Photo Contest Judges Announced

We have asked those MBA bloggers on Clear Admit's Best of Blogging nominee list for both applicants and students to be judges for the Beautiful B-School Photo contest, provided we could find contact information for them and they accepted our invitation to judge.

The judges are: 

1. Graham Richmond – Co-Founder and CEO of Clear Admit; Co-founder of AIGAC
2. Iday (Chicago) - Author of etc, etc. and currently an MBA student at the University of Chicago.
3. Necromonger  Author of Let me wear a Suit. Please! and an MBA student at INSEAD. 
4. Achilles - Author of Experiences- My Life and an MBA applicant. 
5. MBA Runner Girl - Author of MBA Runner Girl and  an MBA applicant joining Columbia's class of '08.
6. Christof Meyer - Author of Square Method Design and an MBA student at Darden

All the students and applicant judges were winners or nominees in Clear Admit's 07-08 Best of Blogging contest. Congratulations to you all and thanks for volunteering to judge the photo contest.

We will announce the winners as soon as the Accepted staff  receives the responses and tallies them. Stay tuned.

MBA Jargon Dictionary

Do you speak the MBA lingo? MBA Dictionary is out and as of 2/27/2008 it is taking user vote counts and contributions. (Hat tip to Seattle PI). The page is decorated with screenshots from Office Space and includes such examples as (though many are serious or maybe I just did not catch the humor):

bring to the table (v. phrase)

Refers to what one offers or provides, especially in negotiations. Personally, I bring a fork.

dialogue (v.)

It's true that Shakespeare used "dialogue" as a verb ("Dost Dialogue with thy shadow?"). But I've got news for ya, buddy: You ain't no Shakespeare. Resist the temptation to use this utterly superfluous verb as a substitute for "talk" or "speak." Usage example: “Let’s dialogue telephonically via land line," meaning "call me at the office." Sigh.

Value proposition (n.)

The unique set of benefits that you offer to customers to sucker them into  buying your product or service. Sometimes shortened to "value prop," as in "What's your value prop?" Word.

Dictionary Link: http://www.johnsmurf.com/jargon.htm

More Undergrads Apply for MBA Right After School

Interesting article published by The Tufts Daily - not so much the part that's promoting Tufts but the one with facts and data - it seems the trend among undergrads to apply for MBA right after school is continuing. Link to full article. And it appears that there is a number of programs that cater to these applicants. Does this mean that work experience is worth less these days?
 

"According to a recent article published in the Chronicle of Higher Education (subscription required), some business schools have begun programs aimed at attracting recently graduated students in an effort to diversify their student bodies. Hoping to draw more women, minorities and ambitious young students, business schools such as Harvard, Stanford and the University of Texas at Austin have taken such initiatives."

Reminder: Wharton Chat Today

Please join us for today's Wharton Chat  Friday September 29 at 10:00 AM PT/1:00 PM ET/6:00 PM UK. If you are having trouble making it to the info sessions, fairs, and receptions or you simply have unanswered questions, get your information virtually at Accepted.com's Wharton Admissions Chat. Wharton representatives will be there including:

• Thomas Caleel, Wharton's Director of Admissions and Financial Aid
• Peggy Bishop Lane, Deputy Vice Dean & Adjunct Associate Professor of Accounting;
• Jackie Zavitz, Associate Director, Wharton MBA Admissions and Financial Aid
• Tammy Carter, Associate Director, Wharton MBA Admissions and Financial Aid
• Balaji Nagabhushana, second-year Wharton MBA student (Class of 2007)

The chat will take place in Accepted.com's chat room.

B-School Photo Contest

Visits to b-school campuses are an outstanding way to learn about a program. But they can be an expensive hassle too. Accepted.com is going to do its share to make these visits more fun. Introducing....

The Beautiful B-School Photo Contest

Next time you travel to a b-school campus whether to check out an MBA program or to be interviewed, take along your camera. If you like to take pictures as you travel and end up with a few good ones of the school or landmarks near to it, please submit them at the Beautiful B-School Photo Contest page. Oh yes, there are lots of prizes, and those who win first, second and third prizes will  respectively receive $200, $100, and $50 gift certificates to Amazon . Plus there will be lots of honorable mentions and all these pics will be displayed in Accepted.com's B-school Zone, the section of Accepted.com that aggregates all the information we have about individual top MBA programs.

Recruiting Soars at Haas

And the good news continues!

HaasNewsWire reports on the continuing  rebound in MBA hiring. A few highlights:

• "35% more interviews on campus this fall over last, and 40% more interviews for summer internships this spring."
• Hiring has increased in all sectors of business.
• "This January hiring firms posted 125 full-time job openings with Haas career services, compared to 43 at the beginning of last year."