How Veritas Prep Started in Admissions Consulting

We've been helping business school applicants for a long time now, so long that it's easy to forget that we didn't start out in that business. After Veritas Prep co-founders Markus Moberg and Chad Troutwine launched our GMAT prep service in 2002, it quickly became apparent that our students not only needed GMAT help, but they also needed help in pulling together their entire business school applications. How did we know? Because they came back to us time and time again, asking us to help them with their applications just as we helped them with their GMAT prep.

While we were flattered, we didn't immediately dive into MBA admissions consulting. We were only going to do it if we could do what we did in GMAT preparation -- do it better than anyone else. After talking to many respected experts and learning what was out there, we realized how we could do it better, and in 2003 Veritas Prep's admissions consulting arm was born!



(You can go to YouTube and watch the video in a larger size.)

We have built the industry's largest team of admissions experts, consisting of graduates and former admissions representatives from all of the world's top MBA programs. When you work with Veritas Prep, you will not only get assistance from a Head Consultant who has worked as an admissions representative -- as an admissions officer, application reader, or interviewer -- but you will also work with a graduate from each of your target schools, to get true "insider" information about the culture and workings of each program.

Visit our site to find out more about our MBA admissions consulting services!

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GMAT Mythbuster #2

As businessman extraordinaire Michael Scott said of Wikipedia, "anyone, anywhere can say whatever they want about any topic, so you know you're getting the best possible information." Such is life in the Internet age, in which the line between truth and fiction can often become blurred as rumors spread quickly and authoritatively at the speed of broadband.

As you prepare for the GMAT, you will likely be faced with a number of fallacies that seem to be conventional wisdom. Some are interesting topics for debate, others are incorrect but not woefully irresponsible, and others may significantly detract from your score.

This post is the second in a series that will debunk some of the more common myths that surround the GMAT. The truth is out there...

Myth: The first ten questions are more important than the remaining questions on either section.

Fact: All questions count the same toward your section score.

I'm not going out on much a limb here, admittedly - the Graduate Management Admissions Council takes care to debunk this myth in its book, the Official Guide for GMAT Review. However, this incorrect axiom may be the piece of GMAT mythology that has pervaded the conventional wisdom of test-takers the most, as the adaptive scoring nature of the GMAT has the power to confuse and intimidate many who take the test. Again, no less an authority than the creators of the GMAT themselves will explicitly state that each question counts for the same weight toward your score. So, knowing that, how can you use this to your advantage?

1) DO NOT plan to spend an undue amount of time on the initial questions (some believers of this fallacy advocate spending an additional 50% per question in the first ten, which could put you at a significant advantage later in the exam). Similarly, DO NOT invest an undue amount of emotional stress on those questions. If you cannot answer one, or answer one incorrectly, you'll be able to bounce back on the next question; if you spend six minutes answering one correctly (or worse, six minutes and still make an error that causes you to miss the question), you won't soon make that time up.

2) DO take an extra few seconds to double-check your answer to ensure that you haven't made a silly mistake on an early question. At this point in the test, you can't likely sacrifice extra minutes, but you can certainly invest extra seconds to ensure that you begin on the right track. Early in the test, you won't know for certain whether you'll have time left over at the end, but, if you do, you'd want to have used it to check your work carefully. If you need to guess on the last question or two because you used the time early in the test to double-check your work, that's probably for the best (you'll know it was time well spent if you catch even one error while checking your work). However, if you need to guess on several questions at the end, you've mismanaged your time. Essentially, the first ten questions aren't worth enough each to blow off multiple questions at the end, but they're worth enough collectively that you should invest some extra seconds to avoid mistakes, as you may still have that time remaining later in the exam, and a few extra minutes left over can only be used on that last question.

3) DO NOT simply take the above suggestion and run with it. Rather, DO take multiple practice tests before the actual GMAT so that you know within a reasonable estimate where you'll stand on test day. If you routinely have several minutes left over on a section in your practice tests, by all means invest some extra time in an early question that requires that investment of time. If you find yourself regularly pressed for time, you'll want to adapt accordingly.

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The Brutal Law Firm Hiring Landscape

When the financial crisis hit in the fall of 2008, the assumption held by many is that law school would emerge as the safest of havens for college graduates and young professionals. The length (three years, great for riding out a recession), versatility, and perceived job security of a JD all made it an ideal candidate for those students that would normally pursue plum jobs or perhaps an MBA. Many have gone on record predicting a massive increase in applications for the coming 2009-2010 cycle.

In light of what is happening at the elite law firms (so called "BigLaw") across the country, it may be time to rethink those assumptions.

The New York Times is the latest to break down the carnage, highlighting some of the more shocking examples of BigLaw erosion:

- Skadden is slashing hiring by half

- Milbank and others are cancelling interviews at Yale

- NYU, Northwestern, and Georgetown are all placing on campus interviews at being down between 33% and 50% this year compared with last year

The piece does a nice job of detailing the logjam that exists at big firms right now: basically, all the deferred 2009 graduates will be drifting back to BigLaw firms in the fall of 2010, right when the most compressed class in law school history is graduating.

It's a difficult time for grads, to be sure, which is why Veritas Prep continues to consult clients on more than just admissions prospects. Now more than ever, students need to be sure of their motives for going to law school and taking out the kind of debt that follows a graduate of an elite program. Furthermore, this would be a good time for prospective law students to fully explore the loan repayment programs at top schools to see if a career in public interest might actually be a safer bet (in addition to often being a more personally rewarding and flexible career path).

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Thank you for believing in us, Stanley Kaplan

"I have to let you know; I'm not a very good standardized test taker."

If you've ever taught a test preparation class, you've heard this introduction-slash-disclaimer multiple times as students have entered your classroom for the first time. If you're reading this space to learn how to become a better standardized test taker, you may have uttered these words to yourself recently. In a society that becomes more quantitatively-oriented by the day (as evidence, someone somewhere can give you a percentage by which that quantitative orientation increases day by day), standardized tests are a major determinant in the academic and professional opportunities available to those who seek them. The high stakes nature of those exams builds stress, and that stress more often than not snowballs, bringing down a student's performance level and creating additional stress on the next standardized test.

"I didn't do well on the entrance tests for private high schools, so I was nervous for the PSAT, and that didn't help. They let me in to college in spite of my SAT score, and I thought I had dodged the bullet, but then came the GRE, the LSAT, the GMAT, the Series 7, the CFA. I think you should know...I'm just not a good standardized test taker."

And so it was. The tests would grow in importance with each one a student took, and you either had it or you didn't. Standardized tests measure ability more than they do knowledge. You can't study for them, the conventional wisdom (and test design) dictated; we'll determine your potential based on these tests. You're either good at them, or you're not.

"You're not a good standardized test taker. Yet."

Enter Stanley Kaplan, who had a different mantra.

These tests are beatable, he thought. The very nature of the exams -- they're standardized -- means that the questions have to be asked in standard ways. If you are aware of those setups, the pitfalls they create, the ways to save time, and, ultimately, the ways to increase your confidence, you can learn to be a good test taker. Stanley Kaplan sought to build opportunities for those who were capable but didn't quite have the knack for the arguably-arbitrary way in which we measure that capability.

And he was cast as an educational paraiah. A cheater at worst, opportunist at best, seeking to discredit the sacred institution of the standardized test. Never mind that the tests themselves may be culturally or socioeconomically biased, or that students who were discouraged at an early age would have precious few opportunities to rebuild that lost confidence. Never mind that education as an ideal suggests that anyone should be able to achieve greater results and develop better skills through hard work and ingenuity. Kaplan bucked the system, and the system pushed back.

