The Yale Daily News reports today on trends at Yale SOM. The highlights:

• Applications rose 4% in Round 1 2008 over Round 1 2007.
• The average GMAT of round 1 applicants rose 2 points to 698.
• "SOM’s participation in The Consortium more than doubled the number of underrepresented minority students — which include African-Americans, Hispanics, and Native Americans — that applied to the school."
• Yale SOM plans to increase entering class size ever so slightly -- from this year's 193 to 195-200.

This week Accepted is pleased to host Laurie Stewart, Carnegie Mellon's Executive Director of MBA Admissions, along with other members of the Tepper community during an online CMU Tepper chat on Thursday, December 4, 2008 at 10:00 AM PT/ 1:00 PM ET/6:00 PM GMT. Please join us in Accepted's chat room.

Coming up next Monday: London Business School Chat on Dec. 8, 2008 at 10:00 AM PT/ 1:00 PM ET/6:00 PM GMT.

We also have posted in the last several days three transcripts from recent chats.

• 2009 Consortium MBA Career Chat with Jackie Olden
• 2009 MIT Sloan MBA LGBT with Deirdre Kane
• 2009 MIT Sloan MBA Military with Barry Reckley

A few other items I want to note: Anderson's MBA Insider's Blog has a succinct, informative post "Tips for Early Career (EC) MBA Applicants," by Admissions Director Mae Shores. Although the advice is intended specifically for Anderson, it really applies to most applicants with less than three years of experience to top programs that encourage EC's to apply. Chicago Booth also provides guidance specifically geared to early career applicants.

Finally, I feel remiss if I don't even mention the Mumbai massacre considering its cruel brutality and devastating impact.  Our sympathy goes out to all victims of this barbarism and our best wishes for a speedy and complete recovery to those injured by the terrorists. Clear Admit provides a round-up of the cancelled MBA admissions events in India as a result of the attack.

I am sure that some of our readers are personally affected or know someone who is. And of course there are people around the world who have lost loved ones. Terrorism is an international plague knowing no boundaries, using murder and mayhem as an obscene form of political expression.

I don't know anyone personally hurt in or affected by the attacks. My family and I do have a couple of good friends who knew the Holzbergs, the young rabbinic couple butchered by the terrorists. One friend was travelling in India and spent the Sabbath before the attack at the Chabad Center (formerly known as the Nariman House), in which several people perished. Another friend, who had lived in Mumbai for a year, found herself last Thursday helping her sister on her wedding day  -- and worrying about Rabbi and Mrs. Holzberg, who ran the Chabad Center and with whom she had enjoyed many a meal and chat.

At the end of a moving and terribly sad email, she writes "And to all of you reading this email, I ask that you do something good—something so kind, so good, and so loving, that it can in some way make the world hurt less. Because, little Moishe (the Holzberg's two-year-old son rescued by his nanny)  should not know the hate-filled world that his parents were murdered in."

There has been a lot of talk about the sudden dearth of financing options for international students who would like to attend American MBA programs. Some applicants are questioning whether to apply if they will have no way of paying for the degree. I decided to research the situation and find out just how bad it is.

Several schools have made it clear that they will still be offering no-cosigner loans to international students. For instance, HBS's MBA Admissions Director, Deirdre Leopold, stated outright on her Director's Blog that "International students at HBS will continue to have access to need-based loans without needing to find a US co-signer."

Rose Martinelli, Admissions Director at Chicago Booth, also stated unequivocally in her response (similar to her own blog post): "Chicago Booth is committed to providing financing options for our international students who do not have a US cosigner. I can assure our international students that we will have a new loan program in place by the time students enroll." International applicants considering HBS and Chicago can press onward with renewed optimism.

Rod Garcia, MIT Sloan's Admissions Director, made it clear that Sloan is committed to geographic and economic diversity in the class. Interestingly, Sloan was actually already in talks with other private lenders before Citi ended its Global Assist no-cosigner loan program, putting Sloan ahead of other MBA programs that didn’t anticipate the loan's demise. He expects that the details will be solidified and public by the end of January and that the new arrangements may even be better than the previous ones.

On the other hand, other schools are keeping their cards close to their chests; Stanford and Wharton both would only refer me to their websites. Stanford's site: "Loans offered to international students typically do not need a US co-signer" makes no mention of the sweeping changes in the US credit markets to reassure international applicants. Similarly, Wharton, in its reply to my inquiry, simply states that the school "is exploring a variety of options for making loans available to international students."

