GMAT Tip of the Week: Gut Check

The GMAT is a difficult test. But you knew that -- that's probably why you're reading this, because you're looking for insight. One important insight is to accept and recognize that it's a hard test and that you have to earn most correct answers, as there is little value to business schools in a GMAT question that does not separate the elite candidates from the simply-above-average applicants.

How can you become part of that elite group? One way is to not just accept that the GMAT is hard, but to use that fact to your advantage. Knowing that the GMAT is a hard test, you can train your gut to recognize when an answer choice just seems too easy, and accordingly use your problem solving skills to root out the reason why.

Consider the Data Sufficiency question:

Given that x and y do not equal 0, what is the value of x/y?

(1) 9y/x = 2/x - 4

(2) 12x/y + 27 = 12/2y

Even a quick glance at the statements could alert you to the fact that neither alone looks to be sufficient. The -4 term in statement 1 and the +27 term in statement 2 won't allow themselves to be expressed in terms of x or y - you're stuck with an extra numerical value that won't break into that x/y ratio.

Should you even break them down, you'll note that, for statement 1:

9y = 2 - 4x (multiply both sides by x)

For statement 2:

12x + 27y = 6

Again, you should note that you won't be able to get to an x/y term because of the presence of those numerical terms (now 6 and 2).

So if A and B are eliminated as answer choices, C looks pretty obvious, right? 2 equations and 2 variables, which you could see from the beginning should allow you to solve for both. But this is a hard test! Cs don't come easy, so you should be a little leery of that 2 statements, 2 equations, 2 variables setup.

One incredibly clever trick that the GMAT has up its sleeve is to provide you with two statements that are mathematically identical, so when you do feel that twinge of "too easy" anxiety, that's a great spot to double check. Express each statement in the same way and you'll find that they are:

9y = 2 - 4x

27y = 6 - 12x

Look familiar? You know that the GMAT has a preference for factoring, so it makes sense to factor out common terms in any equations or fractions. Each term in statement 2 is divisible by 3, so divide out the 3s to find:

9y = 6 - 12x

In the end, you only have one unique equation, and the correct answer is E.

Axioms like "if it seems to good to be true, it probably is" and "there's no such thing as a free lunch" pervade the business world for good reason - good managers will recognize situations that look promising on the surface but have significant flaws underneath. Demonstrate to business schools that you have exactly that instinct - when a Data Sufficiency question seems to offer you an easy answer, investigate further!

Need to prepare for the GMAT and don't have much time? Our first two-day Essentials Course starts next weekend. And, as always, be sure to find us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter!

Read More >>

Law School Applicants Willing to Brave Gloomy Job Market

This morning we released the results of a comprehensive survey of law school applicants that we recently conducted. Our first annual law school applicant survey -- conducted in partnership with Law School Podcaster and PreLaw Magazine -- uncovered some interesting insights behind what drives today's law school applicants.

There's been a lot of talk lately about how some law schools mislead potential applicants by overstating their post-graduation career prospects. Are law school hopefuls aware of the bleak job market, disappearing six-figure jobs, and the heavy student loan debt associated with leading law schools? More importantly, do they care? The answers may surprise you.

The short answer to the question of, "Would today's law school applicants still apply even if they knew their job prospects would be bleak upon graduation?" is YES, most of them would in fact still apply. And, many of these seem just as concerned about their long-term career prospects as they are with the question of what job they'll land right out of law school.

Here's what we found in our survey of more than 100 law school applicants:

• 81% of respondents said they would still apply to law school now even if a significant number of law school graduates were unable to find jobs in their desired fields, while 12% said they would postpone applying until placement rates improved. Only 4% said they would not apply to law school.


• Respondents are equally concerned with finding an appealing long-term career path and maintaining a healthy work/life balance once they start working (79%). Other key concerns include finding a job that allows them to pay off their student loan debt (72%) and using their law degree to make a positive impact on their community (69%).


• 44% of respondents indicated a reasonable desired base salary upon law school graduation to be $75,000-$100,000, while 29% expect $100,000-$145,000. 11% of respondents anticipate base salaries over $145,000.

So why are they applying to law school in the first place? The majority of respondents said they want to go to law school because they are interested in the law and the way it shapes society and business (75%). Some admitted to having more practical reasons: 35% of respondents believe they will always be able to find some kind of job if they have a JD.