The very ingenuity that allowed Kaplan to deconstruct those standardized tests also helped him to build an empire and an industry. He sold his Kaplan test preparation company to the Washington Post Company for $45 million back in 1984, and the Kaplan division -- now diversified in to an array of academic services -- earned over $2 billion in 2008. More importantly, Kaplan's legacy includes millions of students who were able to overcome the notion that they were "not good test takers", because Kaplan believed (correctly) that anyone can develop the necessary skills to succeed on these tests. These alumni of Kaplan's programs, and beneficiaries of the industry that he spawned, are now doctors, lawyers, CEOs, and, yes, teachers, in many cases because Stanley Kaplan believed they could be.

Mr. Kaplan died on Sunday at the age of 90, but his industry and legacy will live on in the achievements of students around the world who seek to better their performance on standardized tests and create opportunities to, like Kaplan did before them, change the world.

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Harvard Business School's Advice on Recommendations

Yesterday Harvard Business School Dean of Admissions Dee Leopold wrote a blog post dispensing some good advice to HBS applicants regarding their MBA letters of recommendation. While what she wrote is all consistent with what we have written in this space many times before, much of it bears repeating.

Dee hits on several key themes that we tell our clients, and that are covered in detail in Your MBA Game Plan, our MBA admissions guide. These include:

• Above all else, make sure that your recommendation writers know you well. Every year we have clients approach us and say something along the lines of, "Good news. I think I can get my CEO to write a letter of recommendation for me." If your CEO hasn't worked with you extensively, and can't discuss your strengths and potential in great detail, then this isn't very good news. Admissions officers are impressed by what YOU have done, not by what your recommendation writer has done.


• Details and specifics are key. As Dee says, "What we are hoping for are brief recounts of specific situations and how you performed." Any recommendation written in general terms -- "He's a true leader... He exhibits teamwork all the time..." -- will fail to leave a lasting impression on admissions officers.


• While your recommendations don't all have to come from the workplace, the best ones are usually written by someone who has evaluated your performance. Dee writes, "Note that we are not looking for a peer recommendation — we find it most helpful if there is some developmental distance between you and the recommender." That kind of person is typically best suited to comment on your strengths and development areas.


• Simply knowing an HBS student or grad doesn't give you any kind of leg up. See has this to say: "Please don't ask current HBS students to write to us on your behalf outside of the formal recommendation process." Of course, dozens (if not hundreds) will surely ignore her advice this year, but you heard it straight from Dee!


• This last one is Dee's most interesting point. To answer the question of whether or not someone with a tenuous job situation should go to his or her boss for a letter of recommendation, Dee says, "Especially in these unusual times, please don't jeopardize your employment in order to secure a recommendation from a current employer." While we have also shared this advice before, we glad that Dee wrote this. Having it come from the head of admissions at HBS should put some jittery applicants at ease as they grapple with this question.

For more information and advice on applying to Harvard, visit the Veritas Prep HBS information page. Also, call us at 800-925-7737 and find out how we can help you with your recommendations!

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Business Schools That Accept the GRE

After NYU Stern's announcement that it will start accepting the GRE as well as the GMAT for MBA admissions, we've been getting more and more questions from business school applicants about what top business schools accept the GRE. While we still believe that the GMAT is the best predictor of how someone will do in business school, there's no denying that ETS has made impressive strides this past year in promoting the GRE General Test as an alternative to the GMAT.

We've gone ahead and compiled a list of the top business schools that accept the GRE General Test. This list is not meant to be exhaustive (ETS's exhaustive list is here). Rather, these are the top business schools -- in which our clients tend to be most interested -- that have taken the plunge and started accepting the GRE.

Top MBA Programs That Accept the GRE:

• Harvard Business School


• MIT Sloan School of Management


• NYU Stern School of Business


• Stanford Graduate School of Business


• University of Virginia (Darden)


• Yale School of Management

Additionally, Wharton will accept the GRE starting in Fall 2010.

For more information about GMAT prep and MBA admissions, please visit veritasprep.com. Also, be sure to follow us on Twitter!

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GMAT Mythbuster #1

(We'll take a break from our normal "GMAT Tip of the Week" series to present something new from the GMAT team here at Veritas Prep. We call it... GMAT Mythbusters! Over the next few weeks we'll dispel some of the most common misconceptions about the dreaded Graduate Management Admission Test.)

Myth: Schools will hold a low score against you (even if you subsequently post a higher one), so:

-You should cancel your scores if you're worried about your performance
-You should elect not to send your scores to any schools until after you have seen them and know that they are competitive

Fact: In all but the rarest of cases, schools only focus on your highest score, and understand that it may take a second or third attempt at the GMAT to fully master it. Unless you know for a fact that your score is doomed, you should elect to receive it, and send your score reports to the schools.

There exists a common fear among business school applicants that your GMAT scores will go on your "permanent record," and that a low score will stay with you like a poor grade on your transcripts (or a felony conviction). While it's true that schools will see all of your scores when you apply, it's also true that the schools in the vast majority of cases only care about your highest score.

Consider this about the GMAT:

• It's an easy test to underestimate. The concepts tested look easier on paper than they do in reality (arithmetic, algebra...the list of testable concepts seems taken from a high school syllabus, but in reality the questions can be quite difficult, and the individual skills that are tested are often the ones that you've forgotten most thoroughly). The admissions committees know this -- you may need a "wake up call" with a poor test score before you realize the effort that the test will require, and it doesn't make much sense for the schools to punish you for that. Furthermore, your successful pursuit of a higher score demonstrates a determination to accomplish your goals; this quality will serve you well in b-school and in industry, and is something that business schools will look upon with favor.


• The GMAT is the easiest statistical category for rankings services to use when comparing schools. Few things about the admissions process are both quantifiable and standardized, but the GMAT is both. Schools, therefore, are beholden in many ways to their average GMAT score when it comes to their appearance in the rankings. Because the schools get to report the highest score of each of their students for such rankings purposes, it's in the schools' self-interest to report your 720 and ignore your 550.

Given the above logic (and the fact that admissions officers routinely reiterate that they are primarily-if-not-exclusively concerned with your highest score), you should approach the GMAT as an opportunity to add an asset to your application, and not as a final, binding referendum on your candidacy. Because of that, there are several reasons that you should elect to receive and send your scores when you're offered the opportunity to do so:

If you elect to cancel your scores, you will never know how you did. If you did well, your high score will go unreported and wasted. If you didn't do well, you won't necessarily know how poorly you did, or why (a score breakdown could give you some insight). If you do see your scores, at a minimum you'll have some information on where you most need to improve, and you may surprise yourself with a higher score than you thought (your humble author was nervous to see his score on test day, but was thrilled to see that 99th percentile pop up immediately after taking the plunge).

Similarly, if you elect to cancel your scores, your test registration fee will go wasted, as well, and you'll need to pay to take the test again. As mentioned above, your author wavered on his decision to see his score. The deciding factor? If there was even a sliver of hope that he could save the $250 test fee and not have to take the exam again, he wanted to take that chance!

