Go to a better blog!


You can find a better version of my blog at http://www.adammarkus.com/blog/.

Be sure to read my Key Posts on the admissions process. Topics include essay analysis, resumes, recommendations, rankings, and more.

October 26, 2007

日本語! First Post in Japanese!

初めまして。大学院留学のカウンセラーをしています。
私のブログでMBAやLLMといった海外大学院合格のための情報や意見などを公開しています。また、大学院選びから、エッセイ・レジュメ添削や推薦文、面接の準備など個人カウンセリングサービスもしています。 僕のリファレンスはwww.linkedin.com/in/adammarkusで見られます。 他に趣味で書いているポエムや、政治、法学などについての話題を主に載せているブログがありますので、そちらも見てください。

-Adam Markus
アダム マーカス
MBA留学 LLM留学 大学院留学

October 17, 2007

I Guess Columbia Business School is Not Checking Attendance

I just received the following:
10/17/2007

Dear Adam,

I wanted to take the opportunity to thank you for spending a few hours with our wonderful group of Columbia Business School alumni and with me at our recent reception in Tokyo. It was such a pleasure meeting all of you.

It is very rewarding to travel and meet such bright and talented professionals from all over the globe. I enjoyed the opportunity to share with you the excitement of the Columbia Business School MBA program and experience, and our alumni were thrilled to convey their own personal experiences both on and beyond the Columbia MBA program. I am most excited and proud to be a member of the Columbia Business School community.

I would also like to share with you that we have recently updated our MBA program Class Profile and posted it online for easy download: http://www0.gsb.columbia.edu/mba/admissions.

I hope that we will be hearing from many of you in the near future. If we can be of any assistance during the application and admissions process, please don't hesitate to contact our office at (212) 854-1961 or via email: apply@gsb.columbia.edu. We look forward to receiving and reviewing your application. Have a wonderful Fall!

Best regards,
Linda B. Meehan

Linda B. Meehan
Assistant Dean for Admissions
and Financial Aid

I did not attend the event. Actually after the Georgetown episode, I decided to see what response I would get as a no-show to the Columbia presentation. The above is what I got. If you want to make an impact on Linda Meehan, I suggest talking to her. Clearly they are not monitoring the attendance too closely. I think that is fine.

Personally, I think there is something strange about the above letter, why if I am being written to personally, am I being considered as part of a group? If I was an applicant, I wouldn't be evaluated that way, would I? Makes me wonder...

Comments, Questions, Corrections: Email me at adammarkus@gmal.com

-Adam Markus
アダム マーカス
MBA留学

October 12, 2007

Application Review and Feedback Service

Based on inquiries I have received from readers of this blog, I will be offering an Application Review and Feedback Service in addition to my standard comprehensive service. This more limited service is designed for those who are seeking an assessment of their completed essays, resume, and the rest of the application. It is ideal for those with a limited budget and/or those seeking a second opinion. It is also useful for anyone looking for an assessment of an application that did not result in admission.

As with all services I offer, this is NOT an editing service. It is a service focused on providing you with feedback on your content and for providing some suggestions about how to improve your essays, resume, and other parts of your application. I will provide you with a holistic analysis of your application as well as some suggestions for improving it. Compared to my comprehensive service, the amount of positive suggestions I can make is much more limited because I will know significantly less about you than I would with clients who go through the whole counseling process with me. See http://adammarkus.com for additional details regards my individual consulting services.

Both my comprehensive and review/feedback service are for those applying for an MBA, LL.M, Ph.D., or other graduate degree.

If you want to learn more about the services I offer, please feel free to email me at adammarkus@gmail.com.
-Adam Markus
アダム マーカス
MBA留学 LLM留学 大学院留学


October 06, 2007

LL.M. Acceptance Rate Table Revised

I have now obtained complete information from UCLA and Michigan, Ann Arbor, as well as additions/corrections from New York University and Vanderbilt. While I thank all four schools for their assistance, I want to especially thank UCLA and Michigan, Ann Arbor for providing the complete data necessary for LL.M. applicants to make informed decisions based on knowing their actual chance for admission. I hope that other schools will follow.

One thing that has been very interesting for me was to see the relative value of my predictive model based on looking at J.D. yield rates. As you can see my model effectively predicted the LL.M. acceptance rate close to the actual rate at UCLA, but underestimated the actual rate at Michigan by 7%.

