Chicago Booth Alum Donates $10 Mil to Support Priority Initiatives
University of Chicago Booth School of Business alumnus Dave Liguang Chenn (MBA ’00) recently donated $10 million to support several priority initiatives at Booth. Chenn’s donation will go toward Booth’s new Hong Kong Center, scholarships for both graduate and undergraduate students, and the UChicago Innovation Fund managed by the Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation.
Booth Dean Madhav Rajan expressed deep gratitude for Chenn’s substantial donation. “This generous gift will have a transformational and lasting impact on areas of great need at the College and of high priority at the university and Chicago Booth.”
Dave Liguang Chenn, Chicago Booth MBA, ’00
Here’s how Booth plans to divvy up Chenn’s $10 million donation:
- $3 Million to the Hong Kong Center: The University of Chicago Center in Hong Kong is home to the Booth Executive MBA program in Asia, multiple study abroad programs, the Hong Kong Jockey Club Programme on Social Innovation, and various research projects. When the Center officially opens in July 2018, one of the premier spaces at the Center will be named after Chenn.
- $4 Million to Scholarships: Specifically, $2 million will go toward scholarships for full-time MBA students while an additional $2 million will go toward the Odyssey Scholarship Program for undergraduate students. In recognition, a house in the Woodlawn Residential Commons will be named after Chenn when it opens in the fall of 2020.
- $3 Million to Innovation Fund: The final $3 million will go toward the UChicago Innovation Fund, which provides proof-of-concept funding to university-affiliated ventures and technology. These funds will provide early capital for ideas with the most disruptive potential.
Chenn explained the impetus behind his generosity: “Since my graduation from Chicago Booth many years ago, I have always appreciated the values and the principles that had been taught in this fine institution and the many great lifelong friends I had met there. I hope my contributions will help the university and Booth to attract the best students from around the world, and enhance their global impact, particularly in Asia, with the new campus in Hong Kong.”
Read the press release to learn more about how the University of Chicago and Booth School of Business will put Chenn’s money to use.
This article has been edited and republished with permissions from our sister site, Clear Admit.
Women Leaders Headline 2018 MBA Commencement Addresses
With spring fully in sway, classes have come to an end on many leading business school campuses, and commencement activities fill weekend after weekend from now through June. The roster of speakers top schools invite to send their MBA graduates off into the world can be revealing.
Graduation speakers are typically invited to impart hard-earned wisdom and present words of encouragement to MBA classes, and this year is no exception in that regard. More exceptional, though, is the number of women delivering the headlining speeches.
Sallie Krawcheck, CEO and Co-Founder of Ellevest at NYU Stern
NYU’s Stern School of Business selected Sallie Krawcheck to headline its 2018 Graduate Convocation ceremony on Friday May 18.
Krawcheck is currently CEO and co-founder of Ellevest, an investment firm designed for women, which “aims to serve women [investors’] needs…using an algorithm tailored specifically to women’s incomes and life cycles.”
Sallie Krawcheck / Photo Ellevest
The company has racked up a slew of accolades, among them inclusion in both Nerdwallet’s “Best Robo Advisors of 2018” and Entrepreneur Magazine’s “100 Brilliant Ideas of 2017.”
In a preview of her speech, Krawcheck spoke about our “tumultuous and confusing times,” challenging individuals to evaluate their own personal “ideas of ethical leadership and who we really are,” as well as the ways in which we consider our careers as they relate to our responsibility to the world around us.
“We have to decide if we’re going to be that person who does the right thing. We have to decide if we’re going to commit to equality, to diversity, and to using the power of business to make the world a better place.”
Vice Chairwoman of Morgan Stanley Carla Harris at Harvard Business School
On May 23, Harvard Business School welcomed Morgan Stanley Vice Chairwoman Carla Harris, whose distinguished career spans three decades.