Another financial consideration: Your test registration fee permits you to send your score to 5 schools, provided you send those scores immediately as part of the exam (you make this decision before you see the scores). If you decide to wait until after you see your scores, you'll need to pay $25 per school to send your score reports...and, as mentioned above, the schools won't hold a poor score against you. (Editor's note: There is no evidence that the schools think this way at all, but if it were me, I'd have reservations about admitting anyone to business school who was willing to throw away a $125 investment by not sending their scores right away!)

In summary, the upside of seeing your scores far outweighs the negligible downside. The downside? In rare cases -- say, a string of several low scores (<500) followed by one high score, which indicates that it took you too many attempts at the exam to realize that you needed to try something different in your preparation -- a score pattern may betray some doubt about your candidacy. On a first or second attempt at the GMAT, however, you won't be a candidate for such a rare event, so for several reasons you should welcome the receipt of your score.

To get more great GMAT prep tips from Veritas Prep, be sure to follow us on Twitter!

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How to Make the Most of Medical School Secondaries

The medical school application process is a marathon, not a sprint, as it features an AMCAS application (featuring most of the admin work, a slew of short answer questions, and the always-difficult personal statement), secondary applications for individual schools, and then interview days at select programs. The whole thing lasts for nearly a year and the time spent tends to dwarf the application processes for other types of graduate programs.

The current leg of the marathon is the secondary application round. It is the part of the process that most closely resembles a college application or MBA application process, in the sense that candidates must respond to essay prompts that are specific to each program. This is the stage of an applicant's journey that demands a focus on "fit" with individual schools, as well as clear motivation for studying (and then practicing) medicine. The AMCAS was the time for setting yourself apart as a med school candidate ... secondary season is about fitting in.

Here are three other crucial tips for secondary applications:

1. Key on service. One interesting correlation that is gaining steam in medical school circles is the notion that community service translates to the pursuit of primary care careers. The current med school culture is very focused on producing good primary care doctors, so medical schools are taking a longer look at these trends, and, in many cases, deducing that a commitment to service is one of the best predictors that a med student will enter this field. Applicants should be sure to include all such experiences and look to build around both the service activities as well as the lessons learned when crafting essay responses.

2. Avoid cut-and-paste. One common mistake made by candidates on their secondary applications is that they fail to resist the temptation of cutting and pasting answers from the AMCAS. One requirement of the AMCAS is to answer a series of short prompts, including listing and describing course work, activities, and research experience. Many medical schools include similar questions on the secondaries. For instance, Columbia asks prospective students a question about extracurricular activities that sounds a lot like the short answer prompt on the AMCAS. The temptation to cut and paste the answer is very strong. Of course, this would be a huge mistake. Not only can Columbia cross-reference the new answer with the old AMCAS answer, but simply recycling a list fails to meet the challenge of the question. It is fine to give a basic rundown in an AMCAS short answer, but broader themes must be addressed in a secondary question. You have to make connections between your own experiences and the culture at Columbia. You have to show how your level of involvement will translate to medical school. It's a whole new ballgame and your best bet is to simply reference the old answer to ensure consistency, and then start fresh.

3. Take your time. An oft-quoted cardinal rule of medical school admissions says that a secondary application must be submitted to the school no more than two weeks from date of issue. The thinking goes that anything longer suggests to the program a lack of interest. This is not necessarily true. Yes, spending three weeks rather than two may tell the medical school in question that you are not a frothing maniac with nothing else going on in your life than secondary applications. Is that the end of the world? Med schools are looking for disciplined people who can handle heavy work leads, yes. But they are also looking for well-adjusted, balanced individuals who can see the big picture. It is far better to take an extra day or two, or even a week, to do a nice, thorough job on a secondary application, than it is to slap it together and rush it out the door. This is especially true if the secondary application happens to come from the medical school at a busy or stressful time - during a move back to college, during midterms, etc.

Finally, note that the general nature of secondary applications has changed in recent years. It used to be that a secondary application was an indication of forward movement, as schools commonly sent out secondaries only to select students as a way of thinning the herd. Now, however, most schools (over 80%, in fact) are automatically sending out secondaries to everyone who applies. This means that students are truly starting fresh with that program. The AMCAS will still be a very real part of the consideration process, but it has not factored in to a future decision yet. Secondaries must compliment the AMCAS. Research must be conducted into each school to which you are applying. As a result, it is our belief that students should apply to no more than 15 medical schools, given the amount of work that awaits them secondaries release.

For more on medical school admissions consulting at Veritas Prep, be sure to explore our services and feel free to give us a call at 1.800.925.7737.

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Success Story Part 8: "The Final Days and The Takeaways"

(This is the last in an eight-part series of blog posts in which Julie DeLoyd, a Veritas Prep GMAT alumna-turned-instructor, will tell the story of her experience through the MBA admissions process. Julie will begin her MBA program at Chicago Booth this fall. You can also read Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, and Part 7 to learn Julie's whole story.)

So here we are. The end of the story. [Close in on me with my cute new haircut and a (less-musiciany) wardrobe for my new life as a b-school student.]

(The music swells.)

This is what I've been working and waiting for all these months. I'm three weeks away from b-school orientation and already working on my assignments for the first month of my fellowship (reading 2 books about capitalism and watching 2 movies--auf Deutsch!). I already feel behind and ahead all at the same time, trying to think about job searches and class selection, networking and dog-care. It's done me some good to have spent this summer reflecting on my journey with you all.

For what it's worth, I'd like to leave you b-school applicants with what little wisdom I've gained from my experience. As I don't spend all day, every day, studying b-school admissions (like some of my dedicated Veritas Prep colleagues) my advice will be purely anecdotal and based on the experiences I've laid out over the last 3 months in this blog series.

1. The "Magical" Test Prep Course
If you're taking a test prep course, don't think that the teacher will grant you some fairy power* that will make you invincible. This is YOUR game to win. Get fanatic. Make the test your girlfriend. Spend long evenings getting to know each other. Relish every moment you get to spend together. Find the joy, and put in the time (that you probably should be spending with your real girlfriend…)

If your friends or partner can't respect your b-school dreams enough to understand the time commitment of studying for the GMAT, they won't be understanding during school. Get used to drawing the line now.

(*Your best shot at achieving fairy power? I'd say Veritas Prep is a pretty awesome place to start. Worked for me!)

2. Visit the schools.
I didn't have much money while I was a musician. Still, I wish I'd put the few hundred bucks on the credit card to check out the schools before I applied. I performed best for the interviews for schools I had visited, because I was the most versed in that school's culture. The online forums and word-of-mouth reputations won't figure that out for you. In my own experience with Chicago Booth, I discovered the reputation was lagging behind by about 3 years—don't trust what people say if they don't currently attend. The only way to know if you really like a school is to visit and hear the pitch in person. Don't wait until after you get an interview; they'll be able to tell by your essays if you've visited. If you have, and you show your understating of the culture? They'll love you for it.

3. Read, and Re-read. And make friends, so they can read too.
Don't be the doofus who writes "Stanford" on your Northwestern application. Finish your essays and forms the week before they're due and get some fresh eyes to look for your mistakes. There will probably still be something you miss, but watch out for the deal-breakers.

4. Figure out what you love about yourself.
When you're thinking about interviews and essays, try to figure out what you LOVE about yourself. Even if it's something non-businessy, like your compassion for instance, find a way to bring that out in your essays. Don't focus your essays so much on what you THINK they want to hear. They're reading a bunch of essays about mergers and consulting jobs. Talk about your personal experience. Let them get to know the real* you (and throw in some facts and figures for good measure)—that's how you'll stand out. This will also be helpful during your self-doubt days. Take the time to appreciate yourself whenever you get the chance.
*This includes being authentic about your identity in applications, particularly for gay and lesbian candidates, it can only work in your favor (as I've mentioned in a previous blog).

