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Showing posts with label GMAT. Show all posts
Showing posts with label GMAT. Show all posts
How to Crack 700 on the GMAT - Time-Saving Ninja Strategy
Knowing how to answer hard GMAT questions isn't always enough to get a really high GMAT score. You also need to know how to do those questions FASTER. Time m...
GMAT vs GRE: Which Graduate Test Should You Take?
http://www.mbapodcaster.com/ The GRE is the buzz word around business schools. It's a growing trend among top MBA programs to accept the GRE in addition to t...
Triangles I (GRE/GMAT/CAT)
This video explains the triangles concept required for exams such as GRE, GMAT and CAT. Enjoy the video and don't forget to share and like Facebook.com/perfe...
Top 52 Words - Vocabulary - (GRE/SAT/CAT)
This video contains top 52 words that figure commonly in GRE and SAT. Keep listening to the video again and again and revise the words for perfect vocabulary...
Gmat Study Material
Preparing to take the most important test ever could end up in a
difficult thing to achieve. Still, if you find a GMAT study guide, you
can sleep easier knowing that you are going to be well prepared for the
exam. However, a significant problem to deal with is to find
high-quality study guide prior to your exam.
One area to consider will be a neighborhood book dealers near you.
When in this way, you may be able to find a GMAT study guide for your
area, and never have to waste time to get the material delivered.
Something that may try to perform searches on the Web. By looking at
the World Wide Web, you can find several sites that have high-quality
GMAT preparation products, but you have to wait for the Internet
retailers mail you a target. So make sure that the study guide will
reach you soon enough to be taken before the exam.
Another place to visit Regional College is looking to be a book
seller. You may find that a brand new copy of the manual can be found
here, you can buy. However, you should remember that the fee can be
steep as the price of a typical textbook. However, it's best to allow
you to put off the cost against the purchase as you are going to end up
using money from the test fees, application fees, and also many other
guides later, the entire school.
Colleagues can certainly be a good reference also for the simple
reason could supply you with a copy of that they have used previously.
However, if they are still in use to copy your friends could tell me
where they bought a GMAT study guide.
Just one more piece of advice, and you might think that this tip
seems odd, but consider asking the college mentors who would have
studied for this exam before. Sometimes one of the pilots may have a
hidden reference, which you can look forward to helping you prepare for
the exam. Some professors may even textbooks that they used when they
were studying for this test.
The opportunity to pass the GMAT, and become a part of the graduate
school can be incredibly hard. Despite this, if you know how to find a
GMAT study guide, you can effectively get access to all the resources
you need for successful score.
DOWNLOAD FREE GMAT BOOKS
GMAT Explained !!
If you are looking to enroll in a business school to get your MBA,
you have probably heard of the GMAT. GMAT entrance exam is the best
business schools need to test a potential student aptitude and help the
faculty of the graduate business schools to make admission decisions.
Many are intimidated by this exam, but what you should consider is that
the GMAT is not that hard. It's just hard enough that you can't fly
through it. The reason people's fear is that they do not really know
much about the exam. So let's get rid of that fear right now.
What is GMAT exactly?
GMAT stands for Graduate Management Admission Test. The entire test is available in computer format. It is administered by the Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC or) that determines the types of skills the GMAT should measure - and how to measure them. It is designed to predict how student will perform academically in MBA programs. This exam is a requirement in almost all English schools are talking business in the U.S., Canada and Europe. In addition, the GMAT test results used for admission to a business graduate, such as in the Ivy League business schools.
Many believe that the test ratings as learned directly on the previous business applications, such as a bachelor's degree programs. This is't necessarily the case. GMAT is not really test your knowledge in a particular subject. The test measures verbal, mathematical and analytical and writing skills that you \ have evolved over time, not only in former college classes, but also at work and real life experiences. Naturally increases they have a stable base of business your chances of scoring higher.
Format and Points
As mentioned earlier, GMAT consists of three main parts-the Analytical Writing Assessment, the quantitative portion, and the verbal part. You have three and a half hour to get a degree and 5 minutes extra pauses between each section. The Analytical Writing Assessment consists of two 30-minute essay questions. The Quantitative Ability section (75 min.) Contains 37 multiple choice questions, consisting of both are adequate, and problem-solving questions. And verbal skills section (75 min.) Has 41 questions, which consists of reading comprehension, critical reasoning, sentence correction questions.
One of the interesting parts of the exam is computerized is that it adapts to your individual ability level. What does that mean? This means that if you answer a question wrong, the difficulty of the next issue will be lower, and if you get it right, then the next question will be harder.
In the end, your score is determined by: 1) The number of questions you answer, 2) Whether you answer the questions right or wrong, and 3) severity and other statistical properties of each question.
You don't pass or fail a GMAT, and it isn't specific"safe points"either. Basically, your score just a way for graduate schools to see what kind of MBA student, you will become. So you better show them your best. Now that you know what it'is about, nothing can stop you from taking and managing this test. Now go and work hard towards a better life. GMAT may be the first step.
What is GMAT exactly?
GMAT stands for Graduate Management Admission Test. The entire test is available in computer format. It is administered by the Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC or) that determines the types of skills the GMAT should measure - and how to measure them. It is designed to predict how student will perform academically in MBA programs. This exam is a requirement in almost all English schools are talking business in the U.S., Canada and Europe. In addition, the GMAT test results used for admission to a business graduate, such as in the Ivy League business schools.