Carla Harris / Photo via Fast Comapny
Harris has been named to Fortune’s list of the “50 Most Powerful Black Executives in Corporate America” and its “Most Influential List” and appeared in similar lists in wide-ranging publications including U.S. Banker, Black Enterprise, Essence Magazine, and Ebony.
Harris has also received honorary doctorates from seven different institutions including Marymount Manhattan College, Jacksonville University, and Simmons College.
Instagram COO Marne Levine at Michigan Ross
One of the first commencement addresses of the season took place on Friday, April 27, at Michigan’s Ross School of Business, where Instagram’s Chief Operating Officer Marne Levine delivered a rousing headlining speech.
Ross Dean Scott DeRue introduced Levine with remarks about her inspirational career and commitment to her work’s impact on society. DeRue added that he sought to invite someone “who role models the leadership we aspire to.” He also praised Levine’s “transformative and positive impact on how we live, work, and interact with each other.”
Marne Levine / Photo via Collective Hub
With more than 700 million users worldwide, Instagram has become an iconic brand due in no small part to Levine’s efforts to scale the company’s business and operations at a global level.
She has been COO at Instagram since 2014 and before that served as VP of global public policy with parent company Facebook. Levine’s roots, however, are in the political arena: She worked in the Obama administration as chief of staff of the National Economic Council, worked under Harvard President Larry Summers, and began her career in the Department of the Treasury during Bill Clinton’s presidency.
You can watch Levine’s speech below.
This article has been edited and republished with permissions from our sister site, Clear Admit.
Harvard Halts Round 3 MBA Admissions
Beginning this application season, Harvard Business School (HBS) will no longer feature a Round 3 for applicants to its MBA program, the school’s admissions director announced in a post to his blog this morning.
“After careful consideration, we have decided to focus our MBA application process on two rounds—with deadlines in September and January—and to focus our spring round on 2+2 applications,” Chad Losee, HBS managing director of admissions and financial aid wrote on his Direct from the Director blog. “To be considered for the Harvard Business School Class of 2021, you need to apply in either Round 1 (September 5, 2018) or Round 2 (January 4, 2019),” he added.
“We are trying to do what is in the best interest of the admits,” Losee explained to Clear Admit yesterday. The customary May release of Round 3 decisions has created a time crunch for incoming students in terms of securing housing, securing visas in the case of international students, and completing HBX Core, a set of online foundational courses all students are expected to finish prior to arriving on campus.
So, what do these changes mean for the next round of applicants? For starters, HBS will now admit its entire class in Rounds 1 and 2—with the exception of applicants to the 2+2 Program, the deferred admissions program for college students. The 2+2 deadline will still be in March.In addition to giving all admitted students adequate time to be fully prepared for fall enrollment, the decision to scrap Round 3 also reflects applicant behavior, Losee added. “One thing we have noticed over the last three years is that applicants are choosing this on their own,” he said. “Round 3 application numbers have been going down, and Round 2 application numbers have been going up.”
There are not plans to significantly change the timing of Rounds 1 and 2 this year, Losee said. “We might adjust the date a little bit for Round 2, just by a day or two,” he said. But the application deadlines for those two rounds will continue to be in September and January respectively.
Chad Losee, HBS managing director of MBA admissions and financial aid
As in the past, HBS will place some applicants on the waitlist as part of Rounds 1 and 2. As for whether the switch from three rounds to two will necessitate a change in terms of the overall size of the waitlist, time will tell, Losee said. “We never take for granted the people who are on the waitlist because we know they put a lot out there,” he said. “We try to keep the waitlist as small as possible and to let waitlisted applicants know as soon as possible—and that will continue to be true.”
Losee also noted that with the elimination of Round 3, some waitlist decisions could come earlier than they have in the past. “Until now we have needed to wait until Round 3 happens to make decisions with regard to our waitlist,” he said.