5. Give back
This experience of applying to business school is what we make of it. It's hard to go through it alone. After you've made it out the other side alive, reflect. Share your experience with a friend. Volunteer to help with the admissions committee at your school.

Write a blog.

-Julie DeLoyd

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How MBA Applicants Can Demonstrate Leadership

In our ongoing quest to provide you with the best MBA admissions resources available anywhere, we present the second video in our MBA admissions series: How MBA Applicants Can Demonstrate Leadership.

So many applicants come to us every year with concerns about a lack of leadership experiences. When we dig a little deeper, we often find they they do in fact have great leadership experiences to talk about, although they may not come from traditional leadership roles, such as a big job title at work, military rank, team captain, etc. It's an applicant's ability to identify and clearly communicate these less obvious leadership stories that can make the difference between admissions to or rejection from a competitive MBA program.



(You can go to YouTube to watch the video in a larger size.)

As our own Samantha Johnston likes to say, leadership is a set of behaviors, not a job title or a rank. Leadership can come in many flavors, and shows up in many settings. As Paul Lanzillotti says, the richest leadership stories exhibit a blend of professional experiences and personal values -- you not only achieved results, but you did so in a way that's consistent with your core values.

Watch the video and think about what leadership experiences you might be able to draw upon in your own applications. You think of some outside of your job title and day-to-day responsibilities at work? How did you accomplish something that no one else could have done without you? Those stories often make for the richest leadership examples in your MBA admissions essays.

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Announcing More Free Trial GMAT Classes!

After the amazing success or our first free trial GMAT classes earlier this summer, we have added more to the schedule between now and early October. These trial classes give you a terrific opportunity to meet your Veritas Prep GMAT instructor and get a taste of what makes Veritas Prep's GMAT prep curriculum so much more effective than the other leading companies' offerings.

This is the real first class of our flagship 14-session Full Course, taught by the same rigorously trained instructor who will teach your entire course. Come and see for yourself how great he or she is, and know that there's absolutely no obligation to continue!

There are lot of them here, so we listed them alphabetically. Take a look and find your city!

Veritas Prep Free Trial GMAT Classes

• Atlanta - September 8


• Boston - September 8


• Chicago - September 1


• Dallas - September 8


• London - September 8


• Los Angeles - September 8


• New Brunswick - September 8


• New Haven - September 8


• New York City - September 8


• Palo Alto - October 6


• Philadelphia - September 8


• St. Louis - September 8


• San Francisco - September 1


• San Jose - September 8


• Seattle - September 8


• Toronto - September 8


• Washington DC - August 31

Registration is limited, and last time we did have to close free trial registrations pretty early, so grab your spot now!

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GMAT Tip of the Week

Prime Time

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

A recent episode of "The Office" featured a classic, GMAT-relevant exchange, in which a cash-strapped Michael Scott asks his financial analyst to "crunch those numbers again". The stunned analyst explains that, because the calculations were all done accurately using a computer program, there was no mechanism for "crunching" the numbers again, and even if there were, there would be no change.

Such is life in business nowadays. Sophisticated machines do a lot of the "number crunching" for us, and business managers are much more often in the business of analyzing numbers than of crunching them. The GMAT, in an attempt to determine the candidates best suited to thrive in such an environment, heavily features the analysis of numbers in similar ways, requiring you to think often about the properties of numbers.

A prime example of this is the examination of prime numbers on the GMAT. Prime numbers are those that have exactly two factors (itself and 1) - a seemingly simple definition that can often become cumbersome to employ on the GMAT. One such way in which prime numbers can lead to frustration is a question like the following:

How many prime numbers are between 110 and 120?

It's unlikely that you'll have memorized the list of prime numbers up in to the triple-digits, so you will probably approach this question by taking the set of numbers and eliminating any numbers that are not prime. Even numbers, by definition, are divisible by 2, so the even numbers in this set are definitely not prime, leaving us with a set of:

111
113
115
117
119

It's also relatively easy to eliminate 115, because a number ending in 5 is divisible by 5, so we're down to four numbers remaining. 111 and 117 are each divisible by 3 (there's a trick for making that determination that we'll probably feature in an upcoming GMAT Tip of the Week), so we're left to test:

113
119

This is where it may get tricky, as in order to prove that a number is prime, we need to prove that it is not divisible by anything but itself and 1. With a 3-digit number, this process could be time consuming without these two principles:

1) You don't need to test for divisibility by anything other than prime numbers.

If a number is divisible by, say, 4, it needs to also be divisible by 2, because 4 is divisible by 2. So, if you've already determined that 113 is not divisible by 2, you don't need to test to see if it is divisible by 4 (or 6, or 8, etc.).

2) You don't need to test a number by anything higher than the square root of the next-highest perfect square.

This is probably best illustrated by an example. With 113, the next highest square above it is 121, and we know that 121 is the same as 11*11. So, logically speaking, in order for a number greater than 11 to multiply with another integer to produce a number smaller than 121, that other integer must be less than 11. If it were greater than 11, the product would be higher than 121.

If we test 113 by the other primes (7 and 11), we find that it's not divisible by 7 (7*10 = 70 and 7*6 = 42, so 7*16 is 112, meaning that 113 cannot be divisible by 7... but also that 119 is divisible by 7. So, our work with 119 is done.).

It's also not divisible by 11 (11 * 10 = 110, so we know that 113 is not a multiple of 11).

Now, because we've already tested everything up to 11, we're done...we know that 113 is prime. Again, if 113 were to be divisible by 13, it would also have to be divisible by something less than 11, because we know that 11*11 is already too high. So, there's no need to test 113 for divisibility by anything other than what we already have, and we can prove that the answer to the overall question is 1.

If you're getting ready to take the big test soon, try our free practice GMAT. And, as always, be sure to follow us on Twitter!

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Wharton MBA Application Now Live

In a brief post on the official Wharton blog, the school announced today that the 2009-2010 application is now available. You can access Wharton's online application system here.

We'll echo the sentiments of the Wharton admissions team and say good luck to everyone this coming admissions season!

For more advice on applying to Wharton, visit the Veritas Prep Wharton information page. Also, before you begin your application, be sure to take a look at our analysis of Wharton's 2009-2010 admissions essays.

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Huffington Post Predicts "B-School Collapse," but We Don't See It

Yesterday on the Huffington Post, Pablo Triana wrote a piece titled "The Coming B-School Collapse," in which he essentially predicted revolt by current and soon-to-be business school students who will no doubt be underwhelmed by their post-MBA job prospects in the next couple of years. While I was intrigued by the prospect of MBAs storming a modern-day Bastille to voice their displeasure with having to wait an extra year to become Masters of the Universe, Triana's piece left me scratching my head a bit.

He first asserts that thousands more applicants than normal are vying for spots in top MBA programs as a result of the rough economy. Okay, so far, so good. I can't fault him so far. He then describes the three types of students that one will find at a top school in this brave new (jobless) world, and while he oversimplifies some, he's still on the right track. I can't really find fault here, either.