Many believe that the test ratings as learned directly on the previous business applications, such as a bachelor's degree programs. This is't necessarily the case. GMAT is not really test your knowledge in a particular subject. The test measures verbal, mathematical and analytical and writing skills that you \ have evolved over time, not only in former college classes, but also at work and real life experiences. Naturally increases they have a stable base of business your chances of scoring higher.
Format and Points
As mentioned earlier, GMAT consists of three main parts-the Analytical Writing Assessment, the quantitative portion, and the verbal part. You have three and a half hour to get a degree and 5 minutes extra pauses between each section. The Analytical Writing Assessment consists of two 30-minute essay questions. The Quantitative Ability section (75 min.) Contains 37 multiple choice questions, consisting of both are adequate, and problem-solving questions. And verbal skills section (75 min.) Has 41 questions, which consists of reading comprehension, critical reasoning, sentence correction questions.
One of the interesting parts of the exam is computerized is that it adapts to your individual ability level. What does that mean? This means that if you answer a question wrong, the difficulty of the next issue will be lower, and if you get it right, then the next question will be harder.
In the end, your score is determined by: 1) The number of questions you answer, 2) Whether you answer the questions right or wrong, and 3) severity and other statistical properties of each question.
You don't pass or fail a GMAT, and it isn't specific"safe points"either. Basically, your score just a way for graduate schools to see what kind of MBA student, you will become. So you better show them your best. Now that you know what it'is about, nothing can stop you from taking and managing this test. Now go and work hard towards a better life. GMAT may be the first step.
GMAT Time Management
The Graduate Management Admissions Test, commonly often referred to
as the GMAT, is given to people who are serious in conducting research
on the topic of the business. This study aims to evaluate an
individual's ability to stand out in a research environment. To pass
this assessment, adequate time and also a rigorous learning procedure
must be adopted. An excellent GMAT test agenda begins with
self-discovery. After the test takers are aware of their advantages and
weaknesses, GMAT time management really should follow.
One might think of the Graduate Management Admissions Test as a form of recreation. Unlike any other game, really it is desirable to know the principles and rules of operation before starting. This can be a decisive advantage.
Compared with almost all related pastime, is the Graduate Management Admission Test a lot to prepare. This planning involves two important factors, knowledge of the GMAT similar information and adequate practice time. These elements are all aspects of acquiring good GMAT time management abilities.
Acquire GMAT time management skills are important to all GMAT test taker. Effective GMAT time management is really an important element for achieving outstanding grades. Time management can be done in two ways, controlling your time before the test and manage your time during the examination. What should I do this?
GMAT is an Internet-based survey. To help in GMAT time management, before the real test, it is best for a test taker to respond to GMAT practice tests online. In addition to that, while Web-based practice tests, should be a test taker duplicate also the specific test environment. When a test taker has become acquainted with the real test environment and the pacing of the exam, a person can learn to manage the full experience. Most people waste a lot of time just by getting themselves acquainted with the real test environment.
Besides the above tips, and stay away from random speculate possible answer solutions, it's too good to scrap obviously incorrect options. Quite often, when subjects are confronted with preparing exam items, they tend to panic. This therefore means that they lose valuable time that could be better used to evaluate problems with greater severity.
But there are also a variety of other methods GMAT time management throughout the study. As simple as it may sound, it is important to always read the test questions correctly. Sometimes testers to waste time reading the problem statement repeatedly, simply because they were not't be able to have an understanding of the issue in full the first time. Rather than feeling victimized because of time constraints, read the questions slowly may help save some time. This effort should be made to minimize misinterpretation of the questions that cause wrong answers.
GMAT time management before graduation and throughout the sample dish is a good ability to master before taking the GMAT. Good study habits can lead you to a good score you could never imagine. These are just simple steps, but these basic steps when delivered with extreme focus and concentration, which often leads you to greater heights.
One might think of the Graduate Management Admissions Test as a form of recreation. Unlike any other game, really it is desirable to know the principles and rules of operation before starting. This can be a decisive advantage.
Compared with almost all related pastime, is the Graduate Management Admission Test a lot to prepare. This planning involves two important factors, knowledge of the GMAT similar information and adequate practice time. These elements are all aspects of acquiring good GMAT time management abilities.
Acquire GMAT time management skills are important to all GMAT test taker. Effective GMAT time management is really an important element for achieving outstanding grades. Time management can be done in two ways, controlling your time before the test and manage your time during the examination. What should I do this?
GMAT is an Internet-based survey. To help in GMAT time management, before the real test, it is best for a test taker to respond to GMAT practice tests online. In addition to that, while Web-based practice tests, should be a test taker duplicate also the specific test environment. When a test taker has become acquainted with the real test environment and the pacing of the exam, a person can learn to manage the full experience. Most people waste a lot of time just by getting themselves acquainted with the real test environment.
Besides the above tips, and stay away from random speculate possible answer solutions, it's too good to scrap obviously incorrect options. Quite often, when subjects are confronted with preparing exam items, they tend to panic. This therefore means that they lose valuable time that could be better used to evaluate problems with greater severity.
