Veritas Prep Featured in BusinessWeek

The folks at BusinessWeek are working on an interesting and valuable series: If someone could start planning their business school application five years in advance, what should they plan and do each year leading up to submitting their application? For the first story in this series, called Five Years to B-School: The First Year, she turned to Veritas Prep's own Scott Shrum for advice for future MBA applicants.

While there's no one-size-fits all plan for a future applicant, and not many people necessarily know five years out that they'll one day apply to business school, Francesca Di Meglio nicely sums up what a future business school applicant should have done by the end of year one. According to the article, by this time you should have:

• Begun developing your skill set


• Found a few mentors who have given you a better idea about the jobs you might like to do in the future


• Found a way to translate your passions into a couple of activities in which you'd really liked to get involved


• Decided how you can make an impact at the office and in those extracurricular activities and start implementing a plan of action to do just that


• Kept your mind on business by reading relevant books and articles


• Made a decision about when you'd like to take the GMAT


• Started building a satisfying, well-rounded life and career

You can read the entire article at BusinessWeek. If you would like more advice on the MBA application process and you live in the New York area, there's just one week left to register for MBA Admissions Blueprint and meet one-on-one with a Veritas Prep admissions expert on Dec. 6 and 7!

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GMAT Tip of the Week

(This is one of a series of GMAT tips that we offer on our blog.)

Happy Thanksgiving! Today marks, hopefully, at least for the economy's sake, the busiest shopping day of the year in the United States, complete with hectic parking lots, long lines, and potentially-significant savings. In fact, it's a lot like your GMAT test date will be - stressful and frantic with the hope of a big payoff...but also with the potential to waste a lot of time and energy for naught.

On test day you'll have multiple opportunities to waste your time where there is a decreasing potential return on certain questions, just as you may find this morning that you can wait in line for hours for a "Doorbuster Special" only to find that the fine print "while supplies last" caveat was met long before you reached the front.

Timing on the GMAT can be crucial, so let your internal clock conscience help you realize when to cut a failing investment of time. Perhaps the easiest clock management error one can make is to sink 5-6 minutes in to an incorrect answer, only to realize by the next question that the ticking clock is now a major factor for the rest of the exam. To combat this, once your conscience kicks in to tell you that "you've spent a long time on this question", mentally fast-forward approximately 30 seconds. In that time, do you see yourself solving the problem or arriving at a correct answer? Or do you think that you could give yourself twice that time and still be unsure of where you stand?

If it's the former, even if you've already invested too much time, finish the question and know that you're at least investing that time in a correct answer to a probably-difficult problem. If you're that close to a correct answer, don't cut your losses...you can still win! If it's the latter, know that an educated guess at that point is still a 33 or 50% chance of a correct answer, and that the next question should be well within your reach if you've saved enough time to work through it.

Overall, to achieve a proper personal pacing strategy, you should plan to take several practice tests. At the very least, know that you can afford to sink some time in to questions you'll ultimately answer correctly, but that you can't lose time on questions that you just won't get.

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Last Chance for Round 2 GMAT Course

As you have read on this blog and elsewhere, including the Wall Street Journal, the pool of MBA applicants for the second round deadlines is growing rapidly. With the majority of deadlines set for early January, you may be among the candidates who find themselves without a GMAT score (or at least a competitive GMAT score) in the last month before applications are due.

Because of the late-breaking nature of this year's applicant pool, fueled by the increasingly-tenuous economy and, more optimistically, the potential to contribute to a new economic model in the forthcoming recovery years, Veritas Prep has announced a "Last Chance for Round 2" weekend GMAT course set to take place in New York City from December 13-14 and 20-21. More information is available at http://www.veritasprep.com/gmat/New-York-City/weekend-course/.

While you're welcome to enroll in this course on its own, you can also register for it along with MBA Admissions Blueprint, our two-day admissions event in New York City on December 6 and 7. For just $250 (the normal cost to work with a Veritas prep admissions consultant for one hour), you can attend a session on Saturday to learn what the recent economic news means for you and how to maximize your chances of success using our proven admissions strategy. Then, on Sunday, you'll meet one-on-one with a Veritas Prep admissions consultant for an hour. And, if you register for MBA Admissions Blueprint, you can apply the cost of the event to your Weekend GMAT Course.

Stay tuned to this blog for additional information regarding this competitive admissions season throughout the just-over-a-month between now and the second round deadlines. Best of luck with your applications!