Here's where it gets interesting. Triana then goes on to paint a cramped classroom teeming with unemployable know-nothings: "B-schools are then going to be overpopulated and to present a student mix that is potentially explosive." Um, how so? Just because application numbers surged last year, that automatically means the top business schools' classes will be proportionally more packed than before? Yes, this year some school did admit a handful more students (with HBS being the most prominent example), but we're talking about a handful. And every one of those students can read the Wall Street Journal or turn on CNBC... They know to expect a rocky job market, making a revolt a long shot at best.

Although he's taught at a business school before, what really makes me wonder how well Triana is still connected to the business school space is his assertion that "B-schools are completely dominated by theory and theoreticians, bent on embracing failed and lethal dogmas." While this was definitely true ten years ago, and some schools today are still too slow to evolve their programs towards a more pragmatic model (we call them out when we see such behavior), Triana must not know about any of these schools that have done far more than pay lip service to hands-on learning:

University of Michigan (Ross) -- Multidisciplinary Action Projects (MAP)

UC Berkeley (Haas) -- International Business Development (IBD) Program

NYU (Stern) -- Industry Mentoring Initiative

Those are just several good examples; I've left out many other schools' programs that are just as significant. Just to stoke the fires and get bloggers like me to take the bait, he goes on to say, "B-schools show no signs of abating their analytical practices, no real atonement, no true repentance." Triana may have taught at a highly-ranked school for a few years, but he did not sit in a room with admissions officers from a half dozen top school this summer, hearing every one of them express concerns about the employability of their students (and the importance of this trait when looking at an applicant), wonder aloud about how application numbers will look next year, and express how seriously the administration at each school takes the challenge of giving their students truly valuable management training in today's environment. They all spent a lot of time talking about these issues, and I know for a fact that not one of these schools is resting on its laurels.

But, all I do is study these programs for a living. Perhaps it's much better to create a snarky piece with an attention-grabbing headline, incite some class warfare, and maybe sell some ads in the process.

You know what? Why not. Let's see if it happens. The Internet hasn't given me anything good since I first learned that combining cute cats pictures and misspelled words equals comedy gold. I can't wait until I can pull up dozens of YouTube videos of McKinsey wannabes hurling Molotov cocktails across the quad, turning back a wave of armor-clad administrators who can't lure a single bank to come to campus and hand out job offers.

Until then, I suppose I can keep myself busy with helping more and more applicants get into these collapsing business schools.

To learn more about Veritas Prep's GMAT prep and MBA admissions services, be sure to follow us on Twitter.

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Success Story Part 7: "My! What a distinguished fellow..."

(This is the seventh in a series of blog posts in which Julie DeLoyd, a Veritas Prep GMAT alumna-turned-instructor, will tell the story of her experience through the MBA admissions process. Julie will begin her MBA program at Chicago Booth this fall. You can also read Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, and Part 6 to learn Julie's whole story.)

There I was, in the middle of my own personal—albeit geeky—soap opera. I imagined in the televised version I would be some tortured blonde, and CEO of DeLoyd Industries. Three dashing men have been asking for my hand in marriage. I choose the witty, sophisticated suitor who could make me scared and excited all at the same time. He treats me well. Then all of a sudden, my old flame comes sauntering into my board meeting! He starts to tell me he's been thinking about the good ol' days, how our ideals were so in line. We were so good for each other… I already have my wedding dress all picked out, and now I’m having second thoughts about a man who is only dangling his potential interest, but isn’t willing to commit.

--In Haiku form--
To put it simply,
Chicago Booth, scholarship
Stanford, waitlist. (Ugh.)

At some point I started thinking about the advice I'd gotten before my wedding, that is, my real-life wedding. A friend said once you pick the dress, stop going to bridal shops and trying more on. I felt this analogy worked for choosing schools as well. I needed to decide, and let the potential Stanford outcome be left alone. I decided to withdraw my name from the waitlist and allow myself to be excited about Chicago again.

My contact in the Booth admissions committee had told me during my admit phone call that there were still fellowships to be awarded. The admissions committee, I discovered, would nominate applicants for fellowships, but ultimately a faculty panel would decide the recipients. She said there was also a process for self-nomination and recommended that I write a short essay for each fellowship I thought was a good fit for me.

Some fellowships were based on an area of study (e.g. marketing, finance), whereas some were more interested in supporting certain minority populations (e.g. Women, African-Americans, Hispanics, etc.) One outlier was a large fellowship meant to attract the all-around superstar applicant. I found five or six fellowships dealing with marketing, entrepreneurship, and diversity initiatives that applied to my situation, if only tangentially and I decided to write a statement for every one.

While I was researching Booth fellowships, I started looking for outside scholarships as well. Several websites listed tons of scholarships available to undergraduate and graduate students, but very few applied to me. The few I did find required completing extensive applications and committing to large projects during the school year for a very small financial return—often less than $3000. I ended up applying to one external fellowship for gay and lesbian students that had a slightly larger budget and could fill in my tuition gap. They had awarded very few scholarships to business school students and had never awarded one to a lesbian MBA candidate.

I started crafting my fellowship essays. At first, my essays came across like a "greatest hits" of my MBA application. It wasn't working. With a total lack of inspiration, I began an exercise in freewriting and found myself writing about my mother. She died when I was a teenager and I can clearly connect my current drive to succeed with having her as part of my life, however brief it was. I wrote a very honest, personal essay that ended up working for most of the fellowships (with some minor tweakage). I realized the Booth fellowship committees would already have access to my full application, and the outside scholarship would already have my resume and test scores. It felt like a risk at the time to write such an emotional essay, but regardless, I knew I had a $40k scholarship in the bag.

The outside scholarship for "the gays" selected me as a semi-finalist (the application process was ridiculously multi-tiered) and I began putting together the second part of the application—letters of recommendation, transcripts, official test scores, etc. Though at first I was excited to be selected as a semi-finalist, I got an email a few weeks later with some interesting news that redirected my efforts.

As part of my Booth fellowship search, I had sent an essay in for consideration for several $20,000 fellowships for diversity or marketing. Ultimately, I found out that fellowship money only replaces money from merit scholarships—it doesn’t add to it. So most of the fellowships I applied to wouldn’t have helped my financial situation (though most of them would have provided some valuable mentorship opportunities). The only Booth fellowship that awarded more money than what I’d already been given was called The Distinguished Fellows Program—the one geared towards the superstar applicants. This was the only fellowship you couldn’t self-nominate for. The title of "Distinguished Fellow" would be bestowed on 4-5 incoming students and would accompany a full-tuition fellowship with a $20k annual stipend as well. (Insane, right?) Additionally, this fellowship would provide a personalized leadership curriculum and interactions with a broad range of notable guests (from the business world and far beyond). When I originally read this description, I thought, "Wow. I want to meet whoever gets one of these fellowships. They must be incredible..."

During the last few weeks when most of the Booth Business Week forums were saying the fellowships had all been given out, I received an email from the deputy dean at Chicago. I had been invited to interview for the Distinguished Fellows Program.

I can’t tell you how many times during this whole application process that I felt like I was only moments away from waking up from what had become a delicious dream. This was another one of those moments. I had begun a cordial relationship with Booth’s incredible Director of Admissions, Rose Martinelli, and I spoke with her briefly about this new opportunity. She was genuinely excited that I had been chosen to interview (only one of ten-to-twelve chosen to do so, I discovered). She told me a little more about the two faculty members whom I would be speaking with and I continued the research on my own, knowing that Rose was cheering me on.