But there are also a variety of other methods GMAT time management throughout the study. As simple as it may sound, it is important to always read the test questions correctly. Sometimes testers to waste time reading the problem statement repeatedly, simply because they were not't be able to have an understanding of the issue in full the first time. Rather than feeling victimized because of time constraints, read the questions slowly may help save some time. This effort should be made to minimize misinterpretation of the questions that cause wrong answers.
GMAT time management before graduation and throughout the sample dish is a good ability to master before taking the GMAT. Good study habits can lead you to a good score you could never imagine. These are just simple steps, but these basic steps when delivered with extreme focus and concentration, which often leads you to greater heights.
Mental Preparation for GMAT
One of the most important preparation techniques that must be performed before any test is practice. So after weeks or even months practicing for a test, a good result and should be in the bag, right? Not necessarily. Being mentally prepared for a test is actually as important if not more important than being well-rehearsed. You will be amazed at how easy it can make if you have the right mentality to take a test. This is not an exception to the GMAT test. Read on to learn how to prepare mentally for a GMAT test:
1) I do not think Quant GMAT is a piece of cake
Many of the students in general, I think the amount is a section easy to score, so choose to spend less time preparing for it, which leads to a decrease in their total score. In fact, while quant GMAT is easier, but also a bit more complicated. You need to concentrate hard not to make silly mistakes in this section.
In general, throughout the test, you will find GMAT questions including incorrect response options were included deliberately to exploit possible misinterpretations of what is asked. Even with regular practice you will be able to avoid these options can be misleading, if not mentally prepared for the cunning of the test, you may not bother to take sufficient time to carry out practical exercises.
2) Arm yourself with a systematic approach to questions of data sufficiency
Do not show up to your place of GMAT choose to ignore the questions of sufficient data. Arm yourself with a systematic approach to questions of data sufficiency.
o Read the question or the adequacy of data carefully
o Analyze the information needed to reach the correct answer
o Look at each of the two states independently of the other
o If looking at the two independent states does not give you the answer, combining the two states
Remember not to assume something is not written in the question. It also notes that when the 2 states pass the same information, the correct answer choice is D or E.
3) Take the Analytical Writing Assessment seriously
Do not assume you can just breeze through the section on Analytical Writing Assessment. Take time to review the list of essay questions to be asked in the review and think about how to respond to some of the questions selected. You should also then spend some time going through the sample tests to get an idea on the structure of the test.
4) Be prepared to concentrate for a full 4 hours
I do not think that after enough practice, just submitted to the GMAT test and expect a good result. Be prepared to concentrate for 4 hours. This means that the timing of the GMAT test is also important. If you are a morning person, choose the slot in the morning because that is when mental alertness is at its peak. On the other hand, if you're not a morning person, you should choose an afternoon slot in place to ensure that it is able to do the best for your GMAT exam.
1) I do not think Quant GMAT is a piece of cake
Many of the students in general, I think the amount is a section easy to score, so choose to spend less time preparing for it, which leads to a decrease in their total score. In fact, while quant GMAT is easier, but also a bit more complicated. You need to concentrate hard not to make silly mistakes in this section.
In general, throughout the test, you will find GMAT questions including incorrect response options were included deliberately to exploit possible misinterpretations of what is asked. Even with regular practice you will be able to avoid these options can be misleading, if not mentally prepared for the cunning of the test, you may not bother to take sufficient time to carry out practical exercises.
2) Arm yourself with a systematic approach to questions of data sufficiency
Do not show up to your place of GMAT choose to ignore the questions of sufficient data. Arm yourself with a systematic approach to questions of data sufficiency.
o Read the question or the adequacy of data carefully
o Analyze the information needed to reach the correct answer
o Look at each of the two states independently of the other
o If looking at the two independent states does not give you the answer, combining the two states
Remember not to assume something is not written in the question. It also notes that when the 2 states pass the same information, the correct answer choice is D or E.
3) Take the Analytical Writing Assessment seriously
Do not assume you can just breeze through the section on Analytical Writing Assessment. Take time to review the list of essay questions to be asked in the review and think about how to respond to some of the questions selected. You should also then spend some time going through the sample tests to get an idea on the structure of the test.
4) Be prepared to concentrate for a full 4 hours
I do not think that after enough practice, just submitted to the GMAT test and expect a good result. Be prepared to concentrate for 4 hours. This means that the timing of the GMAT test is also important. If you are a morning person, choose the slot in the morning because that is when mental alertness is at its peak. On the other hand, if you're not a morning person, you should choose an afternoon slot in place to ensure that it is able to do the best for your GMAT exam.
GMAT Study Plan
GMAT is an exciting, challenging and must conquer the goal for many who studied this goal each year with ambitions to get tickets to the leading B-schools (business schools). Top B-schools weigh GMAT scores in the highest rating, while a candidate for admission into the institutions. Therefore, acing the GMAT test will become a priority for many B-school aspirant management program, who work long until midnight during their preparation for the GMAT.
Perfect GMAT prep is to be systematic, in sync with past trends, tried over a false online tests for the GMAT books and then polished through the hard work and dedication to the top. GMAT is a hard test, which requires not only tested the transfer of marks, but scores that are near perfect score of 800 people. GMAT prep therefore must be methodical and followed religiously to ensure that everything meets an important goal of coming as close to perfect scores.