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Announcing Veritas Prep's JD/MBA Admissions Consulting

We are pleased to announce the latest offering to Veritas Prep's many admissions consulting options: JD/MBA Admissions consulting.

The choice of whether to pursue a law degree or an MBA has always featured a certain amount of crossover and the convergence of those two professional degrees has become even more of a nexus point this fall in light of the current economic climate. For many, the choice has become both, rather than one or the other. Given the rise in popularity of the JD/MBA, it makes sense that a company like Veritas Prep become the industry expert on the subject.

With its team of hundreds of expert business school and law school admissions consultants representing the most comprehensive possible approach to MBA and JD admissions, Veritas Prep has created another start-to-finish process that helps candidates determine whether the JD/MBA is right for them and then assists them in crafting the best possible applications to the nation's elite joint degree programs.

The hallmarks of Veritas Prep are expertise and level of care. Each of these attributes are on full display here as clients are paired with an expert law school admissions consultant and an MBA admissions specialist from the program of their choosing. The level of specificity provided by our "school specific" pairing model enables the client and consultant to work with unrivaled focus, strategy, and thoroughness.

If you're interested in general law school admissions or business school admissions consulting, visit our web site to learn more!

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GMAT Tip of the Week

(This is one of a series of GMAT tips that we offer on our blog.)

Think Like the GMAT Testmaker

The GMAT is a difficult exam; there's simply no way around that fact. Knowing why it is difficult, however, will help you to better plan for it, and a fantastic way to gain that knowledge is to put yourself in the position of the writers of the exam.

As any GMAT examinee knows, Data Sufficiency questions can often be tricky or confusing simply because of the unique format of the question. It is rare, if it occurs at all, that you encounter situations in which you are not asked to solve a problem, but are asked if the tools provided would be sufficient to do so (however, as a manager, you'll be asked this question quite a bit - what resources will you need to complete this project in a cost-effective manner?).

To gain experience with the tricks and traps that the format allows the writers of the exam to employ, try writing a few questions of your own with the intent of 'tricking and trapping' your friends. In order to do so, you will need to anticipate the mistakes that someone could easily make - and those are the mistakes that could trip you up, too. Does it seem as though someone could forget about the exception to the rule that you 'hid' in statement 1? Does statement 2 supply that one missing piece of information that was omitted from statement 1, baiting someone to select "B", even though statement 2 is clearly insufficient on its own? Laying these traps for someone else is a great way to become more aware of them for yourself.

Note that you can craft questions in this format even without using mathematical concepts to do so. Here's an example:

Question: Name this U.S. President.

(1) He has the same first name as his father.

(2) His presidency began after the American Civil War.

Answer: Many would be tempted to select (C), narrowing the choices down to John Quincy Adams and George W. Bush, then eliminating Adams with statement 2. However, doing so would assume that the father mentioned in statement 1 was also a President, which is not explicitly stated. Actually, the answer must be (E), as both George W. Bush and William McKinley, for example, had the same names as their fathers - McKinley's father was not a President, but that wasn't required by this question, even though some may have assumed it.

That assumption error is akin to a GMAT examinee assuming that a value must be an integer, or must be a positive number. By writing trivia questions designed to capitalize on potential errors, you can become more attuned to the mistakes that you may make on test day.

If you would like more GMAT help, take a look at the GMAT prep resources on our web site, and take a free practice GMAT exam.

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Announcing MBA Admissions Blueprint 2009

Due to overwhelming demand for our admissions consulting services in the New York area, next month Veritas Prep will run its first annual MBA Admissions Blueprint event, on December 6 and 7, at NYU's Kimmel Center in New York City. This event will bring together some of Veritas Prep's most experienced admissions experts to help you quickly improve your business school applications.

If you plan on applying to business school this year, MBA Admissions Blueprint 2009 will help you jump start your application and significantly boost your chances of success. This year's economic news means that this is shaping up to be the most competitive year in MBA admissions yet, especially for people coming from the financial services sector. This event will help you quickly get up to speed on what admissions officers look for in the perfect applicant -- and how to stand out from a crowded field of applicants who all have a background similar to yours.

Especially if you only recently have decided to apply -- and we know that's the case for many of our clients, who have unfortunately lost their jobs or seen their job prospects deteriorate because of the economy -- this event will help you get up to speed on your application in just one weekend.