We've written a lot about"helicopter parents," and we know that a lot of these parents are behind their children's push to get into law school. However, only 13% of respondents are going to law school because their parents want them to attend. (Some of us wonder if the real number is in fact higher, but no 21-year-old wants to admit it.)

Finally, we wondered how much affordability factored into these applicants' decision-making. According to our survey results, it's only important to 54% of respondents in the law school selection process. Student loans (38%) and grants/scholarships (21%) were the two most common financing strategies for law school, while 14% of respondents indicated parental support will help them finance the degree. So, despite all of the chatter these days about runaway student loan burdens, it seems that the majority of those who do apply just accept the high costs as a fact of life.

Getting ready to apply to a top-ranked law school this year? Call us at (800) 925-7737 and speak with a law school admissions expert today. And, as always, be sure to find us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter!

Read More >>

How MBA Admissions Is Like Fantasy Football (Part 1)

If you're like half of us here at Veritas Prep HQ, this is the time of year when you suddenly care a great deal about NFL players and teams that you don't normally follow. You've got the fantasy football bug, and have signed on for at least 14 weeks of ups and downs generated by the motley assortment of players on your fantasy football team.

Back in August, you seemed to have it all figured out: You picked up an elite, top=tier, no-doubt-about it running back in the first round of the draft, got a top-five wide receiver with your second pick, and the rest just fell into place. Heck, you were even amazed by how great BOTH of your quarterbacks were, prompting yourself to wonder, "Just how competitive is this league that I'm in?"

Then, reality hit. Your "can't miss" running is now in a platoon situation, your two best wide receivers have just one touchdown between them (and are tweeting about their lack of playing time), and your quarterback just suffered his third concussion in three years. Now, you wonder, "Do I even stand a chance in this league?"

So what do you do? You make adjustments.

You start trolling the waiver wires for possible replacements. You give some of the guys on the bench (that "depth" you were crowing about just several weeks earlier) a shot to fill in for your big-name players. You somehow find a way to field a full starting roster every week, and you manage to stay competitive. (After all, your opponents are probably dealing with the same challenges.)

So what does this have to do with MBA admissions? The lesson to take away is that your plans will inevitably change between the very start of the process and when you click "Submit" on your last business school application. Maybe you didn't leave yourself enough time for the GMAT, and on September 24 you got a 650, and the HBS Round 1 deadline was only a week away. Or, after five weeks of coaching one of your recommendation writers, it started to become apparent that you weren't going to get a recommendation (or at least a good one) from him in time. Or, maybe you learned that you were just weeks away from receiving a large promotion, potentially making your candidacy stronger after the promotion, and maybe even giving you second thoughts about applying now and walking away from such a great opportunity.

In every case, you have to step back and plan again. Didn't get the GMAT score that you wanted? Then you consider taking the GMAT again, knowing that you're better off applying with a 700 in Round 2 than a 650 in Round 1. (Perhaps you enroll in our new Essentials Course.) Or you hurry up and enlist the help of your "Plan B" recommendation writer, who ends up writing a better recommendation for you than anyone else does. Or you strategically wait a few weeks and let that promotion come through, so that you can show the big step up in job title (and salary) on your application data sheets.

In every case, things didn't turn out the way you expected, and you smartly took a step back and asked, "What should I do differently to compensate for (or take advantage) of this new situation?" That ability to assimilate and act on new information not only makes for a great fantasy football manager, but it also happens to make for a great business manager, which is what MBA admissions officers are looking for to begin with.

Stay tunes for Part 2, when we'll compare MBA admissions and fantasy football in an entirely different way, but one that will shed even more light on how to think about your business school candidacy strategically.

Thinking about applying to a top-ranked MBA program this year? Download our Annual Reports, 15 free MBA admissions guides to the world's top business schools. And, as always, be sure to find us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter!

Read More >>

Five Tips for the GMAT Self-Study Student

While Veritas Prep is obviously in the business of getting paid to provide GMAT preparation services, we know that a lot of our fans have chosen the self-study path for their GMAT prep. In fact, most of us here at Veritas Prep HQ chose the self-study route when we took the GMAT (and the rest have taken a Veritas Prep course!).

