Manhattan Review Blog - Test Prep, Admissions Consulting and Career Training

Colleges want students that have excellent grades and SAT scores, but these criteria are frequently not the make-or-break factors that influence acceptance, particularly at highly selective schools.  Colleges have to work hard to keep or make their good reputations, just like students, and therefore need to choose the right students.  Unfortunately, sometimes that means that qualified students don’t get accepted to particular schools – but that does not mean that these students are any less qualified than before they got their thin envelope!

Colleges want specific and unique individuals to attend their schools, not walking transcripts!  But since colleges probably won’t come looking for you (you’re probably not worried about being accepted to college if they are!), you need to find your special niche yourself.

Remember, even when you get accepted to the school of your dreams, no college acceptance letter guarantees a good education, a good job, or a happy life.  Even if you make it to Harvard, there’s no guarantee that your life will be perfect.

Who Gets Accepted?

Today, more students than ever are applying for highly selective colleges; more students overall are planning on attending college after high school, and more successful students are seeking diplomas from big-name schools.  This means that many highly-qualified candidates are rejected from the most selective schools.  Can you believe…

-       Students with perfect SAT scores

-       Valedictorians

-       Winners of famous, private scholarships

… all can get rejected from the most selective (and even less selective!) schools?

The Game Plan:

How can you increase your odds of acceptance into a school that is not only prestigious, but that will give you the best shot at an exemplary education?  Research colleges thoroughly; sometimes colleges are just looking for someone very specific – an oboe player for the orchestra, a star quarterback for the football team, a speaker of Korean to help improve the language department, or a student council star to take over campus government.

Use your Interview to find out whether your specific skill set is particularly desired by a specific school.  Your interview is not only a great way to make a good impression on the admissions officers, but also the easiest way to find out about the kind of students that each college needs.  Come prepared, and don’t be afraid to ask very frank questions about the student body.  It will not harm your chances; in fact, your serious interest in finding the best match for you can only reflect positively on your application.

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• College Admission – Major Trends
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• Your College Experience – What do You Want?
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A new trend among MBA students (one which might surprise you) has emerged in recent years. Many future business leaders are voluntarily pledging to act responsibly and ethically, to uphold truth and integrity, and to view businesses as more than just money-making organizations.

Interest in ethics courses and student activities concerned with corporate responsibility has significantly grown. Students at Columbia formed a Leadership and Ethics Board that holds lectures about business and ethics. Ten years ago, Wharton had one ethics class that was required. Now, there are seven professors teaching several ethics course offerings that are popular among students. Wharton has also had the Zicklin Center for Business Ethics Research since 1997.

Recent graduates are growing more concerned with corporate social responsibility. This is not to say that graduates will not be interested in high-paying jobs at big companies, but they’ll think about how they earn their income and how corporations impact the environment, the community, and their employees’ quality of life.

So who’s taking the pledge, and how? Here are examples of how students at two of the top business schools are promising to be ethical in business.

• Around 20 percent of Harvard Business School’s graduating class have signed “The MBA Oath,” a voluntary pledge to act responsibly and ethically in business practices.
• Students at Columbia Business School must pledge to an honor code that states: “As a lifelong member of the Columbia Business School community, I adhere to the principles of truth, integrity, and respect. I will not lie, cheat, steal, or tolerate those who do.”

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• New Trends, New Courses
• Younger MBA Applicants (I)
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Many schools do recruit and encourage younger applicants to apply. Tepper School of Business at Carnegie Mellon University, Stanford Business School and Harvard Business School are among those with a reputation for accepting younger applicants, but many schools admit almost no young applicants (even though they claim to be interested in them). Even those schools that do accept large numbers of young applicants are quite selective in their choices. In both the application process and the experience of business school itself the younger applicant faces special hardships, which are important to be aware of.

Application Process

Young applicants face several challenges in the MBA application process. They have to compensate for a lack of work experience with leadership roles, higher than average GMAT scores, higher than average GPA, even more focused career goals, recommendations showing maturity and preparedness, and uniqueness (in some manner).

Leadership experience is especially important. In essays as well as during the interview process, it is important that younger applicants show admissions officers or interviewers what leadership roles they have taken on, what they have learned in those roles, and explain with concrete examples. Younger applicants will especially want to highlight larger roles, which help to display their unique knack for leadership. Successful younger candidates can show that their uncommon leadership abilities exceed the average college student, through experiences such as being elected College President, internships in fields that recruit few undergraduates, or entrepreneurial experiences.