HBS Decision Comes as No Surprise
“Based on the multiple calls for Round 3 applicants from a number of leading schools this year, this decision by HBS comes as no surprise,” Clear Admit Co-Founder Graham Richmond said on hearing the news. “Today’s MBA applicants are increasingly applying early.” It’s a trend that has been evolving over the past 10 to 15 years, during which time Round 1 has slowly eclipsed Round 2 as the round of preference and the message from schools to “apply early” has gradually sunk in for applicants.
“It’s also likely a reflection of two new realities “ Richmond added. “First, the new challenges faced in the U.S. immigration policies, even for student visas. And second, the fact that more and more MBA students seek to spend the summer months in pre-MBA internships (as opposed to leisurely backpacking around the globe).”
These forces together with the messages from leading schools for “serious” candidates to apply early likely contributed to the elimination of Round 3 by HBS, Richmond concludes. “With that said, one can’t help but wonder if some Round 3 candidates—particularly the non-traditional sort who aren’t in the MBA pipeline from an early date—may fall ‘out of the process,’” he added.
Richmond added that he is not sure that every school will follow HBS’s lead and eliminate Round 3, however. “There are likely many applicants who won’t make the cut in Round 2 at the likes of Harvard, Stanford, and Wharton, who then may seek to submit late-round apps elsewhere,” he said. “As such, I don’t expect schools in the next tier (e.g. non-top-3) who are seeing declines in application volume to take this step.”
To read Losee’s complete post, click here.
This article has been edited and republished with permissions from our sister site, Clear Admit.
Meet Leading Admissions Directors, Clear Admit Editor-in-Chief at Upcoming Events in San Francisco, DC
Admissions directors from seven leading business schools will convene for two upcoming multi-school MBA admissions events, one next week in San Francisco and a second the following week in Washington, DC. Moderated by Clear Admit Editor-in-Chief Jeanette Brown, each event will feature representatives from Berkeley’s Haas School of Business, Cornell’s S.C. Johnson Graduate School of Management, Duke’s Fuqua School, Michigan’s Ross School, NYU Stern School, UVA’s Darden School, and Yale School of Management (SOM).
As part of these unscripted discussions, admissions directors will share tips not available on the schools’ websites as they answer hard-hitting questions designed to give attendees a head start on the application process. Applicants themselves will have an opportunity to pose their own questions both as part of a Q&A session at the end of the moderated panel discussion, as well as during an hour-long admissions fair that will take place during the second hour of each event. During the admissions fair, alumni from participating schools will also be present to answer questions about student life and the culture at each school.
The first event will take place at the San Francisco Omni Hotel, located at 500 California Street, on Thursday, May 10th, from 7 to 9 p.m. The second will take place at the Renaissance Washington, DC Downtown Hotel, located at 999 9th Street, NW, on Wednesday, May 16th, also from 7 to 9 p.m. The doors will open at 6:30 p.m. for each event, and attendees are encouraged to arrive early for registration and informal mingling with admissions directors and alumni from the participating schools.
These events are open to anyone looking to apply to or enroll in an MBA program, especially the full-time programs at the host schools. Both events are free, but advance registration is requested. To register for the San Francisco event, click here. To register for the DC event, click here.
Don’t miss this great opportunity to learn firsthand about seven leading business schools in a single evening. Walk away with a firm understanding of the general MBA application process and increased confidence in your approach, having gotten to know admissions personnel and alumni from each of the host schools.
Should a Business School Scholarship Impact Your MBA Choice?
A brief look at Clear Admit MBA DecisionWire appears to indicate that more and more leading MBA programs are offering scholarship money, either need-based or merit-based, to encourage admitted candidates to enroll. This may be the result of competing for a smaller pool of top applicants amidst declining application volume (particularly in the USA and Europe).
This scholarship money reduces the price of the MBA, and therefore alters the calculus in terms of the cost-benefit analysis of the program. If you do have admissions offers from multiple programs, some of which include scholarship money, you will need to weigh whether the reduced cost alters your order of preference for schools.