Do-it-yourself GMAT prep can be very effective, but it can also lead to a great deal of frustration if you do it without a plan or start off with some bad advice. We do believe that most people can do well on the GMAT by studying on their own, but many students sabotage themselves with bad study habits or a lack of understanding about the GMAT itself. To help you, today we present five tips for those of you who choose to prepare for the GMAT on your own:

Focus on Quality, Not Quantity
We often see students boasting in public forums about how many Official Guide problems they complete every week, or how they have run out of questions to do because they're just on fire with their GMAT prep. Unfortunately, many of them focus on the wrong thing -- while you're studying, it's not a question of how many problems you can do (or how quickly you can do them), but rather what you're learning with each question. If you hit a sticking point with a problem, take a step back and ask yourself, "What are they testing here? What in my toolkit will help me answer this question?" and make a note of what your GMAT toolkit may be missing. That's a far more effective approach to preparation than burning through problem after problem, possibly reinforcing bad habits along the way.

Balance Is Key
We often see students fall into two camps: They either tend to gravitate towards the problems that they like ("Oh good, a distance/rate problem. I can do these."), or they develop an obsession with what they can't do well ("I need to find 500 geometry questions NOW."). The reality is that you will encounter both kinds of questions on test day, and you need to be able to get good at the hard stuff while staying nimble and error-free with the easier stuff. In any one sitting, make sure you cover some of both: Work on the stuff you like as well as the material you hate.

Don't Look Things Up!
This advice runs contrary to what Mom and Dad told us when we were kids: "How do you spell pterodactyl?" / "Look it up!" While that's a terrific habit for a seven-year-old to get into, it's a terrible one for a GMAT student to practice. If you encounter problem for which you don't have an obvious plan of attack (such as knowing an algebraic formula or remembering a grammar rule), DON'T look it up in the moment? Students who are obsessed with pacing (more on that in a minute) especially fall prey to this, since they're trying to get through problems as quickly as possible. The problem is that you won't be able to do that on test day. What will you be able to do on the big day? Figure out the problem with what you DO know, even if you don't know the easiest way to solve the problem. Even if it takes you five minutes during your GMAT practice, you will emerge better prepared in the long run. Afterward, definitely make a note and go back and learn (or re-learn) the thing you may have missed, but in the moment, solve the problem another way.

Practice the Way You'll Play
This may seem like a mundane point, but this is a subtle prep strategy that can earn you a few extra points on the verbal section on the big day: In any one GMAT study session, make a point of finishing on some verbal questions. Why? Because that's how you will do it on the real GMAT. As we've written before, the GMAT will throw meaty Reading Comprehension questions and tricky Sentence Correction problems at you after you have already been working for three hours... Don't let mental fatigue get in the way at that point. When you're about ready to hang it up for the night after a couple hours of studying, force yourself to do a few more verbal questions, and practice the skill of staying focused on them when you're starting to get tired.

Be Mindful of Pacing
Yes, we've already made point here of not obsessing over pacing too much in your GMAT studies. However, you do need to make sure that you're setting yourself up to finish each section of the exam, and the best way to do that is with regular "check ins" to see how you're doing on pacing. While some students do 2,000+ practice problems and then take a couple of timed tests just before sitting for the real exam, we advise timing yourself earlier and more often. After you have mastered the basics, get in the habit of timing yourself once a week. It doesn't need to be a full practice test every time -- trying to do 30 problems in 60 minutes is more than enough -- but it should be enough to get a feel for how you're tracking. Don't save this until right before the test, because if you find that you're working too slowly, it may be too late to fix it. You don't need to be obsessed with pacing at every turn, but time yourself from time to time.

Need a little more guidance but not sure if you need a seven-week prep course? Our newest GMAT course format, the Essentials Course, is the perfect way to start your GMAT preparation! Enrollment costs just $700 for in-person courses and only $550 for live online.

Our first course runs Saturday and Sunday, October 30-31, from 10 AM to 6 PM EDT, and will be taught by Brian Galvin and David Newland, two of Veritas Prep's most distinguished instructors (and two of the brains behind the new course). Click here to learn more and to enroll!

And, as always, be sure to find us on Facebook and to follow us on Twitter!

Photo courtesy of TheTruthAbout, under a Creative Commons license.

