The 2012 MBA Admission Season So Far

The 2012 admissions season has been great for my clients so far.  Here are my select client results for 2009-2012 (Updated on 3/15/2011):

MBA Comprehensive Service Client Select Results 2009-2012

School	2012 (in progress)	2011	2010	2009	Total
Cambridge		2	2	3	7
Columbia	6	3	5	2	16
Cornell Johnson		2	1	1	4
Chicago Booth	3	4	4	4	15
Duke		2	2	2	6
HBS	2	1	0	2	5
IESE		2	3	2	7
IMD		1	2	1	4
INSEAD	5	6	3	2	16
Kellogg	2	3	2	4	11
LBS	1	3	2	3	9
Michigan (2Y, not GMBA)	2	4	2	1	9
MIT	3	2	6	1	12
Oxford		3	2	5	10
Stanford GSB	1	3	2	1	7
Tuck	1	2	2	1	6
UC Berkeley Haas	1	1	1	1	4
UCLA		1	1	5	7
Wharton	4	1	2	5	12

Clients also admitted to Stanford Sloan, MIT Sloan Masters, NYU MBA, Yale MBA, and other top MBA programs. Results above do not include interview-only clients. You can find my full client results and testimonials here.

I am anticipating additional R1 results as well as great results from my clients in R2. Given that this is my tenth year as an MBA admissions consultant, I can honestly say it has been the best ever. I have had the opportunity to work with an incredibly diverse range of remarkable people. "My results" are theirs, I merely helped. I thank them for having the faith and putting in the hard work necessary to get into the world's top MBA programs.

2011 has been an awful year here in Japan because of the earthquake, but by being able to focus on working with my clients, I can honestly say that I have felt continuous optimism for the future.

I wish everyone a happy and healthy 2012! For all the applicants out there, best of luck!

Cheers,

Adam Markus

I am a graduate admissions consultant who works with clients worldwide. If you would like to arrange an initial consultation, please complete my intake form. Please don't email me any essays, other admissions consultant's intake forms, your life story, or any long email asking for a written profile assessment. The only profiles I assess are those with people who I offer initial consultations to. Please note that initial consultations are not offered when I have reached full capacity or when I determine that I am not a good fit with an applicant.

Kellogg School of Management在校生・卒業生とのコーヒーチャット開催のご案内

The Japanese students at Kellogg will be having a coffee chat in Tokyo. Details below.

Cheers,

Adam

【Kellogg School of Management在校生・卒業生とのコーヒーチャット開催のご案内】

Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern Universityを受験される皆さまへ

今般、一時帰国する在校生の主催により、下記要領にて、受験生の皆さまとのコーヒーチャットを開催することとなりました。当日は、Kellogg卒業生も交え、学校生活、キャリア及びMBA受験等について、ざっくばらんにお話をできればと思っております。

【日時】  12月28日（水）　19:00-20:00（予定）
【場所】  六本木近辺のカフェ等（予定／詳細は追ってご連絡致します）
（時間帯や場所等については諸事情により変更になる可能性もある点ご了承頂けますと幸いです）
【申込要領】　ご参加頂ける方は、下記申し込みフォームにご記入のうえ送信をお願い致します。
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dHdsMlZTYkhpVjc0NEJwMm1CYzNoYkE6MQ

本会については、定員に達し次第受付を終了させて頂きますので、お早めにお申込み頂ければ幸いです。お申込頂いた方には確認のメールを別途お送りいたします。なお、希望者が定員を大幅に上回る場合は今年度出願(2012年1月出願)予定の方を優先させて頂く可能性がある点、ご承知置き頂けますと幸いです。

また、本会は、Kelloggの日本人在校生・卒業生によって自主的に企画されたものであり、出願審査とは一切関係ございません。インフォーマルな形式の会ですので、カジュアルな服装でお越しください。

その他ご不明な点等ございましたら黒田（kkuroda2013@kellogg.northwestern.edu）宛までご一報頂ければと存じます。

年末のお忙しい時期かとは存じますが、本会は、Kelloggについての理解を深め、エッセイ・インタビューに向けた準備にお役立て頂ける良い機会かと思います。皆さまのご参加をお待ちしております。

Kellogg School of Management在校生一同

Haas MBA Fall 2012 Online Application's Stupid Word Counter

It has been brought to my attention that the essay word counter on the Haas application for admission to Fall 2012 full-time MBA program is TOTALLY F%C&ED. I suggest ignoring said word counter and letting common sense be your guide.

Unlike schools that allow for simple document upload, Haas has form for pasting in essays.   

Unfortunately the word counter in the online essay form does the following:

1. Counts contractions as 2 words, so "I've" is now 2 words.  

2. Counts possessives as 2 words, so  "Adam's" is now 2 words.

3. Counts hyphenated words as 2 words, so "long-term" is now 2 words.

4. Counts numbers with commas as multiple words, so 10,000 is now 2 words and 156,895,123 is now 3 words.

I don't think applicants need to stress so much about this issue because of the Berkeley FAQ on word count:

The word count limits for the essays are established so we can see how well you can express your thoughts, points, and ideas concisely and effectively.  Please try to stay within the word limits as much as possible.  It is acceptable for an essay to be a few words over the limit.  However, if an essay goes substantially over the word limit it could be detrimental to your application. 

Still, this is totally lame.  

Clearly their lame ass application causes all sorts of problems for applicants because they have this FAQ as well:

You may cut and paste formatted text into the Berkeley-Haas application. However, please note that the format of your responses may change. This happens because different web browsers and word processing applications all behave a little differently and interact adversely at times with our online application. Please consider these best practices:

• Type directly. When possible, type a response directly into the application and format using the online tools.
• Strip formatting before pasting. Do not copy and paste directly from a word processor (i.e. Word 2010, Outlook 2010) into the online application. First, copy and paste the response into Notepad (PC) or Textedit (mac) and from there into the Berkeley-Haas application. Your formatting will be removed but your text will all be preserved in the proper order. Rebuild your formatting, adding bullets, bold, etc., using the application tools.

This is the kind of stupid customer-unfriendly thinking that only a quasi-government bureaucrat, an employee of Haas, could think of.  Instead of designing a form that is user-friendly and compatible with de facto standards for word processing, all Haas applicants should use some workaround because Haas can't be bothered to make an application form that is easy to use.  

Can't such an "innovative" "close to Silicon Valley school" as  Haas get a word counter on the application that does not violate the laws of common sense?  Of course, the easy workaround would be either to eliminate said word counter or to allow for uploading of files like most other schools.  I guess this all part of what makes Haas a special place.  Maybe some future member of the Class of 2014 can fix this.

-Adam Markus

I am a graduate admissions consultant who works with clients worldwide. If you would like to arrange an initial consultation, please complete my intake form. Please don't email me any essays, other admissions consultant's intake forms, your life story, or any long email asking for a written profile assessment. The only profiles I assess are those with people who I offer initial consultations to. Please note that initial consultations are not offered when I have reached full capacity or when I determine that I am not a good fit with an applicant.