Manhattan Review InFocus BLOG

In an analysis of a b-school application, it is certain that some traits are going to be viewed positively by business schools across the board, for example, high GMAT scores or a high undergraduate GPA. However, certain schools such as MIT Sloan are looking for more particular characteristics in those they accept.

MIT Sloan seeks applicants with a background in Economics or Accounting. This may provide additional insight into the type of students that attend Sloan. In a similar vein, Sloan sees the Quantitative score on the GMAT as being particularly important in their evaluation. Certainly, if you do not see these parts of your application as being particularly strong and have your heart set on applying to Sloan, these facts alone should not deter you. Sloan also prefers a student body made up of people who have engaged in a range of professional sectors and have unique personal interests too. 

Overall, it’s good to keep in mind that Sloan is about more than technology; it’s about creativity as well. So show in your application an ability to creatively reflect on who you are and if you are invited to interview, be prepared to respond spontaneously to an interviewer’s unconventional approach.

Set in the old industrial city of Pittsburgh, Tepper seeks business school students whose backgrounds prove them to be genuinely good and hard-working people, the type you’d like to share an office with. Offering its students a range of extracurricular activities during business school and boasting a superbly functioning administration, which makes the interview and job application process much smoother, Tepper is becoming an increasing attractive location for an MBA. Such flexibility and openness is also displayed in their waitlist policy which allows you, once placed on the list, to update your file, even add a recommendation, before they rank their waiting list applicants. Recently, Tepper has been flooded with 2008-2009 applications, receiving possibly 14% more than last year. In terms of getting into Tepper, just as for other schools, it is recommended that you learn as much as can about the school before applying. This allows you to be able to craft your application in such a way that an admissions committee is likely to interpret as a good match to the school. It also allows you to know early on whether the school will be able to adequately suit your needs. Tepper encourages applicants to visit or engage in its online forum to learn more about the school before applying.

McCombs at the University of Texas in Austin, the American headquarters for Dell as well as the live music capital of the world, is a business school that is adapting to a global business environment and seeking to be even more competitive in b-school rankings.

Some interesting facts on McCombs:

·       Though things are big in Texas, McCombs tries to maintain a feeling of intimacy. Despite the fact that the University of Texas at Austin has well over 50,000 students, the McCombs MBA program maintains a class size of just 260.

·       McCombs is making more of an effort to increase its rank through the recruitment of international students, especially Latin Americans and Europeans.

·       The University is also home to a great law school and an excellent public policy school (The LBJ School), and MBA Students can attend classes at these schools while enrolled.

·       McCombs has become increasingly a school for those interested working in consulting, marketing and finance sectors.

·       McCombs does not insist on work experience. But most accepted students, all but 2%, have at least some experience.

Like many business schools, London Business School (LBS) is receiving an increasing number of applications for the 2008-2009 school year. Applicants to LBS recognize the advantages of studying in London, a center of world finance and business, and many are interested in not only learning from a highly knowledgeable faculty, but also surrounding themselves with students who have significant professional experience. The LBS program lasts between 15 and 21 months, during which time the school offers a broad range of academic and professional opportunities.

For applicants to LBS, it is important to consider that LBS places a great deal of weight on work experience. Getting in to LBS without any significant work experience, e.g. straight from college, is quite unlikely. It seems from a recent chat on Business Week with David Simpson of the Admissions team at LBS that 2 years is almost a minimum for admitted students. One reason for this is that LBS is interested in business people who have not only worked for companies, but also led teams or managed projects. These students then have their own valuable experiences to share in the classroom so that they can learn from each other’s past successes and stumbles. Since gaining such insights takes time, LBS generally admits students with around five years of work experience. When they evaluate applicants, their number one interest is to develop an understanding of what the applicant has done professionally beyond academics and extracurricular activities. Therefore, those applying to LBS should have a solid base of professional experiences to drawn on and to delineate in their application.

However, work alone is not the only key to LBS admission. The school also seeks high GMAT scores, a median of 690, and strives for diverse international representation in each class.

GMAT test takers in the Middle East make up approximately 2.7 % of GMAT test takers worldwide. This region manifests interesting trends in MBA education.

1. Excepting Israel, business schools in the Middle East are receiving increased percentages of applications from students living in the region, which is in line with the worldwide trend of more applicants seeking acceptance from schools located in the region in which the students live.
2. The percentage of students in the Middle East that chooses to apply to the United States for graduate management education is lower than in other world regions. Instead, Middle Eastern students tend to seek acceptance in countries like the United Kingdom, Spain, and the Netherlands.

Does this say anything larger about the state of openness within and outside the region? Or does it rather suggest that the Middle East, like the rest of the world, is simply moving toward more regionally-based education? At the moment, we cannot be certain. Future statistics may shed more light on these questions.