Business School Experience

At school, younger students sometimes experience difficulties relating to fellow students. Other business school students, who tend to be older and more experienced, come to school with different interests and home lives, as they sometimes have families and different backgrounds. These differences can cause mutual misunderstanding and ultimately limit the forming of lasting relationships and networks that many people go to business school to create.

In the classroom, younger applicants need to continue to show that they do have legitimate and interesting experiences to share and make this clear to professors. Overall, it is important that younger students keep their self-confidence in the face of older students. Younger students must respect older students for the greater breadth of experience that comes from spending time in the “real world,” but remember too that they were accepted because of exceptional ability (however young) and do indeed have things to offer the class and the professional world.

In the job application process, younger students may have difficulties with certain career paths. Venture capital firms, for example, often seek MBAs with greater professional experience. However, consulting firms and banks are happy to recruit younger, more energetic MBAs, though they may hesitate at first to put younger MBAs in management positions.

Overall Pros and Cons

Overall the MBA experience for younger students is not an easy one. Yet despite the difficulties experienced in the application process and in study, the young applicant does have the advantage of completing the degree early—especially important to women, who later, for personal reasons, may want to take time out from the professional world. Also, it is a good path for the over achiever who is used to being among older people. Young applicants who are not so used to it should carefully select the schools they apply to according to their percentages of younger admits. Younger applicants will find themselves jump starting their careers early and may possibly be spending more of their professional lives in unique, exciting roles where they can make a greater impact.

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• Younger MBA Applicants (II)
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Recently Manhattan Review has had a number of raffle drawings and scholarship giveaways with partnering organizations. We are pleased to announce two of our recent raffle winners: Tim Brackrock and Ricardo Moraes!

Tim Brackrock entered our raffle at the QS World MBA tour in Frankfurt and won a free in-person GMAT course. Included in his prize are the following benefits included in our course tuition:

• Better Score Guarantee – Unlimited Classes, Online Library & Advice
• Turbocharge Your GMAT Math/Verbal Study and Solutions Guides
• Extensive Quant and Vocabulary Glossaries
• Three on-line challenging Computer Adaptive Tests
• After-class Home Study Guideline provided
• Discount for Private Tutoring & MBA Admissions Services
• Discounted Access to Online Recording Library for tailored study
• US$200 Student Referral; US$1000 Corporate Account Referral (applicable only for paying students)
• Double Your In-Person Class Hours with an Online Course at No Additional Cost (up to 56 Hours of Total Real-time Instruction Hours)

Ricardo Moraes in Brazil entered a photo contest sponsored by the MBA tour . He won a free online GMAT course (a $1,025 value), a set of Manhattan Review Turbocharge Your GMAT course books, and an Elite School Dedicated Package for 5 schools (a $5,500 value), worth a total value of $6,525. The Elite School Dedicated Packs are part of our MBA Application Review and Advisory Services and give you the end-to-end, comprehensive guidance for your entire admissions process.

Thanks to everyone who entered our drawings!

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• Younger MBA Applicants (I)
• Wait Listed?!
• From Seeking an MBA to Seeking Success (Part II)
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• Younger MBA Applicants (II)

There are several excellent MBA programs outside North America. European Business schools such as London Business School in the UK, IMD in Switzerland, INSEAD in France, ESADE in Spain, and RSM Erasmus in the Netherlands immediately come to mind as some of the top ranked MBA programs in the world. Although the US remains by far the primary center for MBA study (about 83% of all the GMAT score reports worldwide are sent to US-based business schools based on the GMAC’s 07 data), Europeans are increasingly choosing to study in Europe outside of their home country while Americans also start to take a serious look at schools across the Atlantic. This tendency, however, has been balanced by Asians who overwhelmingly choose to study in the US.

Why then are more students now choosing to pursue their management education abroad in a different country in Europe? Many factors contribute to this trend, such as an interest in working internationally, an interest in a particular country, the desire to learn another language or to experience a different academic atmosphere. We also listed out some crucial benefits below.

Yet, studying abroad does entail certain challenges, and some candidates are more prepared to succeed in a different cultural context as a result of their personality and professional or academic background.

Factors to Consider – Pros

· Shorter Program: European programs move at a faster pace. They are generally 1-year long, so you need to be prepared to jump right into academic work. IMD, generally ranked as the #1 program in Europe, is a rigorous 11-month program in which students do not have the opportunity to pursue an internship. So you need to be a bit more focused in terms of post-MBA goals and career pursuits.

· More Experienced Classmates: Another important consideration in terms of matching your background with European programs is that the average student age and years of professional experience is higher at European schools than in US schools. Older candidates tend to find this attractive, while younger ones may feel slightly out of place or experience increased difficulty gaining admission.

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• Younger MBA Applicants (I)
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