There are many different ways of approaching the GMAT exam. Popular media studies include:
A. Own study
B. Forming study groups of like-minded
C. Private Coaching
Whatever your chosen path of study of central, it is focus and determination to succeed, to get there. Ideal GMAT prep largely focused on reference books, online tests and false GMAT tips, which can be downloaded from the Internet. It is extremely important to people providing tips on GMAT is a GMAT prep teacher and reputation as far as possible in the past from diver GMAT Ocean, which has adopted, and topped the GMAT test before.
To be a winner GMAT everything you need now is self-developed plan that will truly drive to ensure that you have a 700 + GMAT winning strategy in place. The first think that okay, my best wishes are with you and hope that you fear and anxiety aside, when you have on your GMAT exam.
Perfect GMAT prep is to be systematic, in sync with past trends, tried over a false online tests for the GMAT books and then polished through the hard work and dedication to the top. GMAT is a hard test, which requires not only tested the transfer of marks, but scores that are near perfect score of 800 people. GMAT prep therefore must be methodical and followed religiously to ensure that everything meets an important goal of coming as close to perfect scores.
There are many different ways of approaching the GMAT exam. Popular media studies include:
A. Own study
B. Forming study groups of like-minded
C. Private Coaching
Whatever your chosen path of study of central, it is focus and determination to succeed, to get there. Ideal GMAT prep largely focused on reference books, online tests and false GMAT tips, which can be downloaded from the Internet. It is extremely important to people providing tips on GMAT is a GMAT prep teacher and reputation as far as possible in the past from diver GMAT Ocean, which has adopted, and topped the GMAT test before.
To be a winner GMAT everything you need now is self-developed plan that will truly drive to ensure that you have a 700 + GMAT winning strategy in place. The first think that okay, my best wishes are with you and hope that you fear and anxiety aside, when you have on your GMAT exam.
Why a Top MBA?
Why a Top MBA?
Unlike graduates of medical schools and law schools, there is no licensing exam required to practice business in the United States. In addition, the quality of accredited schools offering MBA degrees varies tremendously. This is a degree you can obtain part-time in 4 years, in an executive program in 1 year, via correspondence courses, and from schools with near 100% acceptance rates.
As a result, the value of your MBA degree is directly related to the prestige of the university and business school which grants it. A recent study of the value of MBA programs concluded that "if you don’t get into a leading business school, the economic value of the degree is really quite limited." The study examined consultants at McKinsey & Company and investment bankers at Goldman, Sachs & Co. and found that those without MBA’s performed as well, or better, than business school graduates. The fallacy of the study was that it did not recognize that it is much harder to get such a job without an MBA degree. Intellectual horsepower and potential – rather than business knowledge – is the primary criterion top consulting firms and investment banks look for. If someone possesses a Ph.D. in economics from MIT or a JD from Harvard – quite common at such firms – then that obviously serves as a more than adequate intellectual proxy for even a top two-year MBA.
The required curriculum at most business schools consists of courses such as finance, accounting, statistics, organizational behavior, strategy, economics, communications and technology. Schools may have a larger or smaller set of "core" courses, and many give these subjects different names. But overall, MBA programs have more similarities with one another than they do differences, and most of the same subjects are taught from the same textbooks, using many of the same cases.
Thus, the academic content of a business school education – much like a law school or medical school education – does not vary greatly between programs. But due to the tremendous variation in the standards of institutions conferring the degree, an MBA has the most value in the marketplace when it is from a school that is highly respected. In addition, the lifelong professional network which comes from going to business school is more valuable when it is from a school where graduates typically go on to the most successful careers.
Ranking the Rankings
There is no other academic degree which is ranked and analyzed by so many publications and organizations as the MBA. While the general public and the business world have intuitive ideas of which the most famous and prestigious programs are, many of these rankings have highlighted improvements in other programs and presented them as viable competitors. Nonetheless, the traditional top schools perform the best across the best-regarded rankings.
US News and BusinessWeek
US News & World Report and BusinessWeek are the most well-known and respected MBA rankings, and have each been published for more than 10 years. New rankings from the Financial Times, Forbes, the Economist and the Wall Street Journal have come out in the last few years. Each ranking has strengths and wknesses.
US News is generally considered the best ranking for prospective MBA applicants, as their system is the most transparent, and their rankings always come closest to peoples’ common sense perception of relative prestige. This is no accident, since their ranking heavily favors "peer assessment", which is essentially "prestige", as one of their key factors. There are three schools which have been ranked #1 by US News in the past ten years – the Stanford Graduate School of Business, Harvard Business School, and the MIT Sloan School of Management.
BusinessWeek is considered the next most useful ranking for applicants, since they collect a great deal of data and weight their ranking toward student feedback. Yet, none of Harvard, Stanford or MIT has ever been ranked #1 by BusinessWeek. Instead, the only schools to achieve the top position in their ranking are the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, and the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.
Business School | Highest Ranking in US News | Highest Ranking in BusinessWeek |
Harvard Business School | 1 | 3 |
Stanford Graduate School of Business | 1 | 4 |
MIT Sloan School of Management | 1 | 4 |
Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania | 2 | 1 |
Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University | 3 | 1 |
Outside of these five schools, no other school has ever been ranked #1 in either of these rankings. BusinessWeek displays some variation, but has generally had each of these schools in or near the top 5. In US News, they have consistently been the top five schools every year the ranking has been published.