Read More >>

Business School Bonding: Austin City Limits

"Business School Bonding" is a new series debuting today on the Veritas Prep blog. From time to time we'll dig deep into an MBA program's culture, looking at student groups, on-campus activities, and other things around town that students enjoy doing during their two year in business school. We'll even check in with some past Veritas Prep clients to get the inside scoop on the fun things to do at their schools! Our first installment was penned by our own Mike Miller here at Veritas Prep HQ:

Business school is going to be two of the most influential and important years of your life. It also will probably be two of the most fun. Today, we want to start talking about a very important and often overlooked side of the business school experience –- making friends. Specifically, we want to focus on the opportunities that schools provide to have shared experiences and develop life-long friendships. And we are not talking about networking mixers -- we're talking about real bonding experiences.

We start this week with the University of Texas at Austin's McCombs School of Business. Currently (and consistently) ranked about 16th in US News and World Report, McCombs is a legitimate top 20 business school with a history of developing influential business leaders. They pride themselves in offering a flexible curriculum, renowned faculty, hands-on learning opportunities with industry leaders, and very collaborative MBA culture. However, their strongest selling point may be their location in Austin -- a city that is frequently praised as "America's Most Innovative City" and recently proclaimed as "The Best City of the Next Decade." Austin is also home to an event loved by McCombs MBAs and the rest of the local community -– Austin City Limits Musical Festival.

Austin City Limits just ran from October 8th to the 10th, attracted more than 70,000 attendees each day, and filled the city of Austin with music from 130 of the world's most entertaining live acts. This year, I had the pleasure of listening to MUSE, The Black Keys, Miike Snow, LCD Soundsystem, Vampire Weekend, The Strokes, Phish, MIA, Yeasayer, Local Natives, Band of Horses, The XX, The Temper Trap, The Flaming Lips, DeadMau5, Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, Silversun Pickups, and Eagles... if you have ever heard of them.

And I am just one man, but I can tell you that most of the McCombs community was in attendance and this is an event that they will always remember from their business school experience. Late night project work proves to your classmates that you are committed, loyal, and capable of getting things done as a professional, but events like this build lasting friendships. Who could forget being 10 feet from stage with your friends as MUSE plays Newborn and green lasers swirl around your head? Who would not feel closer to a classmate after belting out Hotel California with The Eagles on a 75 degree night overlooking the Austin skyline?

Not me. And not you, if you decide to attend this great program. So today, as someone who has visited McCombs, met the students, explored the city, and attended one of the world’s great music festivals, I can confidently say that McCombs is a school that can offer what I call, "Some serious b-school bonding."

In an effort to learn more about the University of Texas, Austin, and this music festival, we open the floor to you.

McCombs MBAs, what were your favorite non-academic experiences at the University of Texas? We want to know about the best restaurants, places to go out, and other events that have brought you closer to your classmates. Maybe someone has been to South by Southwest? It’s time to represent McCombs and let prospective Texas MBAs know what you, your school, and your city have to offer.

Non-MBAs, did you go to the show? Who was your favorite band? What did you love about the festival? What do you love about Austin? Why are you considering going to McCombs?

Thinking about applying to a top-ranked MBA program this year? Give us a call at (800) 925-7737 to speak with an MBA admissions consultant today. And, as always, be sure to find us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter!

Read More >>

GMAT Tip of the Week: Data Sufficiency the Katy Perry Way

She may be too racy for Sesame Street, but we're all adults here, right? The lesson that Katy Perry was trying to teach Elmo in her canceled cameo on the long-running children's show is one that is essential for you as you approach Data Sufficiency questions on the GMAT. So just as the beat of California Gurls might, embarrassingly enough, inspire you to pick up your pace at mile 22 of a marathon, the lyrics of Hot n Cold can spur you to success on the GMAT. Admit it, you know the words:

You're hot then you're cold, you're yes and you're no, you're in and you're out, you're up and you're down.

Katy Perry, ever unlucky in love (seriously...Russell Brand?), is describing a relationship that is not sufficient, and in doing so providing you with a blueprint to determine whether a mathematical statement is not sufficient: Get both answers - if "you're yes and you're no", you're insufficient.

Consider this example:

Does the product of integers a, b, c, and d equal 1?

1) ab/cd = 1

2) a + b > b + c

By plugging in numbers consistent with statement 1, it's fairly easy to get an answer to the overarching question; something like 4*2/8*1 does indeed equal 1, but the product of those numbers is 64 and the answer is NO. But like the relationship in Katy Perry's song, this "NO" answer could be subject to change in a unique situation, so our goal should be to find a way to get the answer "YES". How can that be done? Should all variables equal 1, that ought to do it: 1*1/1*1 = 1, and 1*1*1*1 is also 1, so by choosing numbers carefully - with a goal of getting the answer "YES" to counterbalance the "NO" we already have - we can prove that statement 1 is not sufficient.