I was interviewed twice during Admit Weekend. The first time, unknowingly. The first day of Admit Weekend, I was invited to lunch with a few of the current fellows. Though this was pitched as a chance for me to ask questions about the program, it turned out they were evaluating me as well. Though I was meeting many new people that weekend, these few students were some of my favorites. I hoped they enjoyed my company as well. The next day, when I met with the deputy dean and the professor in charge of the program, it appeared that I’d gotten the stamp of approval from the current fellows. During this 45-minute interview, I started feeling like I wasn't in an interview, but rather part of a conversation. We all talked about our pasts and, oddly, business matters rarely came up. When the conversation was over I had no idea if I'd impressed them or not.

The next day the deputy dean found me during a housing fair and offered me a spot in the program, if I was interested. I immediately accepted! When I found Rose a few moments later, she screamed and gave me a huge hug--the hallway full of admitted students quieted down to see what the fuss was about. It was a lovely moment.

At this point any hesitation I
d had about my choice to attend Chicago Booth completely disappeared. In addition to this unreal fellowship opportunity in a financial sense, I was really excited to be part of such an incredible, close-knit group of students. I haven’t found any other fellowship like it in any of the top MBA programs. It’s strange to know as I attend school over these next two years, I'll be one of only ten people getting paid to get my MBA. It's an incredible honor and opportunity.

NEXT UP: The Final Episode! The Final Days, and the Takeaways.

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Chicago Booth's Rose Martinelli Gives Advice to Reapplicants

Last week Chicago Booth's Associate Dean for Student Recruitment and Admissions, Rose Martinelli, wrote a followup to her first blog post about how reapplicants can approach the MBA admissions process. While the first post gave very general information that our readers have seen multiple times (e.g., think about what aspects of your application you need to bolster, consider if your goals are the same this year...), Rose's second post contains some more concrete info that provides a good insight into how Chicago Booth reads reapplicants' applications.

About your data forms, Rose writes, "Do not rely on last year's application to provide us with that information since the forms change a little bit each year. A good rule of thumb is to ask yourself -– why is this information important for the admissions committee to know about me?" While each school has its own approach for how much of your old application will make it into your new file, Chicago Booth includes your entire old application with your new submission. However, Rose stresses that your new application must present your candidacy fully.

About your resume, Rose says, "Your resume should be one that you would use for any job search, highlighting your role and accomplishments. " While she doesn't say it here, we would add that, although your resume should be complete and assume that the reader has no prior knowledge of your candidacy, you should put extra care into emphasizing what's new in the last year -- job promotions, a big achievement on a project, etc.

About your letters of recommendation, she has this to say: " While we know you may choose to use the same recommenders as in your prior application, ask your recommenders to update the information with your progression. It might also be helpful for you to take the time to meet with them to review your progress during this period and to highlight areas they might use as examples within the recommendation." This is all great advice -- don't assume that your recommendation writers know how to write you a great recommendation, no matter how smart they are or how strongly they support you.

Regarding essays, Rose says, "Avoid regurgitating information you used last year -– whether essays or elements of your presentation. Be bold and start from scratch." One question is specifically meant for reapplicants: Essay question 1B asks what has changed since you last applied. Rose says, "This could be anything from work experience, new goals or a greater self awareness. Here's your chance to help us understand your growth from last year."

This is consistent with what we always tell our clients: You are absolutely welcome to reapply to any top business school, but you really need to highlight what's new since last year. While we appreciate Rose's comment about greater self awareness, ideally you will have concrete achievements that you can point to as new and different since the last time you applied. Our reapplicant clients are most successful when they're able to do just that.

For more advice on applying to Chicago Booth, visit Veritas Prep's Chicago Booth information page. And, be sure to follow us on Twitter!

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UCLA Anderson's Entrepreneurship Bootcamp for Veterans

This weekend UCLA's Anderson School of Management wrapped up its Entrepreneurship Bootcamp for Veterans with Disabilities (EBV), a terrific program that offers training in entrepreneurship and small business management to U.S. military veterans who were disabled as a result of their service supporting operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom.

The EBV was first introduced by Syracuse University's Whitman School of Management in 2007. In 2008, the EBV Consortium of Schools was launched, a national partnership with UCLA Anderson School of Management, Florida State University's College of Business, and Mays Business School at Texas A&M.

The program was created to provide focused, practical training in the tools and skills of new venture creation and growth, reflecting issues unique to disability and public benefits programs. Veterans who complete the course also benefit from a support structure that they can call upon as they enter the business world, giving them years of ongoing value.

According to UCLA Anderson's EBV web site:

"The EBV program represents a unique opportunity for men and women who have sacrificed for America's freedom to take an important step toward realizing their own freedom - economic freedom - through entrepreneurship. EBV is a selective, rigorous, and intense educational initiative that has been created to make a difference. Accordingly, the application process itself is rigorous and selective.

"Successful candidates for admission will demonstrate a strong interest in entrepreneurship, high motivation for owning and managing a business, and a high likelihood of successful completion of this intense training program."

Most impressively, EBV is entirely free for military veterans. All costs -- including travel, lodging, and meals -- are covered for delegates accepted to the EBV thanks to the participating universities as well as generous donations from corporations and individuals.

Every year we work with many military veterans who are returning from duty and getting ready to apply to business school, but not all veterans necessarily want to pursue an MBA. EBV occupies a valuable space, serving those who have been injured in service to their country and now want to go to work for themselves in the private sector, but who don't want to (or can't afford to) make the full investment in a two-year graduate business program.

If you are interested in applying to the EBV program, click here. If you're interested in learning more about UCLA Anderson's MBA program, visit the Veritas Prep UCLA Anderson information page.

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GMAT Tip of the Week

The Dog Days of Summer

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

August is an interesting month, in that it's known primarily for its lack of identity. One of the few months without a major American holiday, it represents the no-man's-land between summer and back-to-school. The excitement of warmer weather has given way to the monotony of hot-and-humid, and everyone seems to be waiting: farmers for the harvest, sports fans for the pennant races and football season, students and teachers for the school bells, and residents of beach communities for tourists to disperse and leave the beaches to the locals. Meanwhile, business school applicants are awaiting the first round deadlines for their applications (most will come in October).

As Tom Petty likely puts it best, "the waiting is the hardest part" -- you know that you should be doing something proactive with your time, but those "dog days of summer" tend to lull us in to a monotonous, not-particularly-productive routine. Here is how you can put the time to better use for your fall GMAT test date:

Study with a purpose! Often times, your best intentions are your own undoing, as your only initiative is to "do more problems". The problem with that is that, in doing so, you likely find yourself in a rut, doing problem after problem without gaining much value from each. Much like an elite athlete will divide his workouts in to specific purposes (strength, speed, quicknees, endurance), you should do the same for your GMAT preparation. Spending two hours "doing problems" will help, but spending the same amount of time trying to get quicker on the math questions, for example, helps you twofold -- you're getting quicker, but you're doing problems at the same time. Accordingly, you derive the same benefit of "doing problems", but it's psychologically easier to study with a particular focus (you don't feel like you're just grinding out another set), and you also build confidence by knowing that you addressed a specific area of emphasis. Here are some easy ways to improve the effectiveness of your study time:

Take practice tests, and spend time analyzing your results to see where you need to improve. Based upon that, give yourself drills designed to attack those areas. Some examples include:

• If you need to get quicker, give yourself drills designed to solve problems faster. Either:

Give yourself 30 seconds to start on each problem (of a set of 10 or 20), forcing yourself to start quickly, and then go back to finish the set building upon your initial work.