Other Rankings
The newer rankings, The Financial Times, Forbes, and the Wall Street Journal, are essentially specialty rankings which weight specifically chosen criteria very heavily to produce different results. The end results have some similarities with US News and BusinessWeek, but also produce many curious outcomes for individual schools and are more useful for the data they collect than the rankings they produce. A summary of the methodology issues with these rankings:
Ranking | Methodology | Problems |
Financial Times | Focuses on self-reported salary data several years post-graduation | Unreliable and incomplete data: self-reporting bias |
Forbes | Focuses on self-reported salary data several years post-graduation; focuses on ROI | Unreliable and incomplete data: self-reporting bias; penalizes schools with high entering salaries (inversely correlates program quality and applicant salary) |
Wall Street Journal | Based entirely on recruiter satisfaction | Recruiters who tend to be unsuccessful at attracting interest from students at top schools tend to give those schools poor marks (inversely correlates program quality and graduate choices) |
These methodology problems produce some questionable results, such as the Wall Street Journal ranking Stanford outside of the top 40, Forbes ranking MIT Sloan outside the top 15, and the Financial Times ranking Yale and NYU ahead of Kellogg. As such, the top business schools don’t pay as much attention to these rankings. Stanford’s dean even commented, quite justifiably, that doing poorly in the Wall Street Journal ranking was probably a better indicator of the quality of a program than doing well!
The Top Programs
Harvard, Stanford, MIT Sloan, Kellogg and Wharton stand out consistently amongst their peers, and have historically been considered the most prestigious MBA programs. They are also considered the best programs today. Two other notable programs are the University of Chicago and Columbia Business School. In fact, the deans of Harvard, Kellogg, MIT Sloan, Stanford, Wharton, Columbia and Chicago, meet regularly to share benchmarking information, and generally consider each other to be peer schools.
The reason that Columbia and Chicago are generally considered just below the other five is because they carry somewhat less prestige, as reflected in a couple of key statistics. Columbia used to have a 46% acceptance rate as recently as 10 years ago, far higher than any other top school, admitting nearly half of all applicants. Meanwhile, Chicago consistently has a much higher acceptance rate than any other top school (above 25-30%) and through much of the last 10 years maintained a 50% yield – in other words, nearly half of the people offered admission to Chicago choose not to attend. Nonetheless, these two schools are considered among the most prestigious after the top 5, and are even ranked in the top 5 in some finance-heavy rankings. Siebel’s "Siebel Scholars" program recognizes the top MBA students in the United States by awarding $25000 scholarships to the top five students at each of Harvard, Stanford, Sloan, Wharton, Kellogg and Chicago.
After these seven schools, other well known and highly regarded programs include:
- Tuck School of Business, Dartmouth College
- Haas School of Business, University of California-Berkeley
- Yale School of Management
- NYU Stern School of Business
- Ross School of Business, University of Michigan
- Anderson School of Business, UCLA
- Darden School of Business, University of Virginia
Collectively, there are about 15 schools in the United States with a claim to "top 10 status" in one area or another.
Additional Statistics
Top MBA programs by subject area – one of the best ways to think about the top five MBA programs is to consider that they are all excellent in nearly every discipline, but are #1 in different specific subject areas:
Business School | US News #1 in 2006 for… | BusinessWeek "top-rated" in 2005 for… |
Harvard Business School | - Management | - Finance - Management - Entrepreneurship |
Stanford Graduate School of Business | - N/A | - Management - Entrepreneurship |
MIT Sloan School of Management | - Information Systems - Production/Operations - Supply Chain/Logistics | - Finance - Management - Marketing - Entrepreneurship |
Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania | - Finance - Accounting | - Finance - Management - Marketing - Entrepreneurship |
Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University | - Marketing | - Management - Marketing |
Yield – that is, the % of students who accept offers of admission. While some less prestigious programs may have high yields because of a highly targeted audience, the top programs are certainly competing with one another for many of the same students. In other words, the typical explanation for someone turning down an offer of admission at one top business school is because they accepted the offer of a school they would rather attend. Since top candidates receive more offers of admission, their choice of program is a factor which can be used to gauge the quality of each program. The yields of the top schools (2004 figures) are:
School Name | Yield | Acceptance Rate | |
1 | Harvard | 85% | 12% |
2 | Stanford | 83% | 9% |
3 | MIT Sloan | 75% | 18% |
3 | Wharton | 75% | 15% |
5 | Columbia | 71% | 13% |
6 | Kellogg | 66% | 16% |
7 | Chicago | 58% | 28% |
Endowment – this is kind of like the market capitalization of a business school, in a somewhat silly way. If a school has many graduates who have gone on to become very wealthy, it should have a lot of money in its endowment fund. If the school is well-managed, that fund should grow and help it attract more successful students. These are the top 10 schools by endowment (BusinessWeek, 2001):
School Name | Endowment ($ millions) | Endowment per student ($ 000) | |
1 | Harvard | 1100 | 628 |
2 | MIT Sloan | 402 | 560 |
3 | Stanford | 387 | 530 |
4 | Kellogg | 380 | 152 |
5 | Wharton | 338 | 216 |
6 | Michigan | 267 | 138 |
7 | Darden | 255 | 523 |
7 | Yale | 255 | 607 |
9 | Chicago | 207 | 87 |
10 | Tuck | 167 | 420 |
The reason the per-capita endowment figures for schools like Chicago and Kellogg are so low is because they spread their resources amongst a large number of full-time and part-time students. Harvard, MIT, Stanford and Wharton do not have part-time programs.
