Just wanted to let our readers know that US News have released their Top 10 B-Schools for the year 2009.

You can get the rankings here: http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/grad

For year 2009, Harvard and Standford tie at the Top of the list while Wharton (University of Pennysylvania), Kellog, Chicago GSB and MIT Sloan all make it within Top 5.

While Wharton is still the Top college in Finance and Executive domains, Babson Park (MA) makes it to the first spot in the Entrepreneur domain.

In the Wharton MBA Blog, Wharton announced yesterday that the decisions for the admissions of round 2 candidates have been finalized and released. If you had applied to the round 2 of Wharton Business School and haven't heard the news yet, please check here for more details on how to login and check your online application. 

If you have been admitted, please celebrate your success with ScoreVille MBA Community by posting the good news here: "I got admit from Wharton" . We are all waiting to join in the celebrations. 

All the best! 

In the latest Financial Times Rankings of B-Schools, ISB (Indian School of Business) now ranks amongst the top 20 B-schools in the world. This is probably the first time an Indian B-school has made it to the Top 20 rankings by Financial Times. Not even the highly reputed IIMs have achieved these rankings. This achievement is especially notable since the MBA Program in ISB is only about six years old.     (more…)

Recently we had a debate on ScoreChase regarding whether it is a good idea to have the debate now or later. To check the debate, please click here: Debate - US MBA better now or later? . The original question has several parts/concerns to it:

- US is in credit crisis, possibility of recession - is it better to join an MBA program knowing that you may not get a better job later (more…)

We often talk about the importance of scoring 700+ and admissions to Top B-schools. However the scores less than 700 doesnt mean an automatic disappointment- You can still get admission to a decent school and also end up getting scholarship [Getting a scholarship in Top B-schools is almost an uncertainity], provided you work on your essays.  

Here is the blog of ScoreChase member taapu (Tapu's blog) who got 590 in gmat. He has secured admission in Brandies University, Massachusetts. Apart from this, he also received 50% tuition scholarship and great financing options. Please read his story here: Admission success with 590 score and congratulate him on his success.

For free help with GMAT Preparation, please register to Scorechase.com GMAT Prep forums.  

We have introduced a new feature for our users where they can create online notes and write blogs. When everyone has the power to express, that is when the community is complete. We hope that you make use of this feature to your benefit. 

Why Online notes?

- Categorized and Manageable: All notes are categorized, along with the search facility, they are virtually at your finger tips. Imagine how neat it would be to have all the verbal notes within one click on the last day!

- Easily Searchable: The online notes are tagged and hence easily searchable. No more flipping through hundreds of pages to find a note about a concept. Just punch in some words and Voila! the notes are searched and cataloged for you. (more…)

In their July Press Release Chicago GSB announced that they would be requiring all the MBA applicants to submit a presentation (with upto four slides) along with the usual application requirements. This move is serves the dual purpose of challenging the MBA applicants to present themselves in a creative way and it helps the Admissions Committee to get a quick glance at the overall understanding of the candidates in consideration.

Since the inclusions of effects animations, embedded flash and music etc can cause discrepancy amongst the applications, the slides would be printed on paper (and not a soft-copy) as a part of application for assessment. Apart from this, the applicants can use graphs, charts, pictures and any other printable form of presentation to create the presentation.

This is a brilliant way to challenge the applicants' creativity and expression.

The full press release can be read here: http://www.chicagogsb.edu/newsmedia/releases/2007-07-12_admission-slides.aspx

MBA Web Seminar is back by popular demand. The Seminar will be an online event and costs $14.99 for the session. The webinar would last 90 minutes with 45 minutes of presentation followed by 45 minutes of Q&A. The presenter is a current student Duke University's FUQUA School of Business, which is one of the top ranked B-School in USA.  Please click here for a copy of the presentation topics.

    How to shortlist appropriate b-schools ?
    School visits - are they important at all?
    Networking with current students - What is it? Is it needed before applying? How does one go about it?
    Application timing - If I miss out on Round 1 of applications, am I a goner? What are my chances in round 2 and round 3?
    Essay writing basics - What to write and what to leave in the Essay type questions on B-school applications?
    Letters of Recommendation - Everyone submits letter of recommendation? What content would make you stand out?

To get a commentary on the previous MBA Web Seminar event, please click here. To ORDER/SUBSCRIBE to the web seminar, please go to ScoreChase Services [You will need to login with your ScoreChase user id for making the payment, if you dont have one, please register for FREE]. Dont miss this opportunity!

Today's MBA Aspirants are exposed to extreme competitive environment. Although almost all of them can write and produce well written essays, they may feel the need to take professional help to provide the uniqueness/distinctiveness which sets them apart from other candidates in the eyes of AdComs (Admission Committees). Although professional services definitely help, it is very important that your Essays still have your own style and words.

The admission committees consist of experienced professionals who can very easily point out if you have had your whole Essays colored by someone else. Here is what  Stanford GSB has to say about what is appropriate in terms of getting your essays reviewed:

"Appropriate feedback occurs when you show someone your completed application, perhaps one or two times, and are apprised of errors or omissions. In contrast, inappropriate coaching occurs when either your essays or your entire self-presentation is colored by someone else. You best serve your own interests when your personal thoughts, individual voice, and unique style remain intact at the end of your editing process"
Ref: http://www.gsb.stanford.edu/mba/admission/essays_activities.html

So be careful in choosing the professional help you seek. We hope this knowledge better prepares you for writing your essays in an effective way. We encourage you to read the full article on the GSB Essay Activites page (above) and understand the importance of this knowledge while getting professional help on your Essays.

ScoreChase provides MBA Essay Review services. If you would like to know more about our MBA Essay review service please email essays (at) scorechase (dot) com. 

Essay questions are one of the most important part of your MBA applications. They are not only a way for the admission committee (adcoms) to know more about the applicants, but also a way for the applicants to explain the negatives in their profile and highlight their achievements. Anyway, each B-school has its own set of questions and and rules. There are often a set of Essays for regular applicants and then an optional set of questions and then another set of questions for Re-applicants. This ofcorse causes a lot of confusion. So the objective of this post is to bring all this information together in one place to avoid confusion. Here is a list of Top US B-Schools along with their Essay Topics and word limits*. 

 

Stanford GSB:

Compulsory:

Topic: What matters most to you, and why?

Length: 3-pages, double-spaced

Topic: What are your aspirations? How will your education at Stanford help you achieve them?

Length: 2-pages, double-spaced (more…)