MBA Admissions Blueprint 2009 will also give you a chance to meet one-on-one with a Veritas Prep admissions expert. You can use this hour however you'd like -- to get a feel for your chances, formulate an application strategy, give your essays a thorough review, or prepare for an upcoming MBA admissions interview.

For $250 you will attend the Saturday admissions workshop as well as an hour with a Veritas Prep admissions expert on Sunday -- all for the price of what applicants normally to work with one of our consultants for just one hour.

Enrollment is limited to the first 50 people who respond. Register here!

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MBA Admissions Interview Tips

Since many top MBA programs have started to release interview invitations for Round One, we thought it would be a good time to review some basic principles for how to effectively approach your MBA admissions interview:

In your interview, you want to come across as personable, confident, interested, interesting, and sincere. For everyone one of these descriptors, think of the opposite. No one would want to be surrounded by arrogant, tentative, indifferent, dull, or phony people. In short, you want to convey that you are who you said you are in your application, and you want to show the interviewer that you're someone who would make a great classmate in business school. Yes, this may seem daunting, given the application themes that you already want to communicate. Most of these personality traits, though, should come through if you can relax and simply be yourself.

For the most part, your interviewer will set the tone of the discussion. As described earlier, some will be laid back and interested in getting to know you personally, while others will want to drill down on specific parts of your resume or application. Obviously, how serious or informal you are will largely depend on the person across from you. Your job is to make adjustments accordingly, and to answer the questions that they ask. But you must make sure that by the end of the interview you have covered the main themes that you came in with. For instance, you may have a laid-back, "get to know you" kind of interviewer who doesn't ask you the kinds of pointed questions that would allow you to talk about your strengths. If this is the case, it's perfectly appropriate to say, "By the way, there are a couple of things that I think make me a good fit for this school. I'd like to talk about them and hear your thoughts," before the interview is over. You don't want to be too transparent, but all but the most inept interviewers will appreciate the fact that there are certain ideas that you’re trying to get across before the discussion is over.

If you have a stone-faced interviewer who won't laugh at your jokes, don't press the matter. Act professionally, answer the questions that are asked, and make sure to hit your main themes. In a way, these interviews can sometimes be easier because the interviewer's business-like questions will more likely give you a chance to strut your stuff. If you have a downright hostile interviewer (which happens from time to time), don't let yourself get flustered or goaded into an argument. Relax, think of it as the interviewer's half-baked way of testing your mettle, and answer the questions as they come. Don't be argumentative, but don't be afraid to be assertive, either. A hostile interviewer may be looking for poise and confidence more than anything else, so make sure to demonstrate these.

These tips have been adapted with permission from Your MBA Game Plan, the leading guide on MBA admissions strategy. For more hands-on help with your interviews, take a a look at Veritas Prep's business school admissions interview preparation services.

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GMAC's New MBA Alumni Survey Results

According to the results of a new survey published by the Graduate Management Admission Council, most business school grads agree that an MBA is well worth the investment.

In the 2008 MBA Alumni Perspectives Survey, nine out of 10 grads from the Class of 2008 reports that their graduate business education met or exceeded their expectations. Additionally, 80% of MBA grads in the workforce believe that they couldn't have obtained their first job without their degree.

Even more encouraging are the numbers regarding job satisfaction. According to the survey, two out of three alumni reported that their first job was the one they wanted, which actually represented a rise in job satisfaction vs. previous years.

Another point of interest was the average number of job offers that each Class of 2008 grad received -- 2.7 job offers per person. Unfortunately, this number will likely trend down as the economy suffers, but the survey overall confirms the value of an MBA, regardless of whether a grad receives one, two, or ten job offers.

If you're applying to business school this year, be sure to check out the Veritas Prep MBA admissions resources page.

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GMAT Tip of the Week

(This is one of a series of GMAT tips that we offer on our blog.)

Variability Equals Flexibility

Often times, examinees become confused when quantitative problems use large or seemingly-abstract numbers, such as 12!, 2^17, or multi-item expressions, such as 3^(x-2). The more convoluted a value might seem, the easier it is to grow frustrated, lose focus, or simply consider the problem to be too difficult.

Naturally, those reactions to such numbers are precisely the reason why the GMAT includes them - distracted, intimidated, and defeated examinees tend to miss questions and earn lower scores, which in turn allows the exam to maintain its difficulty level.