Famous Alumni – so who goes on to fame and fortune with an MBA degree? Besides George WE. Bush, the nation’s first MBA president (Harvard ‘75), the most prominent MBA’s are CEO’s of the world’s largest companies. MBA Jungle analyzed the Fortune 200 to see where their CEO’s went to school. The list, once again, has the top schools well-represented, and shows Harvard’s strength historically:
School Name | # of Fortune 200 CEO’s | |
1 | Harvard | 20 |
2 | MIT Sloan | 5 |
3 | Stanford | 4 |
3 | Columbia | 4 |
3 | Chicago | 4 |
6 | NYU Stern | 3 |
7 | Kellogg | 2 |
7 | Darden | 2 |
7 | Goizueta | 2 |
7 | Indiana | 2 |
7 | Texas | 2 |
In the past 100 years, Harvard has been the most popular destination for those interested in an MBA. Of course, the MBA was a completely different animal just 20 years ago. Back then, most students went directly out of college, and the competition and prestige were nothing like it is today. It is worth noting that only 79 CEO’s in the Fortune 200 had MBA degrees at all – but the MBA accounted for more than two-thirds of all graduate degrees held by these CEO’s. Although Wharton only had 1 CEO in the Fortune 200, they have historically had more, and this particular ranking is always in a state of flux.
The rest of this document will focus on the top 5 programs, but the same principles apply to the admissions process at most top 10 or top 20 programs.
Keys to Admission
Your GMAT score, undergraduate GPA, and the number of years of work experience you possess are the primary quantitative indicators used by business school admissions committees. Here is how the top 5 schools stack up on those measures:
Business School | Median GMAT | Median GPA | Mean Work Experience (Years) | |
Stanford | 710 | 3.5 | 4.0 | |
MIT Sloan | 700 | 3.4 | 5.3 | |
Harvard | 700 | 3.6 | 4.4 | |
Wharton | 710 | 3.5 | 5.8 | |
Kellogg | 700 | 3.4 | 5.2 |
As of this writing, this means that more than half of all students attending these schools scored in the top 5% of all GMAT test takers worldwide. It also means that somewhat less than half did not. The GMAT is the primary indicator of raw intellectual ability considered by admissions committees, since it is standardized, and offers an objective – albeit incomplete – measure of ability between students from different colleges and majors. If you are lower than your target school’s average on any of these measures, it should be compensated by all of the other areas. In other words, if you expect to get in to Wharton with only 2 years of full-time work experience, you should have a very high GMAT score and GPA amongst other things.
Retaking the GMAT – this is only useful if your highest score is below your target school’s median. Retaking the GMAT to get a 730 when you already have a 710 is reasonably meaningless and shows you to be focused on the wrong things. Of course, getting a 720 after previously scoring a 670 may greatly help your candidacy. While most schools say you can take the GMAT as many times as you want, you should never take the test without proper preparation, as the entire process can be quite arduous. Prepare by taking practice tests – particularly CAT simulations – and if you find that you are not scoring 700+ with regularity, you should consider taking a course to prepare.
Although admissions committees at top schools say that a low GMAT score won’t keep you out, those who get in with scores in the low 600’s are almost certainly exceptional cases. If you are the average candidate without any internationally impressive accomplishments, a low GMAT score almost guarantees you a dreaded "ding" letter. On the other hand, for the candidate who is average in all other respects, a 790 isn’t much different from a 740 from the school’s point of view. Most schools will admit two otherwise similar candidates with disparate but high GMAT scores based on characteristics other than the GMAT. As for the people who get in with scores from 650 to 700, admissions can be frustratingly random – even more so than for everyone else.
While the overall GMAT score is what will be counted most heavily, the quantitative score is more important for applicants with non-technical backgrounds while the verbal score is examined more closely for applicants from foreign countries and those with science or engineering degrees. Schools are merely looking for the assurance that a candidate will be able to both crunch numbers and communicate well. Assuming that the overall GMAT score is alright, only a seriously low score on the section that will be examined most closely for a given candidate would be a liability. For example, if you are a native english speaker and have good grades from an Ivy League college in Literature, they probably won’t be too concerned about a low score on the verbal section, and just consider it an aberration. However, a low score on the quantitative section – regardless of how strong your combined GMAT score is – could be a major liability. The AWA score is not important for most applicants, and is not factored into the overall GMAT score anyway. In some cases, the actual text of the AWA section might be compared to an applicant’s essays if the schools are skeptical about either’s authenticity.
How the GPA is evaluated – top business schools are not as focused on undergraduate grades as other professional programs. If you have a 99th percentile LSAT score, and a 4.0 GPA in Political Science from Princeton, you will almost definitely get into Yale Law School. If you score 9.2 on the MCAT and graduate with a 3.4 in music, you will almost definitely not get into Johns Hopkins Medical School. On the other hand, if you graduate first in your class in finance at NYU, get a 780 on the GMAT, and work at Boston Consulting Group for three years, the admissions committee at Stanford Business School could decide they’ve already let in enough people like you, and the spot could go to someone with a 3.2 GPA in English who worked in a NGO in Africa. The bottom line is that if you are still in school, you should try to get the very best grades you can, but afterwards you just have to live with them. If you did poorly in undergraduate, good graduate degree grades help offset the impression that you’re incapable of getting good grades, but they don’t undo the damage your GPA does to the school’s average. Thus, letting you in becomes a very context and timing-driven judgment call.