Statement 2 should seem to preclude that "all = 1" situation, however. We could still use 8, 1, 4, and 2 as our a, b, c and d variables* to get the answer "NO" as above, but trying to find the answer "YES" gets tougher as now the possibility of having all the same variables is no longer allowed. However, if our goal is to find "YES", we're inspired to find a way, and there's one way to do it: 1, -1, -1, 1. That gives us a + b = 0 and b + c = -2, so a + b > b + c, but the product would cancel the two negatives to give exactly 1, so there's our "YES".

Taken together, our demonstration of "YES" in statement 2 is consistent with the terms of statement 1, so we can show that even with both statements the possibilities of both NO (8, 1, 4, 2) and YES (1, -1, -1, 1) still exist, so we don't have enough information to answer the question and the correct answer is E.

* - please note for strategic value - when picking numbers you can save time by using your numbers for either "YES" or "NO" from statement 1 when you attempt statement 2, as long, obviously, as the numbers you picked are consistent with statement 2. Because often after 1 is not sufficient you'll need to try both statements together, it's helpful in practice to get in the habit of seeing if your first set of numbers will work as your plug in values for your second set so that you've already done half of the work that you may need to do when you consider 1 and 2 together.

Like a Katy Perry song, Data Sufficiency questions often hinge upon your ability to get conflicting answers. Get a yes and a no and you can prove that the statement is insufficient...it's so easy that even a Muppet should be able to do it!

If you plano n taking the GMAT soon, see how our new Essentials Course can get you up to speed on the fundamentals of the GMAT in just one weekend. (The first one starts October 30th!) And, as always, be sure to find us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter!

Read More >>

GMAT Challenge Question: Solve this stats problem, STAT!

Set A consists of integers -9, 8, 3, 10, and J; Set B consists of integers -2, 5, 0, 7, -6, and T. If R is the median of Set A and W is the mode of set B, and R^W is a factor of 34, what is the value of T if J is negative?

(A) -2
(B) 0
(C) 1
(D) 2
(E) 5

Please include your answers in the comments field and we'll be back later today with the solution!


UPDATE: Solution.

This problem demonstrates a helpful note about statistics problems - quite often the key to solving a stats problem is something other than stats: number properties, divisibility, algebra, etc. The statistics nature of these problems is often just a way to make a simpler problem look more difficult.

Here, the phrase "factor of 34" should stand out to you, as there are only four factors of 34, so you can narrow down the possibilities pretty quickly to 1, 2, 17, and 34. And because the number in question must be an exponential term that becomes a factor of 34, it's even more limited: 2, 17, and 34 can only be created by one integer exponent - "itself" to the first power.

The base of that exponent is going to be the median of Set A, and because we know that the median of Set A will be 3 (a negative term for variable J means that 3 will be the middle term), the question becomes that much clearer. 3^W can only be a factor of 34 if it's set equal to 1, and the only way to do that is for W to be 0. REMEMBER: anything to the power of 0 is equal to 1, a great equalizer on the GMAT!

Therefore, the correct answer is 0.

Plan on taking the GMAT soon? See how Veritas Prep's GMAT prep courses can help you break 700. And, as always, be sure to find us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter!

Read More >>

How to Pay for Grad School? Consider Public Service

If you're already wondering how you will be able to pay for that MBA or JD that you're pursuing, earlier this year the federal government made an announcement that might be of interest to you. Under the government's Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program, you may qualify for forgiveness of the remaining balance due on your eligible federal student loans after you have made 120 payments on certain loans while employed full time by certain public service employers.

This is terrific news for anyone who has considered an MBA a JD as a path to a public service career, but who has been intimidated by the levels of student loans they would need to take on in order to make their advanced degrees a reality.

As usual, there are all sorts of rules and stipulations. Only loans made under the William D. Ford Direct Loan Program are eligible for loan forgiveness, including:

• Federal Direct Stafford Loans (Direct Subsidized Loans)


• Federal Direct Unsubsidized Stafford Loans (Direct Unsubsidized Loans)


• Federal Direct PLUS Loans (Direct PLUS Loans)- for parents and graduate or professional students


• Federal Direct Consolidation Loans (Direct Consolidation Loans)

Only payments made on the Direct Consolidation Loan will count toward the required 120 monthly payments. And, you need to have been making your loan payments on time for the past 120 months -- deadbeats need not apply. But, the savings can be significant, resulting in more than $100,000 in loans being forgiven, depending on the exact program for which you qualify.