Look at each problem and identify what you're being asked to do (which skills are necessary, and what will the answer represent), then go back and solve the set.

• If you need to improve a specific skill area, drill yourself on sets of 10 questions within that discipline.

• If you tend to lose focus late in the exam and make silly mistakes, work on your verbal skills at the end of another project or a long day of work to practice maintaining focus.

Again, by performing drills such as those above, you will still derive the benefit of "doing more problems", but you'll also find that your study sessions are easier to get through, and that your return on investment of time is increased. Work smartly through the dog days of summer so that you can enjoy the fruits of your labor in the fall!

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Is Harvard Going Broke?

The August issue of Vanity Fair is flying off of newsstand shelves due to high profile articles on Heath Ledger's last days and Sarah Palin's political turmoil; however, arguably the most interesting article in the magazine is a feature on Harvard's current financial troubles.

The article (a summary of which is available here), penned by Nina Munk, describes the problems surrounding the school's endowment and the ramifications on Harvard's day-to-day budget and aggressive expansion plans. From the ups and downs of the Harvard Management Company to the controversial presidency of Larry Summers to current campus conditions, the profile is packed with fascinating details and is a must-read for anyone who follows higher education.

As an added bonus and happy coincidence, I was in Boston this week and had a chance to go examine Harvard for myself. My question: is Harvard really going broke?

Munk's article tells a very detailed story about how and why Harvard finds itself in a difficult financial situation. Key elements include: the outsized ambition of Summers, the fact that talented, gun-for-hire traders were run out of the Harvard Management Company, an egregious error made when the administration failed to cancel interest-rate swaps (resulting in a loss of $1 billion), and an expansion plan that calls for new building after new building. Oh, and an $8 billion hit to the school's famous endowment (as Munk points out, the amount lost by Harvard's endowment in 2008 is greater than the entire endowment of Columbia University) and another $11 billion in outstanding commitments. The article also has an edge to it, calling out Harvard for double talk -- the school avoids words like "cuts" and "layoffs" and instead favors "alignments" and "resizements" (which isn't even a word).

For all that, what interested me most was how these incredible numbers and stories are impacting current students. What is a first year going to look like at Harvard Law School? What -- if anything -- will change for a junior at Harvard College? What about prospective students? For all the hand wringing and finger pointing, are things really that bad?

Well, for starters, future students of Harvard College can probably plan on getting their checkbooks back out and once again bookmarking the FAFSA page. One of the most celebrated of Summers' many moves as president was to offer free tuition to any accepted Harvard student coming from a family whose income was less than $60,000 per year. New president Drew Faust added a policy that gave enormous tuition breaks to any student whose family made less than $180,000 (the policy stated that such students would pay no more 10 percent of their family's income). Both of the policies are likely to be in serious jeopardy, given that Harvard's annual budget of over $3 billion is funded in large part by its rapidly shrinking endowment.

Once those students get done paying their way to Harvard, they can expect to find their fair share of turmoil. Every building on campus features the same decor right now -- signs of protest. "No layoffs" is the most common, but "save our faculty" is also quite popular. Harvard Law School is currently a sea of activism, even in the middle of July, as message boards call for student involvement to push back against proposed budget cuts and faculty/staff layoffs. Most of these signs direct students to a dedicated blog with information, events, and editorials. Visit the blog at this moment and the front page will highlight a rally that was held this morning (August 6) at the Holyoke Center. Furthermore, a quick chat with any Harvard student -- from virtually any program -- will reveal that the prevailing opinion on campus is that the university is actually using the endowment trouble as an excuse for "belt tightening" measures. Most students seem to feel that simply reallocating resources and showing some restraint at the top of the food chain is more than enough to correct the current budget problems, but that Harvard is being opportunistic (at best) and trying to squeeze more work out of fewer resources by attacking the bottom of the faculty and staff. Needless to say, it is not the most harmonious place to be at present time.

Finally, there is the issue of facilities. The biggest aim of the Summers regime was to turn Harvard into the "Florence of this century" and the primary method for making that happen was expansion and construction. New buildings are everywhere on campus, outnumbered only by uncompleted construction pits. When will these projects be completed? No one seems to know. Workers tending to the current law school expansion project seem to basically be operating in maintenance mode, trying to make sure that any progress to date is protected from the coming weather changes in late fall and winter. No one is even working on the massive, $1.2 billion Allston campus that will house new HBS facilities in addition to a massive science center. How will the campus look in the months and years to come?

Even if one were to set aside the stunted growth, the controversy, and the likely diminution of financial aid, there is still a nagging sense that Harvard is on hold. The grounds were poorly maintained on my visit, there was trash strewn about, and the focus is on budgets and jobs instead of programs and ideas.

For all that though, one has to assume that Harvard will find a way to resolve this situation and move on quickly, because that is what Harvard has always done. The endowment is down over 20% from this time last year, but it is still nearly $30 billion and larger than that of any other university. All of those recently completed buildings that put the school in this position are still there, ready to improve the learning experience for Harvard students. Not to say that Munk's article was hyperbolic or that things are all smooth sailing for Harvard right now, but I can't help but think that this profile features the low point and that things will improve from here.

Of course, even that scenario would have been unthinkable just a year ago. Stay tuned.

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Cool MBA Tool: MBA Essay Map - Online Google Doc with Essay Topics from Top US, Asian and European Business Schools

MBA Essay Map: View all business school essays, side by side, in one succinct view.

The wealth of online information about the business school application process and programs is staggering.

• I certainly appreciate the opportunity to gather a number of differing viewpoints on essays topics and school culture, for example.

I also know that as b-school applicants navigate through the application process, they do have the potential to get lost in the weeds.

• As I have seen with many MBA applicants, they get "analysis paralysis", innudated by almost too much data.
• Having worked in management consulting, I come from the school of tell me what I need to know, when I need to know it and how I can use it to get the right result.
• In finance terms, I want to see a balance sheet. Give me a snapshot of where I stand today.

This is why I created the "MBA Essay Map".

• The MBA Essay Map rolls up all essay questions from top US, Asian and European MBA programs.
• It puts them all in one view, side by side, for comparitive purposes.
• I also included a side by side comparison of word limits and deadlines. This should help an applicant estimate workload and timing so they can address the writing process in the most efficient manner.

The Map also includes specific formatting requirements for each program and any specific reapplicant stipulations.

• I can not tell you how many times I have seen essays submitted using the wrong format or reapplicants who neglected to follow the rules. This is a huge red flag for the admissions committee.

View the "MBA Essay Map" here:

• http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=tc4U3LxI41c9UXBO-0rhwog&output=html
• Please note that not all essays for 2009 - 2010 have been released. I will update when these roll out.
• Additionally, if you find value in the "MBA Essay Map" please check out the "Top MBA Program Deadlines and Important Dates" Google Calendar I created. You can add this calendar to your own Gcal or MS Outlook. (Long live Google.)

-Paul Lanzillotti

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Introducing MBA Admissions Videos from Veritas Prep!

In Veritas Prep's ongoing quest to provide business school applicants with the best GMAT prep and MBA admissions resources, we will roll out a series of video tips in the coming weeks. Rather than shooting a lot of "talking head" videos, we decided it would be fun to bring together some of our admissions experts for a day of shooting the breeze and sharing some of our own experiences in working with applicants. The result is a series of short, informative videos that should give you food for thought as you start to plan your application.