Some schools shared particularly appealing information with me. For instance, Tuck will be continuing with its own loan programs – one, DELC, allows a guarantor from outside of the US to guarantee the loan and another, The Tuck 5% loan, requires no co-signer at all. Beth Flye of Kellogg confirmed that Kellogg's no-cosigner loan (Option B of the NU International Loan Program), which it offers to international applicants from the University's own funds, will continue to be offered to all international students who demonstrate the need for it. In contrast, CMU Tepper told me that they haven't offered a no-cosigner loan for years.

In addition to the reassurances that these schools are providing, some schools are increasing the volume of aid they will be offering. Haas notified me that they will be distributing $3.2 million – an increased amount – in aid this year. Tuck has actually doubled the volume of aid they've provided since 2005 and Tepper has doubled the amount of aid it offers over the past five years.

All of the respondents encouraged international MBA applicants to pursue funding and scholarships from within their own countries – from private foundations (for instance, Brazil's Fundacao Estudar and Ling Foundation, Spain's Fundacion Rafael del Pino, La Caixa Scholarship, and Fundacion Ramon Areces, and Mexico's Brockmann Foundation) plus government-sponsored programs that provide loans and financial assistance to students attending graduate programs outside of their home countries.

My research is ongoing, and I hope other programs will provide more information in the coming days and weeks. In the meantime applicants considering applying to HBS, Chicago, Kellogg, Tuck, and MIT can rest assured that their loan options remain open. Applicants to Haas may have a higher chance of receiving a grant  covering a good portion of their educations and not requiring repayment, and Tepper applicants are no worse off than they were last year!

If there's one thing that became clear from my research, it's this: the top MBA programs will do whatever necessary to keep a high percentage of international students in their classrooms. As one admissions director told me, "This is keeping the deans awake at night!" Astute international applicants will take advantage of that determination and submit their applications this year while others wait for the smoke to clear.

Jennifer Bloom has been helping Accepted's international clients earn admission to the top MBA programs for the past 10 years. She is available to help you with your MBA application too.

Just a reminder, we have three events ending today:

• November Special: Save $100 on all orders of $2000 or more today through today, November 30, 2008. Start your applications ASAP so you will have the time to produce engaging, compelling essays. Purchase professional MBA admissions consulting and editing and save. Use coupon code SAVE100 during checkout.
• MBA I.V.: MBA Interview Questions & Tips: Instantly downloadable ebook providing advice & tips on the MBA Interview. 20% off thru today Nov. 30.
• MBA Mojo November Contest

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays. I like my mom's stuffing, getting together with family and friends for Thanksgiving dinner, and the theme of the day. Physically and philosophically, it's my kind of day.  For loosely analogous reasons, my all -time favorite blog post was last year's Thanksgiving post.  It combined beliefs I hold dear, a good story, AND admissions advice. Blogging nirvana. I received more compliments on that post than on any other post in 4.5 years of blogging.

This year, I intended to simply wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving whether you are in the United States, which is celebrating this uniquely American holiday, or not. The themes of appreciation and gratitude associated with Thanksgiving are universal -- even on days when the headlines scream terror attacks and recession. Or perhaps especially on days when the bad news outweighs the good we need to count our blessings. 

However, a few days ago I received an unusual thank-you from a former client and applicant. Our clients frequently thank us when we finish working with them and/or when accepted, but this woman wrote roughly four years after working with us. Consequently this Thanksgiving I want to share one of the nicest notes of appreciation Accepted has ever received.

"I am writing to you today because I want to give you a testimonial for use on your website for the law school essay [editing] services. I know your service must receive testimonials from people who have just received their admissions. I, however, am now an attorney and can see the long-term value of using your service, which is why I share this with you now.

"I worked with, if I recall correctly, Linda Abraham in the Fall of 2004 in writing essays that would help explain that I left law school [earlier] for family reasons, and why law schools should have taken a chance on me a second time. Linda really helped me distill my reasons for wanting to return to law school into clear, achievable goals. This process not only helped me write a terrific personal statement, but also helped me once I got into law school in keeping a clear focus on my long-term goals. This, in turn, truly made me very successful in law school, which allowed me to procure the most exciting and meaningful professional experience of my life, my current position as an associate with a wonderful law firm.

"In short, the money I spent to work with Linda was the best $1,000 I ever spent in my life. That $1K turned into over $75,000 in scholarships over my three years in law school, and, more importantly, got me into a school that really worked for me, which turned into a job that now pays me market rate. Talk about a return on investment!

"Thank you."

JS

While I would like to take credit for the work that so helped this applicant, I can't. She worked with an editor who has since left Accepted to pursue other professional interests, but any one of our staff would provide the dedicated support that this client received.

Thanks to all of you for sharing your dreams and aspirations with us, for letting us into your lives. Wishing you a Happy and Healthy Thanksgiving!