There's a lot of fine print to read, but this is a terrific option for anyone who's thought about going into public service. You can learn more at the U.S. Department of Education's web site.

Thinking about applying to graduate school this year? Give us a call at (800) 925-7737 to speak with an admissions expert today. And, as always, be sure to find us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter!

Read More >>

Introducing Our New GMAT Essentials Course!

For the past eight years we have helped tens of thousands of students prepare for the GMAT. Not only have we helped students by knowing the GMAT better than anyone, but also by constantly staying innovative with our GMAT prep curriculum. That innovative spirit is behind our newest course format, The Essentials Course.

A team of our top GMAT instructors has collaborated over the past several months to develop an entirely new way to train for the GMAT. The Essentials Course, as the name implies, covers what you absolutely MUST need to know in order to succeed on the GMAT, and does it over 15 hours in one weekend.

This isn't a seminar or a general overview of the GMAT. Rather, it is an in-depth, rigorous course designed to teach you the higher-order thinking skills that the GMAT is designed to test. After the course finishes, you will 12 months of access to all of Veritas Prep's online prep tools, including 15 practice tests, seven in-depth diagnostic tests, and the entire Veritas Prep on Demand™ pre-recorded online course. Also, you will receive one year of unlimited homework help from expert Veritas Prep GMAT instructors.

If you're asking yourself, "Where do I begin?" or need some professional help to get into the 700+ range, the Essentials Course is the perfect way to start your GMAT preparation! Enrollment costs just $700 for in-person courses and only $550 for live online.

Our first course runs Saturday and Sunday, October 30-31, from 10 AM to 6 PM EDT, and will be taught by Brian Galvin and David Newland, two of Veritas Prep's most distinguished instructors (and two of the brains behind the new course). Click here to learn more and to enroll!

Getting ready to take the GMAT? A Veritas Prep GMAT prep course is just what you need. And, as always, be sure to find us on Facebook and to follow us on Twitter!

Read More >>

GMAC to Host Virtual MBA Fair in November

The Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC) has announced that it will host an online admissions fair featuring admissions representatives from dozens of top MBA programs next month, on November 22 and 23. The GMATCH Virtual Fair, which will take place entirely online, is being billed as the "the first truly global virtual fair" for business school applicants and admissions officers.

GMAC has lined up a rather extensive list of MBA programs around the world for the event, including London Business School, INSEAD, UVA (Darden), Georgetown (McDonough), UCLA (Anderson), the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, and Nanyang Business School.

To quote the GMAC web site:

The innovative GMATCH concept employs a rich graphical interface featuring virtual booths and a multimedia auditorium stocked with material about each participating school's programs as well as management education in general. Participants will be able to use webcams to enable face-to-face interaction.

In some ways the "virtual" interface of the event reminds us of earlier attempts by some schools to capitalize on the popularity of online worlds such as Second Life to promote their schools and even teach courses. We have yet to see this "virtual world" concept (as opposed to a more straightforward lecture-and-slides-on-a-computer-screen format) take off in these scenarios, although we credit GMAC for giving it another go.

More important than the format is the content of the event itself -- this is a great way for you to interact with admissions officers from programs that you might never have considered, simply because they're on the other side of the globe and your chances of being able to visit the school are remote. We recommend using the GMATCH Virtual Fair as a chance to go outside your comfort zone (after all, you're in the comfort of your own home!) and explore some programs that you might not have otherwise considered.

You can register for the event here.

Thinking about applying to a top-ranked MBA program this year? Give us a call at (800) 925-7737 to speak with an MBA admissions consultant today. And, as always, be sure to find us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter!

Read More >>

GMAT Tip of the Week: Let 'er Rip

10-10-10. The date has been plastered all over the streets of Chicago on billboards, storefront signs, flyers and posters. On that repetitive date, approximately 40,000 people will take part in one of the world's most repetitive activities -- the Chicago Marathon. A marathon is not unlike the GMAT -- a task for which you prepare for months, agonize the night before, and hope to complete successfully in under four hours, for many. And, on both the GMAT and the marathon, the worst thing that you can do is think too much.