Essays – there are typically two to seven essay questions in each application, with between 2000 and 3000 words required in total. While the first application will take you the longest, and you can cut-and-paste many paragraphs into subsequent essays, overall the differing nature of school’s questions will require you to spend many days on each package to create a satisfactory product. The essays are your primary opportunity to convince the school to let you in. They will evaluate you on two dimensions: what you will bring to the school as an MBA student, and what you will bring to the school as an alumnus. The second criterion is obviously the most important. Schools are trying to select the applicants they believe will be the most successful in their careers based on their backgrounds and accomplishments to date. Put another way, the 10-20% of applicants who get into a top business school are the ones who least needed the top MBA degree to succeed in their careers. Ironic, but true.
Of course, most of the applicants to top schools are reasonably successful in their careers already, so your essays need to distinguish you from others in your peer group. Your peer group – those applicants who are most like you – is who you are competing against primarily. For example, any top school could fill up their entire class with analysts from consulting firms with high GMAT scores and GPA’s. But they won’t. Instead, they will have a certain number of spots for such applicants, and someone who was a sculptor would not be competing for one of those spaces. This makes some peer groups more competitive than others in any given year. Most schools will say that every candidate competes against every other candidate, and from a certain point of view this is true. Someone could be a consultant, and even though they have already let in more consultants than they would like, he could bring something so special to the class from other experiences that they decide to let him in too. But in such a situation, the candidate likely won’t get in on strong numbers alone.
Your essays also give the school a sense of your personality. They want to see how you work your argument and the reasons they should admit you into your writing – while still answering their questions directly. They want you to be able to list and explain your accomplishments without being boastful or off-topic. These are, of course, the same skills you will need to be successful in your career after graduation.
Many people have taken to using admissions and essay consultants, and most schools will tell you that they discourage this. It is our opinion that the vast majority of successful candidates do not use paid essay editing services, and the majority of those who do use such services do not get in. This makes sense, of course – the people that need those services the most are the weakest candidates, and they’re on their own when it comes to a final interview. But beyond that, admissions consultants are invariably not the kind of people that a candidate to a top school wants advice from. Most did not ever attend a top business school themselves, and those few that did were essentially not successful enough to find reasonable jobs afterwards – and thus got into the essay editing business. We encourage you to get someone else to look at your essays and make suggestions, but pick someone who isn’t being paid on the basis of how much of your time they take, or how many changes they suggest you make. Perhaps there’s nothing wrong with your essays at all!
On the other hand, you should collect as much information and advice on the admissions process as you can, but always take it with a grain of salt. An unsuccessful applicant may not always be right about why they didn’t get in, but alumni of a given school can usually give you a pretty accurate picture of what it takes to get in. Written information sources are also essential, and this guide assumes that you’ve probably already picked up Richard Montauk’s excellent book, "How to Get Into The Top MBA Programs". Although his advice is more generic – and thus applicable to any MBA program, but not customized for the truly best programs – you need to learn everything about the process. You should use that book with this guide to tune your application for top 5 schools.
Recommendations – these are most certainly the least important part of your application, but you shouldn’t discount them. They should reinforce what their rest of your package says, and provide the opinion of a real person who knows you very well and can answer the school’s questions directly and honestly. Every school will tell you this, and you should listen. The truth is that school’s know that many applicants write their own recommendations and just get their recommenders to sign and send them.
When to apply – the earlier the better, in general. Schools have either 2 or 3 application deadlines (rounds) and round 3 is almost always incredibly difficult to get in. This is just because statistically, there are very few spots left open by the third round. While some people believe that round 2 can be best for candidates without extremely strong backgrounds, it’s our belief that the first round is the best if you can get your application up to a desirable standard of quality in time.
The Interview – Harvard, Sloan, Stanford and Wharton all interview candidates by invitation only. This means that if you receive an interview – and at Harvard and Sloan, nearly all accepted candidates are required to interview – then this is your last and best opportunity to convince the admissions committee that you are someone they would like to have at their school. At Kellogg, all applicants are required to interview, so this changes the dynamic of the session significantly. Instead of the interview being an opportunity for you to address any weaknesses and convince them to let you in, it is merely another data point taken with the rest of your application. Put another way, a strong interview at Kellogg can’t get you in – but a weak interview can, and will, keep you out.
Conclusion
Attending one of the top business schools in the United States is really an amazing experience that we would recommend to anyone. Our classmates from business school are some of our closest friends, and the value of the network after graduation is immeasurable. We believe that you will be best served by attending the very best school you can get into, so never set your sights too low for reasons of expense, geography or other hassles.
Take a risk, and apply to some great programs – you won’t regret it.
Good luck!
Harvard Business School
Harvard University
Boston, Massachusetts
HINTS
Harvard is obsessed with leadership, and they are looking for indications of leadership ability in each of their candidates. This can be in the form of managerial work experience, extracurricular activities, or initiative taken in other forms. What is more important than demonstrated leadership is to convince them that you have the capability for taking on great responsibility and taking charge of a situation in the future. Harvard is considered the #1 general management school by US News (and most of the world), so personal well-roundedness is key.
