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MBA Admissions Grab Bag

A few item of interest to MBA applicants:

  • MBA Buzz , a new website for MBA's, slices and dices admissions stats graphically. It is an interesting presentation and fun, but I wonder how the site will control for false entries because anyone can enter data. I am also concerned that it will inevitably lead to even more of an over-emphasis on GPA , GMAT, and quantity of work experience when at the top schools the qualitative factors play a major role. Finally, it attempts to graph essays and extra-curriculars and I simply don't see how it can do so. Perhaps the site owner can comment. In addition to the  plotter, MBA Buzz aggregates blogs by schools and has the obligatory message board.
  • Dean's Talk blog post on "Why Should Deans Blog."  I just found this to be a fascinating view on the benefits of blogging. No specific, concrete tie to MBA admissions, but in general it's valuable for you to have a window into the thoughts of business school leaders.
  • Tuck's application volume and Europe initiative. In parallel with its India Initiative Tuck launched its European Initiative. Within the announcement, Tuck reveals,  "Through the first three rounds of applications for the class of 2008, European applications rose approximately 25 percent, as compared with this time last year. As a whole, applications are up about 40 percent." (Emphasis added)
  • Businessweek has published a special section on family businesses and includes an article, "Making an Educated Decision" MBA programs that offer something special to MBAs who want to go into a family business. The article is OK as far as it goes, but it leaves out many programs that offer courses on family business dynamics within the MBA program.
Posted on Thursday, February 23, 2006 at 11:07PM by Registered CommenterLinda Abraham in , | Comments1 Comment

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Reader Comments (1)

Dear Linda,

Thank you very much for reviewing us on your site. Our team (all once applicants ourselves) enjoy reading your posts and advice. Some of us are actually Accepted.com alums!

To answer your question, we agree that the application process is more than just stats. However, we do feel that apart from the typical GMAT/GPA stats, other admission variables can be quantified. For example, if you go through our registration page, you will see that we try to guide our users by defining our scales for interview/extra-curricular/essay self-assessment scores.

Our goal is to have a community of applicants who can interact and learn from each other. Incidentally, we hope our plotter will de-emphasize GMAT/GPA, showing accepted applicants with not-so-stellar scores. Yes, at the end of the day, (like the admissions process) some of it is subjective, but we believe applicants will enjoy and greatly benefit from the tool. As we speak, we are continuing to refine the plotter, and all of its capabilities: stay tuned!

Warmest regards,
- mbabuzz

PS – As for false entries, well, as you point out there is the possibility for random (malicious) statistical noise. Our site provides little incentive for applicants to input wrong data as our services are anonymous and free. I mean, hey, we believe mba applicants are generally a good crowd of people, right? :D
March 2, 2006 | Unregistered CommenterMBA Buzz

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