Your author will be among the 40,000 runners, so in a break from journalistic norm I may switch to first-person here. (As a side note, I took the opportunity last night to visit our Chicago GMAT course and picked up a memorable quote from instructor extraordinaire Frankie Beecroft: "You have to get as good at taking this test as they are at making it." Brilliant.) In any marathon that I've ever run, the smartest thing I did was turn my conscious mind off, and I'm convinced that it's the best way to take the GMAT.

Like the marathon, the GMAT is a repetitive activity -- you're studied for hours, taken multiple practice tests, and turned yourself into a creature of habit, subconsciously performing operations like "it's a weaken question so I'll focus on finding the conclusion and the logical flaw" or "that sentence leads with a description so the modifier may be misplaced." But on test day, just as marathoners tend to do on race day, you'll be tempted to think about anything and everything other than the problem in front of you: "This question looks too easy, so I must be doing poorly"; "I need to calculate my pace-per-question"; "What's the shortcut that I read about a month ago, and does it even apply to this problem?" Your conscious mind, if let to run free, will overwhelm your subconscious -- the part of your mind that already knows what to do.

My worst ever marathon experience was the first six miles of the Boston Marathon, a race that I had trained for years to qualify for and for which I had subsequently trained harder than for any other I had done. This was a dream come true...and for those first six miles I thought of nothing else other than calculating split times, worrying about where the next mile marker would come, second-guessing my hydration and nutrition strategies, etc. It was excruciating...at the end of hundreds of miles and several months of training, I was thinking about this race like I were a toddler taking his first step, completely overthinking and overanalyzing each step and each breath. Finally in the sixth mile, I had to take control of my conscious mind and put it in its place -- a well-conditioned athlete in the first quarter of the race, I stopped and walked for a full minute to get control of my mind and start fresh.

I had to let my body do what I had trained it to, because at that point frantic thinking could only hurt me.

On the GMAT, you'll likely need to do the version of the same. You've trained your mind to recognize common problem types and concepts, and you probably can do them in your sleep (admit it -- we've all dreamed in Data Sufficiency form at least once). Let yourself do that -- rely on your internal pacing clock that you've developed over several practice tests and do a self-check every 10 problems or so to make sure that you're on pace. Relax and keep your conscious thought solely on the areas that you've preordained to be important -- double-checking common mistakes, interpreting problems that look unique, etc.

Ultimately, test day, like race day, is just the final lap of a long process -- by that point, the best thing you can do is to stay out of your own way and let your mind and body do what you've trained them to do. If you do find yourself thinking too much about anything and everything other than the problem, take a mental "walk" and remind yourself that your training needs to take over. Save your conscious stress for truly difficult decisions, like "Harvard or Wharton?"

Plan on taking the GMAT soon? See how Veritas Prep's GMAT prep courses can help you reach your maximum potential on the test. And, as always, be sure to find us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter!

Read More >>

Columbia Business School Announces New EMBA Saturday Program

Continuing a string of Columbia Business School-related news, last week the school announced its new EMBA Saturday, a new variety of Columbia's popular executive education program. The school's existing program, now called the EMBA Friday-Saturday program, remains.

What's the difference? As the names imply, one key difference is in when the classes meet. The Friday-Saturday program runs for 20 months, while EMBA Saturday runs over 24 months. In making this move, Columbia has acknowledged that there are some very good, high-potential managers who have not considered a Columbia EMBA because even missing some Fridays at work is not feasible for everyone.

One other key difference is that, while the traditional Friday-Saturday program requires employer sponsorship of time, the Saturday-only program does not. This makes sense, since students in the Friday-Saturday program miss one full day or work every other week. Employer sponsorship is still "welcome," however. While the admissions game for EMBA programs is quite different from that of full-time MBA programs, we strongly recommend that you get your company to sponsor you (even if it's just in spirit, not money) if you can. When a company does that, it sends a strong signal that you're the kind of high-potential manager that Columbia looks for.

We recommend the interview that The Wall Street Journal did with Ethan Hanabury, Columbia's senior associate dean for degree programs. In the interview Hanabury lays out the rationale by the school's introduction of the new program and provides some hints as to what types of applicants Columbia looks for. Most importantly, note his comments about how the program was not designed with career switchers in mind.

Applying to Columbia this year? Take a look at our Columbia Annual Report, one of 15 free business school admissions guides written and edited by Veritas Prep's team of admissions experts. And, as always, be sure to find us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter!

Read More >>