The first video in our series captures some discussion around the question of "What's the biggest mistake applicants make in their essays?" While we had seemingly dozens of examples to share, we thought these points, made by our own Samantha Johnston and Chad Troutwine, represent the kind of mistakes that we see far too often -- when applicants provide mundane, factual answers to questions, and fail to put "real meat" into their essay responses.



(You can go to YouTube to watch the video in a larger size.)

There are plenty more videos on the way, and we'll release them one at a time. Yes, there will be some "talking head" videos in there (we couldn't resist), but we hope for most of them to capture real snippets of the kinds of conversations that take place at Veritas Prep headquarters every day!

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NYU Stern Appoints a New Dean

NYU's Stern School of Business has just named Peter Blair Henry, currently the Konosuke Matsushita Professor of Economics at Stanford University, its new dean effective January 15, 2010.

A Rhodes Scholar, Henry recently received some notoriety as the leader of the Obama Transition Team's review of the International Monetary Fund, World Bank, and other international lending agencies. He has also served as an economic advisor to governments from the Caribbean to Africa, Dean-designate Henry's scholarship focuses on the impact of economic reform on emerging economies.

NYU President John Sexton said, "After some time, one can read the 'body language' of a dean's search committee. Seldom –- if ever –- have I seen greater certainty or more enthusiasm for a candidate for a deanship. And when I met with him, it was immediately apparent why: a superb and highly productive economics scholar, a natural leader, a community-builder, and a manifestly good person, Peter Blair Henry has just the attributes to lead NYU's business school.

"He thinks long-range and strategically, and he has committed his research to grappling with profoundly important questions about our world: how do we reduce poverty in emerging economies? What's the positive role of global business? How can we best harness globalization to allow poor countries to prosper? No surprise, then, that he immediately comprehended the unique moment in which higher education finds itself now, and the unique position the Stern School occupies – enjoying NYU's unequalled global network of academic facilities, and intimately connected to the world's business capital – and understood that NYU and he were a perfect fit for one another."

Peter Blair Henry is currently the Konosuke Matsushita Professor of International Economics, the John and Cynthia Fry Gunn Faculty Scholar, and Associate Director of the Center for Global Business and the Economy at the Stanford University Graduate School of Business, where he was first appointed an assistant professor of economics in 1997. He is also a Senior Fellow of the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research and the Stanford Center for International Development, a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research, a Nonresident Senior Fellow of the Brookings Institution, and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. Henry is President of the National Economic Association and received the Association's dissertation prize for his doctoral thesis.

For advice on applying to NYU Stern, visit Veritas Prep's NYU Stern information page. And, be sure to follow us on Twitter!

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UCLA Anderson Application Essays and Deadlines for 2009-2010

The UCLA Anderson School of Management has released its admissions essays and deadlines for the coming application season. Here they are, followed by our comments:

UCLA Anderson Application Deadlines
Round 1: October 14, 2009
Round 2: January 6, 2010
Round 3: March 17, 2010

(Unlike most top business schools, Anderson actually moved its Round 1 deadline back vs. last year, although only by five days. Note that Anderson has moved its Round 3 deadline up by about two weeks.)

UCLA Anderson Admissions Essays

For first-time applicants:

1. Describe the ways in which your family and/or community have helped shape your development. (750 words)
   
   (This question has been reworded this year, but is substantially the same as last year's first question. What's interesting to us is that it's been reworded to include less in the way of specifics than last year's question. Actually, in some ways, it's a combination of the first two questions from last year's application. While we don't know the Anderson admissions committee's motivations for certain, it seems as though they wanted to "open up" the question to give applicants enough room to talk about whatever they want, instead of limiting them too much with specific requests for details. Consider answering this question with your personal development in mind. Your tendency will be to tie it right back to your career and why you're pursuing an MBA, but consider this input from the admissions office: "Please be introspective and authentic in your responses. We value the opportunity to learn about your life experiences, aspirations, and goals.")


2. Describe the biggest risk you have ever taken, the outcome, and what you learned in the process. (500 words)
   
   (This question is new this year, and it's a classic opportunity to employee the "SAR" method: Situation, Action, Result. The admissions committee lays out exactly what they're looking for -- not just what happened, but what you learned as a result. Be sure to spend enough time discussing this last point. Your best story may come from your professional life or your personal life; use the one that gives you the best chance to demonstrate growth and introspection.)


3. Describe your short-term and long-term career goals. What is your motivation for pursuing an MBA now and how will UCLA Anderson help you to achieve your goals? (750 words)
   
   (This question carries over unchanged from last year, and should be approached the same as most other "Career Goals" / "Why an MBA?" essays.)


4. Select and respond to one of the two following questions. We would like you to respond to the question by recording an audio or video response, 1-2 minutes long (up to 5 MB maximum), for upload in the online application. If you are unable to submit your response via audio or video, then please prepare a written response instead. (250 words)
   
   a. Entrepreneurship is a mindset that embraces innovation and risk-taking within both established and new organizations. Describe an instance in which you exhibited this mindset.
   
   b. What is something people will find surprising about you?
   
   (Wow, now video, too! Last year Anderson made waves by introducing an audio response, but now, in the age of YouTube, a video response is also now acceptable. We're not surprised that Anderson dropped one of the audio essay options from last year, which asked, "What global issue matters most to you and why," which probably prompted a lot of "hot air" answers from applicants who were more concerned about sounding impressive than they were about giving authentic answers that revealed more about themselves. We think the Anderson admissions committee is interested in seeing and hearing how you communicate as much as they want to hear your specific answer. As we recommended last year, we think you should prepare well and make sure you deliver your answer smoothly, but a more impromptu-sounding response will sound warmer and more authentic than an overly scripted response. Lastly, have fun with this! Your response doesn't need to be funny or wacky, but brightening the admissions committee's day always helps.)


5. OPTIONAL: Are there any extenuating circumstances in your profile about which the Admissions Committee should be aware? (250 words)
   
   (Our advice for this type of question is always the same: Only use this question as necessary. No need to harp on a minor weakness and sound like you're making excuses when you don't need any.)

Reapplicants who applied for the entering Fall 2008 or 2009 class have a different set of requirements than first-time applicants. Instead of submitting two letters of recommendation and the four regular essays, reapplicants are required to submit precisely one new letter of recommendation and the two essays below:

1. Please describe your career progress since you last applied and ways in which you have enhanced your candidacy. Include updates on short-term and long-term career goals, as well as your continued interest in UCLA Anderson. (750 words)
   
   (The admissions committee's goal here is clear: to be able to quickly judge how much stronger your candidacy is this year. Like all top schools, UCLA Anderson IS very receptive to receiving applications from reapplicants, but you need to show up with a a noticeably stronger application than what you submitted a year ago. What's changed? Have you been promoted at work? Achieved a higher score on the GMAT? Taken on a leadership role in your community? This is your chance to showcase it all in a single essay.)



2. Describe the biggest risk you have ever taken, the outcome, and what you learned in the process. (500 words)
   
   (Since this essay didn't exist last year, it makes sense that the admissions committee also wants to see reapplicants' responses to this question.)



3. OPTIONAL: Are there any extenuating circumstances in your profile about which the Admissions Committee should be aware? (250 words)

For more advice on applying to UCLA Anderson, visit the Veritas Prep UCLA Anderson information page. For even more advice on applying to Anderson, download our FREE Veritas Prep Annual Reports! And, be sure to follow us on Twitter!

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