• Come one! Come all! To Accepted's first MBA admissions chat of the 2008-09 MBA application season. This year we are launching the chats with an event devoted to the University of Michigan's Ross School of Business. Director of Admissions, Soojin Kwon Koh and Kimberli Keller, Associate Director of Admissions along with two second year MBA students will be available to answer your questions about Ross. Please join us in the Accepted chat room on Wednesday, August 20, 2008 at 10:00 AM PT/1:00 PM ET/5:00 PM GMT.
• MBA Mojo(TM) Do you have it? Come and get it! Access MBA Mojo! Participate in Accepted’s fun and informative MBA admissions contest. Win prizes. Reduce your stress. Enjoy!

I am writing to encourage loyal readers of this blog who are considering using Accepted's services to contact us ASAP. We are raising our prices on September 1, 2008. There are only two weeks left  in which you can contact your editor to figure out which admissions consulting and editing service is best for you,  try it out, decide you like us, and then purchase more before the price increase. Just enough time, but definitely not too much so please don't delay.

Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management is a dream school for many of my MBA clients. And why not? The program features a top-notch marketing and general management curriculum, the standard-issue highly accomplished but well-rounded student body, and what’s viewed as the most people-focused culture among top business schools. Today an increasingly popular Kellogg offering is the Global Initiatives in Management program, or GIM. Each year over 500 Kellogg students—from the full-time, part-time, and executive MBA programs—participate in GIM, “an intensive global business leadership course designed by students” (according to the school’s website). For GIM, student teams plan a 10-week curriculum including two full weeks in the country of focus for field study that typically includes company visits and interviews with top managers, industry experts, and government officials.

According to the website, recent GIM topics have included tourism in South Africa, E-commerce in Thailand, and microenterprise in Ghana. Given the value of insights regarding global business practices and specific industries across nations—not to mention the value of spending two weeks in a foreign land with a group of dynamic classmates—GIM is a very appealing program for Kellogg-minded applicants, and one mentioned often in my clients’ essays. But unfortunately that mention frequently goes something like this: “I would love to participate in GIM.” Or maybe, “I would be very interested in a GIM trip to China, given the increasing importance of that country to the global economy.”

Don’t do that.

Instead, make much more clear both the value of the GIM program to you and what you can bring to GIM. For example, are you an aspiring product manager with pharma experience? Then you could talk about the appeal of a healthcare-focused GIM trip to India to understand the challenges of marketing and distributing pharmaceuticals, biotech products, and medical devices in a fast-growing and increasingly de-regulated economy. To the trip you would bring insights from your pharma experience, including knowledge of US-based marketing strategies and how well these might apply overseas. Remember, GIM trips are student-run, so you should portray yourself as someone who could conceptualize and initiate a specific trip/curriculum. Spell that out: “I would love to initiate a GIM trip to country A to study topic B, which would provide great insights into industry X, which I hope to enter.”

My fellow Accepted editors and I can help you incorporate Kellogg’s GIM program into dynamic and engaging essays that show your fit with the school. In general, the more carefully you construct your essays, the more likely you may find yourself studying Japan’s wireless phone market in Osaka, or microfinance in South Africa, or fast food trends in Beijing . . . on your Kellogg GIM trip.

By Sachin Waikar

LL.M. programs continue to grow in popularity among domestic and international students. And law schools are responding to this demand by adding new programs or alternative timeframes for completing degree requirements.

The University of Florida Levin College of Law now offers a Masters in Environmental and Land Use Law and is currently accepting applications for Fall 2009. Students admitted to the program are eligible to participate in the UF Conservation Clinic and may apply for an optional summer’s semester in Costa Rica. Students design their curriculum but are required to take 6 credit hours in courses from other areas of the university and whose content is substantially non-law. The one-year post-JD program is open to experienced attorneys as well as recent law school graduates.

The DePaul University College of Law in Chicago recently announced its new Master of Laws in International Law. This program offers three concentrations: International Aviation Law & Policy; International Business, Commercial & Trade Law; and International Human Rights Law & Policy and Criminal Justice. The inaugural class will begin studies in January 2009. DePaul also offers LL.M. programs in Health Law, Intellectual Property and Taxation. Foreign applicants should note that completing an LL.M. degree does not permit them to sit for the Illinois Bar exam or to enter the Illinois Bar.

Berkeley Law/Boalt Hall unveiled a new Summer LL.M. program designed for international students who, although employed, are able to take shorter leaves from their careers. It is an intensive three-month program for two consecutive summers. The school says that successful completion of the program should allow the student to meet all educational requirements to sit for the California Bar Exam.

On the financial front, the International Legal Studies Program at American University’s Washington College of Law announced five full tuition scholarships. There is an October 1 application deadline for the spring semester. The school’s website has complete information.

Finally, an LL.M. day will be held in Frankfurt, Germany, on October 11, 2008. The program is free but you must register by October 5. Representatives from several prominent U.S. law schools and international law firms will be there. For more information, please visit the sponsor’s website.

By Robbie Walker, who has extensive experience, both in the US and Japan, helping applicants gain acceptance to leading LL.M. programs.

School visits. They are time-consulting and expensive. And they contribute to global warming. 

Furthermore, Dee Leopold in The Director's Blog at HBS' web site makes clear that HBS does not weigh a visit as a factor in an admissions decision.  The Wharton adcom blog made a similar statement a few years ago. 

Is personally visiting the campuses of your target schools a waste of time and effort? Absolutely not.

I am not disputing Harvard's or Wharton's statements that they don't award brownie points for visiting. However,  whether or not  your target programs award brownie points, a visit does mean you will have a better chance of being admitted -- not because of imaginary points, but because you will be a better informed applicant. You will know more about the school and its culture. You will know more about why it appeals to you, why its style matches yours, and how it supports your goals.

As Dee suggestions in her post, to profit the most from your trip, visit when class is in session. Then take a tour, meet with students, participate in the info session, and attend a class. In short, take advantage of whatever is offered.

What if you simply can't visit your target schools?  If you live far away, don't worry about it. You still need to demonstrate a deep understanding of the school's culture and program, but the school won't hold your lack of visit against you. Even schools (e.g. Tuck and Darden ) that really value a visit as a sign of serious interest understand that international applicants can't necessarily come.  Other schools explicitly ask what you have done to learn about their program, for example Haas queries "What steps have you taken to learn about the Berkeley MBA program?"

What steps should you take on the road to an MBA acceptance?

• Scour the schools' web sites.
• Attend the many receptions and events held by the schools.
  
• Participate in MBA Tour events.
• Talk to current students and/or recent alumni.
• Read current student blogs to get a feel for campus life.

Here is a list of upcoming MBA Tour events in the US, but the Tour is international so check their website if you are outside the US.

September 2 : Chicago
September 4: Houston
September 6: New York
September 7: Washington, D.C.
September 9: Atlanta
September 11: Boston
September 13: San Francisco
September 14: Los Angeles