Cases where scholarship dollars can alter your order of preferences include:
- Career Goal Impact: When your career aspirations, both short-term and long-term, are not impacted by choosing the program that would be from a lower-tier. For example, you are not seeking a career in consulting at the elite consulting firms, which generally focus their recruiting at the very top schools. Nor are you seeking opportunities in private equity and venture capital – jobs in this field are scarce and very much limited to top schools with strong networks in the domain. Perhaps you know where you plan to be post-MBA regarding geography, and the school that is offering you scholarship has a significant alumni presence in that region which would facilitate achieving your goals.
- Scholarship Prestige: The scholarship award is prestigious at the school, and offers you opportunities at that program that are not available to the general student body. For example, you may have access to a special mentor program. A ‘named’ scholarship is also something you can place on your resume, helping you to stand out from other students at the school. These advantages might be enough to sway a decision in favor of a lower-tier program, but they are only really compelling if your recruiting goals are not geared towards the firms that concentrate their hiring at the very top programs, as noted above.
Fundamentally, it is important to weigh a scholarship offer from both a short- and long-term perspective. While it might be compelling in the short-term to graduate from your MBA program with $100,000 less in debt thanks to a scholarship, that $100,000 in savings, discounted over a 40 year post-MBA career, may be small compared to the better career opportunities afforded by a more prestigious MBA program. This is exponentially more important when your career goals are targeting the high-paying careers of consulting, banking and tech – not to mention that those jobs often come with significant signing bonuses which can instantly help with some of those tuition loans. However, if your career is targeted to social impact and non-profit, and other careers that generally don’t pay as high a salary, the value of the scholarship, and reduced debt upon graduation, is more appealing.
Finally, if you are an international student, you need to factor in your desire to remain in the country or region of your MBA program, and how important that is, based on your potential to earn the same salary in your home country. A number of international students are using the MBA to help them relocate, but given the current immigration environment, the potential for doing this may be more limited. A scholarship, lowering the cost of the MBA, reduces the risk to the student who has to return to their home country upon graduation. The counter argument is, the more prestigious the MBA program to which you gain admission, the greater your opportunity of getting an offer that allows you to remain in the country of the MBA.
Overall, it can be tempting to jump at a substantial scholarship – especially when the loans one takes for an MBA program seem truly daunting. But in the end, just as with investing in the stock market, a long view is needed when computing the true value of such scholarships.
This article has been edited and republished with permissions from our sister site, Clear Admit.
Your Essential Guide to Pre-MBA Diversity Conferences, Boot Camps, and Forums
Several organizations are focused on helping increase the pipeline of underrepresented demographics—such as women, LGBTQ students, and those from diverse cultural and ethnic backgrounds—to business school and the larger business world. As part of these efforts, many host MBA diversity conferences, boot camps, and forums providing recruiting and networking opportunities to admitted students headed off to business school in the fall. For eligible participants, these opportunities, designed to provide a head start for students in the MBA recruiting process before they even arrive on campus, are well worth pursuing.
Forté MBA Women’s Leadership Conference
The Forté Foundation, a non-profit consortium of leading companies and top business schools, works specifically to expand opportunities for women in business through a range of financial and educational opportunities. A centerpiece of these efforts is the annual Forté MBA Women’s Leadership Conference, which will take place this year in Atlanta on June 15 and 16. Registration is now open for both current business school students and those slated to start their MBA programs next fall.
The two-day conference provides an opportunity for women pursuing their MBA to connect with hundreds of other like-minded students. Billed as a chance to “learn from highly successful business leaders how to develop stand-out skills and project an authentic leadership style,” it also presents valuable networking opportunities. Highlights of this year’s conference include a meet and greet with Fortune 100 recruiters, more than 150 speakers and presentations from a variety of industries and career paths, and a keynote lecture by USA Today Editor-In-Chief Joanne Lipman. Conference attendees can also take part in the Forté Power Pitch Competition, pitching their ventures to a panel of judges for a chance at cash prizes.