FAMOUS ALUMNI SAMPLE
George W. Bush, President, United States of America
Louis Gerstner, former Chairman, IBM Corporation
Rajat Gupta, former Worldwide Managing Director, McKinsey & Company
Jeffrey Immelt, CEO, General Electric Company
Jeff Skilling, former CEO, Enron Corporation
ADMISSIONS STATISTICS
Application Rounds: 3
Class Size: 910
Applicants: 8,893
Waitlist Size: NOT RELEASED
Waitlist Acceptance Rate: NOT RELEASED
FINANCIAL AID
Annual budget: $54,800
Guaranteed loans available for all students.
FURTHER INFORMATION
BusinessWeek Profile
Harvard MBA Admissions
Kellogg School of Management
Northwestern University
Evanston, Illinois
HINTS
Kellogg believes that teamwork is what builds great organizations, and the ability to work with, and co-exist with others in the business school environment is their primary screening criterion. Kellogg is ranked as the #1 school for marketing, so communications ability and softer skills are more valued here – and expected – than at other top programs. As was mentioned earlier, the interview has a different nature at Kellogg than at other schools, and they want to see if you are the Kellogg "type", and excited about their program specifically.
FAMOUS ALUMNI SAMPLE
Michael Borman, President, Blue Martini Software
Leland Brendsel, CEO, Freddie Mac
John Hoeven, Governor, State of North Dakota
James Keyes, CEO, Johnson Controls
Locke Burt, Senator, State of Florida
ADMISSIONS STATISTICS
Application Rounds: 3
Class Size: 625
Applicants: 6,039
Waitlist Size: NOT RELEASED
Waitlist Acceptance Rate: NOT RELEASED
FINANCIAL AID
Annual budget: $52,533
Guaranteed loans available for all students.
FURTHER INFORMATION
BusinessWeek Profile
Kellogg MBA Admissions
MIT Sloan School of Management
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Cambridge, Massachusetts
HINTS
Sloan wants to admit a class of innovators. What is most important is to convince the admissions committee that your career will involve having a great impact on your organization or industry, and that you have the creativity and courage to take it on great challenges. Sloan is ranked the #1 school for technology, operations management and quantitative analysis, so strong business analytical skills are expected, but communications ability is what distinguishes successful applicants.
FAMOUS ALUMNI SAMPLE
Kofi Annan, Secretary-General, United Nations
Carly Fiorina, former CEO, Hewlett-Packard Corporation
William Clay Ford, CEO, Ford Motor Company
Benjamin Netanyahu, former Prime Minister, Israel
John Reed, Chairman, New York Stock Exchange
ADMISSIONS STATISTICS
Application Rounds: 2
Class Size: 319
Applicants: 2,940
Waitlist Size: 208
Waitlist Acceptance Rate: 15%
FINANCIAL AID
Annual budget: $55,310
Guaranteed loans available for all students.
FURTHER INFORMATION
BusinessWeek Profile
Sloan MBA Admissions
Stanford Graduate School of Business
Stanford University
Stanford, California
HINTS
With the highest average GMAT score in the world and the lowest acceptance rate, Stanford is the most difficult business school to gain admission into on the basis of numbers alone. That being said, they have a very diverse class mix and a balance curriculum that emphasizes both hard and soft skills. The key to admission is convincing the committee that you are bringing something unique to the class. While Stanford is not ranked #1 in any sub-specialty, it is strong in many areas.
FAMOUS ALUMNI SAMPLE
Steve Ballmer, CEO, Microsoft Corporation (dropped out after 1 year)
John Donahoe, former Worldwide Managing Director, Bain & Company
Philip Knight, CEO, Nike Corporation
Scott McNealy, CEO, Sun Microsystems
Charles Schwab, Chairman, Charles Schwab Corporation
ADMISSIONS STATISTICS
Application Rounds: 3
Class Size: 378
Applicants: 5,253
Waitlist Size: 243
Waitlist Acceptance Rate: 9%
FINANCIAL AID
Annual budget: $48,012
Guaranteed loans available for all students.
FURTHER INFORMATION
BusinessWeek Profile
Stanford MBA Admissions
Wharton School
University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
HINTS
The Wharton School is ranked as the #1 school in finance and accounting, and their emphasis is definitely on business fundamentals. Although the class has the same number of years of work experience as at other top programs, the average age skews a little higher, and thus maturity is definitely valued by the admissions committee. The admissions committee at Wharton is looking for talented, hard-working individuals that have achieved a great deal but are not arrogant about it.
FAMOUS ALUMNI SAMPLE
Reginald Jones, former CEO, General Electric Company
Shaun O’Malley, former Chairman, PriceWaterhouseCoopers, LLP
Louis Platt, former CEO, Hewlett-Packard Corporation
Donald Trump, CEO, Trump Organization
Gary Wilson, Chairman, Northwest Airlines
ADMISSIONS STATISTICS
Application Rounds: 3
Class Size: 771
Applicants: 7,274
Waitlist Size: 371
Waitlist Acceptance Rate: 23%
FINANCIAL AID
Annual budget: $59,728
Guaranteed loans available for all students.
FURTHER INFORMATION
BusinessWeek Profile
Wharton MBA Admissions
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