Keep in mind, though, that the exam will not typically require extensive calculations or the processing of large numbers. To avoid becoming discouraged simply because of the size and scope of the values or expressions you face, consider creating a variable as a placeholder for that term so that you can perform the calculations that surround it without the distraction of the intimidating term. Consider:

12! + 12!/2 +3(12!)/2

This item would look to be quite intimidating to calculate, and may lead to debate over whether any of the individual terms could be combined (does 12!/2 = 6! ... it does not, but the thought may present itself to a flustered test-taker). However, if you were to replace 12! with x, the calculation becomes much clearer:

x + x/2 + 3x/2 = x + 4x/2 = x + 2x = 3x

Accordingly, the value of the above expression is 3(12!), which should match much closer with the format of the correct answer choice, or provide an easier basis for calculation with the rest of the problem.

Please note that this variable substitution strategy would also work for verbal questions, as well - should a technical term like "protoplanetary" give you trouble when reading, you may want to simply abbreviate it mentally and call it "P". "The P theory states that..." is a lot easier to manage than "The protoplanetary theory states that...", and allows you to focus on what is important - that a particular theory is being defined in that statement.

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BusinessWeek MBA Rankings for 2008

This just in! In an online chat, BusinessWeek has just revealed its 2008 business school rankings. Without further ado, here are the top 25 U.S. MBA programs for 2008:

1. Chicago (Booth)
2. Harvard Business School
3. Northwestern (Kellogg)
4. Penn (Wharton)
5. Michigan (Ross)
6. Stanford
7. Columbia
8. Duke (Fuqua)
9. MIT (Sloan)
10. UC Berkeley (Haas)
11. Cornell (Johnson)
12. Dartmouth (Tuck)
13. NYU (Stern)
14. UCLA (Anderson)
15. Indiana (Kelley)
16. Virginia (Darden)
17. UNC (Kenan-Flagler)
18. Southern Methodist (Cox)
19. Carnegie Mellon (Tepper)
20. Notre Dame(Mendoza)
21. UT Austin (McCombs)
22. BYU (Marriott)
23. Emory (Goizueta)
24. Yale
25. USC (Marshall)

And here are the top ten MBA programs outside of the United States:

1. Queen's School of Business
2. IE Business School
3. INSEAD
4. Western Ontario (Ivey)
5. London Business School
6. ESADE
7. IMD
8. Toronto (Rotman)
9. IESE
10. Oxford (Said)

U.S. News and BusinessWeek vie for the title of most closely watched business schools rankings. While it's debatable as to whether the BusinessWeek MBA ranking system or the U.S. News ranking system is more valid, the fact that BW's rankings only come out every two years always makes this announcement a little extra exciting. To its credit, BusinessWeek does a good job of building up the drama with its online chat format for announcing their business school rankings.

For more help with the business school application process, take a look at Veritas Prep's MBA admissions consulting services. Also, for more updates on school rankings, be sure to follow Veritas Prep on Twitter.

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The Day the LSAT Died?

On November 7, the American Bar Association Journal posted an entry about a very interesting study being conducted at the UC-Berkeley School of Law. According to the ABA post, the study is being conducted by "researchers" and has unearthed tests that measure legal skills such as negotiation and problem solving (in addition to the rather ridiculous "skill" of stress management). The biggest news of all? Berkeley's law school dean, Christopher Edley has announced that two professors have validated the test and is now pushing to take the study to a national level. The Law School Admission Council (LSAC) is taking a look and plans to help fund the research. Amazing!

Setting aside whether the LSAT is a valid test, or whether any test can (or should) assess "lawyering skills" (rather than the skills that would project well for law school success, which I don't have to remind anyone, is a staging ground for more than just lawyers), it seems impossible that LSAC would ever throw its support behind any test other than its prized LSAT.

It is commendable that Edley and the good people at Berkeley are striving for a better test and the fairest possible assessment process, and I suppose that November 7 could go down as the day that the LSAT died, but we'll believe it when we see it.

In the meantime, if you're applying to law school, take a look at Veritas Prep's law school application tips.

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Harvard's Endowment May Face Losses

In another sign of economic stress, Harvard has announced that its $36.9 billion endowment may face "unprecedented" losses in the coming year.