Reaching Out MBA Conference
LGBTQ+ students and their allies should familiarize themselves, if they are not already, with Reaching Out MBA (ROMBA). This organization focuses on educating current and prospective MBA students on LGBTQ-specific issues and connecting current LGBTQ students with each other and with alumni communities.
“The conference connects more than 1,600 members of the LGBTQ MBA student and alumni community with more than 90 companies looking specifically or LGBTQ talent,” ROMBA Executive Director Matt Kidd explains. Registration is now open for this year’s conference, which will take place in Minneapolis on October 4th through 6th.
ROMBA also helps prepare students in advance of the conference. “We want to ensure they are well positioned for their conversations with our corporate partners at the conference and beyond,” Kidd adds. ROMBA also offers pre-admission mentoring, a summer consulting project, and webinars designed to help students gain a full understanding of the industries represented at the conference.
MBA JumpStart
Unlike Forté and ROMBA, which focus on specific student demographic groups, other organizations offer pre-MBA opportunities for students from a range of diverse backgrounds. One such organization, JumpStart Advisory Group (JSAG), provides an array of resources and tools through its ongoing Diversity Forums.
JumpStart will host its Brand Management and Marketing Diversity Forum in Philadelphia on May 20th and 21st and its Financial Services and Consulting Diversity Forum in Chicago from July 10th through 13th. In Chicago, finance will be the focus on Tuesday and Wednesday and consulting on Thursday and Friday, although enrolled students interested in learning about both industries can choose to attend the entire event.
“Selected students from top-tier MBA programs attend industry-specific workshops, are introduced to case studies, and are provided with endless opportunities for networking with corporate partner representatives and other incoming MBA students prior to matriculation,” according to the JumpStart website. Students interested in attending should apply here by May 13.
“Diversity for MBA JumpStart is defined as individuals that are under-represented in business including women, Black, African-American, or of African descent, Hispanic, Latin-American, or of Latin descent, Native American or American Indian, Asian and Pacific Islander,” the website notes.
School-Year Fellowship Opportunities
In addition to pre-MBA conferences and workshops, students from diverse backgrounds can also apply for a range of fellowship opportunities once they have been admitted to a leading MBA program.
The Toigo Foundation, which is focused on the finance industry, aims to prepare under-represented MBA students for leadership roles and help foster environments where diverse students can thrive during and after their MBA. Recipients of the Toigo Fellowship participate in two weekends of intense training during each year of their MBA program. These training sessions include leadership development and mentoring, networking opportunities, and the chance to make lasting connections across a range of financial industries. Applications are due by April 30, and financial awards vary depending on achievement and financial need. “The selection of each year’s class of Toigo Fellows is a fluid process and not limited to a specific number,” notes the Tioga website. “Recently, we have selected as many as 80 students (from our applicant pool of nearly 400) to become Toigo Fellows.”
In addition to the nonprofit organizations listed above, many well-known corporations also offer fellowship programs of their own that include financial assistance, conferences, and bootcamp-style experiences for students of color, LGBTQ students, and students with disabilities.
For example, Bank of America Merrill Lynch offers a $40,000 fellowship toward first-year tuition as well as a paid summer internship and opportunities for additional funding in the second year of business school. Goldman Sachs features a similar MBA fellowship program that provides funding to cover first-year tuition, a guaranteed summer associate salary, and a signing bonus that carries an additional $40,000 award upon acceptance of a post-MBA full-time offer. To learn about even more corporate MBA fellowship opportunities, click here.
Now, we understand completely that the thought of another application process on the heels of applying to business school may seem groan-worthy to many. But for students from diverse backgrounds, exploring the opportunities presented as part of these pre-MBA diversity conferences, boot camps, forums, and fellowship programs can certainly make the additional effort pay off.
This article has been edited and republished with permissions from our sister site, Clear Admit.