(CLICK TO ENLARGE. For the excel file, email me adammarkus@gmail.com)
At least for those admitted for this Fall, the yield rates at UCLA are almost the same for the J.D. and LL.M. programs with it being slightly easier to enter into the LL.M program. In the case of Michigan there is greater variation and it is significantly easier to get into LL.M program. Approximately 1 in 5 applicants are admitted to UCLA's LL.M. program and 1 in 3 to Michigan's. We can also conclude that at least for these two schools, the US News and World Report's ranking is not a very good predicator of difficulty of admission because Michigan ranks 8th and UCLA ranks 15th, but the former is significantly easier to enter.

One thing to keep in mind is that I am using data for the most recent year reported. Given the overall limited nature of the LL.M. data set, I have reported whatever numbers I could find. Ideally, I would be looking at one set of data for the same year, while I am comparing the most recent year reported even if it is different. I also made the decision to use this year's data for UCLA and Michigan because those numbers are the best guide for this year's applicants.

I will continue to try and obtain better information from other schools and report back on any progress that I make.

-Adam Markus
アダム マーカス

コロンビア, ハーバード, シカゴ, スタンフォード, 米国ロースクール、米国大学法学院, 大学院入学, カウンセリング, コンサルティング, 合格対策, LLM留学

LL.M. Program Admissions Data Updates

Please see my earlier post before reading this one.
Updates are being made to this entry in reverse chronological order (a blog within a blog?). I have now updated my table on LL.M. admissions rates.

I will be using this post to provide additional admissions data that I receive from LL.M. programs. Once I have obtained sufficient responses, I will create a new LL.M. admissions table. I am posting this information in the order that I am receiving it from schools. Quotes are from the emails I received.

NOTE: At this time, I am only reporting on helpful responses. I have already received a few unsigned, unhelpful bureaucratic responses, but I will go through the process of finding the right person to talk to before mentioning such responses.

Update on October 6, 2007
I have now received complete data from UCLA and the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor. I thank both schools for providing this information.

UCLA:

2006-2007: Applied: 634 Admitted: 203 Enrolled:50

2007-2008: Applied: 697 Admitted: 157 Enrolled: 48

NOTE: "Last year was our first year of our newly expanded program and we had 50 students. Previous years typically had 10-12 students."

University of Michigan-Ann Arbor:

2005-2006: Applied:542 Admitted:207 Enrolled: 43

2006-2007: Applied: 585 Admitted: 191 Enrolled: 34

2007-2008: Applied: 522 Admitted: 180 Enrolled:46



Update on October 2nd: UCLA
I have received a very positive response from UCLA. UCLA has provided me with data for Fall 2007: 687 applications and 48 attending.


Update on September 29th
1. I received email today from the University of Michigan:
It will not be possible to respond to this request within the
five-day period accorded by the Michigan Freedom of Information Act. However, under Section 5 (2) (d) of the Act, the University is permitted to extend the deadline for not more than 10 business days. The University will respond to your request on or before October 12, 2007.

Therefore I expect that I will have good data for Michigan. by the 12th.

2. I contacted the media offices at UCLA and UCB, but have received nothing concrete yet. UPDATED: SEE UCLA RESPONSE ABOVE.

3. Based on my sitemeter data, I know this blog has been looked at by some of the schools I contacted that have yet to reply to me. Of course, it could have been anyone from those schools, but the timing and extent of the visit to my site is highly coincidental.


NEW DATA PROVIDED ON SEPTEMBER 21, 2007:
1. NEW YORK UNIVERSITY
"Last year we received over 2,000 applications for approximately 425 open seats in the LL.M. program." I will eliminate the 40 from the Singapore campus in my next table.

2. VANDERBILT
"Vanderbilt has 26 LLM students this year (one was missing from the photo)."

3. UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN-ANN ARBOR
Provided an immediately helpful response. They have a formal FOIA process. I anticipate receiving data from them soon.



-Adam Markus
アダム マーカス

コロンビア, ハーバード, シカゴ, スタンフォード, 米国ロースクール、米国大学法学院, 大学院入学, カウンセリング, コンサルティング, 合格対策, 合格率, LLM留学
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