While a Harvard spokeperson declined to comment specifically on how the anticipated losses would affect university operations, the university has confirmed that it will continue to offer free tuition to students whose families earn less than $60,000 a year, and offer reduced tuition to families with annual incomes of as much as $180,000.

Other Ivy League schools are taking additional steps to mitigate students' pain: Princeton will make more financial aid funds available to students, and Brown will relax rules barring students with unpaid tuition balances from registering for classes. Given the size of Harvard's endowment, even if it faces losses this year, we wouldn't be surprised to see the school take similar steps to protect its students.

If you're applying to graduate school this year, the bottom line is that top schools don't want to have to turn away anyone because of fianances, even in this economy. Don't be afraid to pick up the phone and have a frank conversation with the financial aid office at your target school. Chances are that they want to work with you to help you make it work.

For more information on Harvard, visit the Veritas Prep HBS information page and read about the HBS 2+2 Program.

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GSB is Now the University of Chicago Booth School of Business (and for good reason!)

The University of Chicago announced yesterday that David Booth (in conjunction with his wife and family) has donated $300 million to the Graduate School of Business. Considering this is the largest donation in the history of the university and three times bigger than the previous business school donation ($105 million from Nike's Phil Knight to the Stanford Graduate School of Business, it comes as no surprise that the university will be renaming its business school the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.

This obviously comes as great news to all of the Booth School of Business (has a decent ring to it) student, past, present, and future. Fresh off of completion of a brand new building (which, rest assured, is the envy of all other U of Chicago graduate students), Chicago's business school is poised to continue moving forward by offering state-of-the-art facilities and innovative programs.

Chicago's business school is still not for everyone, given its focus on hard finance and quantitative skills, but future MBA applicants would not be unwise to trust in the words uttered by Deep Throat to Bob Woodward in All the President's Men and "follow the money." Something tells me $300 million will tend to make a difference.

For more advice on applying to the Booth School of Business, visit the University of Chicago information page at Veritas Prep.

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HBS on International Student Loans

Amid all of the grim news lately regarding the availability of student loans, Dee Leopold posted an update on the HBS admissions blog to let international applicants know that they will still have access to need-based loans without a U.S.-based cosigner.

Writes Leopold:

While at this time we do not have further details about specific loan programs with private lenders, we are able to make this important - and reassuring - statement about continued accessibility.

She went on to say that all students will still be eligible for HBS fellowships, which don't need to be repaid. The average need-based fellowship is about $25,000 per year, making them critical in keeping down HBS students' total costs.

If you're applying to Harvard, visit the Veritas Prep HBS information page for more application advice and resources.

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Veritas Prep Quoted in CFO.com Article

The intersection of business school and the economy continues to be a story worth telling and the latest to do so is CFO.com. The noted website has run a feature on the effects of the economic recession and the spike in applications that has already been on display and that is projected to continue through the remaining rounds of the MBA admissions process. The value of the CFO.com piece is that the article moves from mere trends in the admissions space to some helpful tips that will allow applicants to maintain their footing in a more competitive cycle.

In what is becoming a common occurrence, Veritas Prep's Scott Shrum was featured prominently in the article, weighing in with several key application tips.

On highlighting work experience:

In both their résumé and personal essay, applicants should play up their work experience, especially any management experience or exposure to research, according to Scott Shrum, director of admission consulting research for Veritas Prep, a GMAT-preparation and MBA-admissions consulting firm.

On application weaknesses:

In the essay, applicants should articulate the value they put on an MBA, but they should also admit what skills they lack and how those gaps are limiting their career development. "They want someone with limitless potential but who is also raw in some areas," Shrum says. "They want you say that you're open to being transformed, and you want a program that will help you open your eyes to what you don't know."

On choosing the best authors for you letters of recommendation:

Letters of recommendation are also important. It's vital to tailor each letter to the specific MBA program, says Shrum. Many applicants automatically seek references from very well-known or high-ranking people in their departments, like the CFO. "Then what you get is a boilerplate response with very little information about you, and schools see right through that," says Shrum. "An admissions person would always prefer to hear from your direct manager with specific examples."

On prepping the people who will write those recommendations:

Shrum also recommends coaching letter-writers by giving them a list of examples of when you've excelled or overcome specific challenges. "Even though your recommenders may think highly of you," he says, "they may not know how to write a good letter of recommendation. There's no harm in helping or coaching them through it."

You can read the whole article here. And for more advice on mba admissions, visit Veritas Prep.

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