D’Amore-McKim Associate Dean Named Board Member of GMAC
The Graduate Management Admissions Council has named D’Amore-McKim‘s Associate Dean of graduate programs Kate Klepper, as a new board member. Klepper joins the board at the same time as a new board chair and four other board members.
The Graduate Management Admissions Council was formed in 1970 as an education corporation under New York state law. The GMAC is responsible for the GMAT and follows the philosophy that business and management are critical to the economic and social well being of people worldwide. The council provides information and insights to improve decision-making about the discovery and evaluation of talent for MBA programs.
Columbia Alums Combine MBAs and Social Enterprises
Two Columbia Business School alumni have created a new social venture in New York City that provides business advisory services to nonprofits and for-profit mission-driven companies. The company is a Teach for America for MBAs interested in nonprofits and social enterprises.
The program, called Inspire Impact, is an incubator fellowship pairing mostly MBA students enrolled in various business schools with social enterprises.
The 10-week program, which has seven MBAs and one engineer, will have classes covering everything from project finance to social media skills. Each student will be matched with an organization to work on a specific project that Nell Derick Debevoise, CEO, and Yael Silverstein, chief strategy and operations officer, have already scoped out, doing a cost-benefit analysis of a new program a group wants to monetize, or looking at different revenue generating opportunities.
“By the end of the summer, they can have a 30,000 foot view of what a career in this field would be like,” says Silverstein. Continue reading…
Time Magazine Ranks Cal. State LA No. 24
California State University, Los Angeles has been featured as one of TIME Magazine’s top 100 colleges and universities. This ranking is based on a new criteria proposed by the White House that emphasizes accessibility, affordability and completion. Cal State L.A. was ranked at no. 24 and is one of the seven CSU campuses that made the list.
TIME Magazine issued the rankings in its April 23, 2014 issue after collecting data from 2,500 higher education institutions and assessing the value of each institution based on metrics such as graduation rates, tuition and the percentage of Pell Grant recipients.
“Cal State L.A. has always been an institution dedicated to access, opportunity and excellence,” said new Cal State L.A. William A. Covino. “I’m proud that TIME Magazine has recognized that dedication by ranking us number 24 on their Best Colleges list. This is a time of excitement and progress at the University as we envision a future based on the pillars of engagement, service, and the public good. I am confident you’ll see us moving up these rankings in the years ahead.”
The rating system proposed by the White House is intended to provide prospective students and their families with information that will allow them to select higher education institutions that provide the best value.
From 2012 to 2013, approximately $3.8 billion in financial aid was distributed to 319,000 CSU students, nearly 76 percent of the total student population. Of this, $782.6 million was allotted in the form of Pell Grants. In that same year, Cal State L.A. awarded more than $53 million in Pell grants to 12,749 students.
Smith School Sees Record Setting Number of Applicants
The Robert H. Smith School of Business experienced a record-setting increase of 30 percent in applications to its full time MBA program during the 2013-2014 recruiting cycle. Continue reading…
Harvard 1st Year MBA Students Present IPO Day
May 14 marked IPO Day at Harvard Business School, where students in the FIELD 3 course had the opportunity to present viable businesses to 900+ first year MBA students. The audience cheered as teams presented ideas ranging from making single origin chocolates fun and accessible (DelectareChocolates.com), a solution that ‘unshrinks’ woolen clothing (Unshrinkit.com) to an app (SpotRocket.co) that promised to help job seekers find the “hottest start-up to work for.”
This presentation capped the yearlong FIELD course. FIELD 3, the final module, thrust students into experiencing the real-world roles of entrepreneur, analyst, marketer, and investor. It challenged them to refine the leadership and teamwork skills they learned in FIELD 1 last fall, and the product or service development skills they practiced while working with global partner organizations during FIELD 2. The students had two months to refine their ideas and develop a customer sales pitch, all leading up to Launch Day in mid-April, and teams with a viable idea advanced to this month’s IPO Day.
“Our objective with FIELD 3 was to provide students with an opportunity to apply and integrate the knowledge, skills, and tools acquired in the first-year curriculum,” says Senior Associate Dean Youngme Moon, chair of the MBA Program. “It exposed the entire class to the challenge and excitement of being an entrepreneur, creating an idea, and making it a reality. “The focus was on taking action, learning from the response to that action, and making changes to improve your chances of success,” Moon continues. “Almost all successful ventures go through this ‘pivoting’ process multiple times as they probe and test their ideas. FIELD 3 uniquely challenged students to experience that process and learn from it.”
NYU Stern’s Director of MBA Admissions Shares Tips for Candidates on the Waitlist
Rabia Ahmed, who serves as the director of MBA admissions for NYU Stern, recently sat down with www.topmba.com, in order to share her top insights and tips for candidates who find themselves on the waitlist for 2014.
1. Be self-aware
The MBA admissions committee has seen strengths in your application, but there may be ways to improve your candidacy. We are looking for people who have the personal initiative to improve themselves. We provide detailed information about what we evaluate and why on our website. We are looking for the kind of person who can take that information, do a self-assessment and take appropriate action.
2. Be proactive
Provide us with updates to your application. New information about employment, updated test scores, as well as supplemental recommendation letters or essays can all potentially enhance your qualifications. New information is most effective when it provides a different or updated perspective to the committee.
3. Be appropriate
Each school has different policies for how to interact while on the waitlist. At NYU Stern, we are open to communication and welcome updates, but not all schools are. We want to know that you continue to remain interested in our program, but we don’t need daily or weekly updates.
4. Be considerate
to your fellow applicants on the waitlist. If you have made other plans, graciously give up your spot for others.
5. Be encouraged
The NYU Stern committee feels that your application has some real strengths and therefore has offered you a place on the MBA waitlist. At the same time, please understand that we do have many more qualified applicants than spots, so if things don’t go your way, take heart and consider reapplying next year.
