Bell Curves Blog

Check out this story in the Boston Globe – http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2009/07/22/boston_business_school_offers_masters_in_ethics/

With MBAs getting a lot of heat for supposedly unethical practices leading to our current financial situation, it was only a matter of time before business schools began to place a greater emphasis on business ethics. The New England College of Business and Finance has upped the ante with an actual degree pertaining to business ethics. The main question is – what do you do with this degree?

Check out this article in the Washington Post that discusses new programs aimed at relieving debt-addled students. With job prospects extremely limited, these programs are becoming a crucial part of students’ post graduation plans.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/19/AR2009071901748.html

Check out this interesting article on business schools in the Huffington Post.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/pablo-triana/apply-debt-for-equity-to_b_231597.html

This recent article by Pablo Triana on the Huffington Post proposes an interesting plan for business school students and their financial burdens. Triana suggests that b-schools offer free tuition (and possibly room and board) for an equitable stake in each student’s future salary. Each graduate would kick back a certain percentage of their earnings for a period of time to the business school. The crux of the idea is that students would be able to avoid the trappings of student debt while b-schools would be forced to become learner and meaner.

Triana’s argument is extremely intriguing, given the current environment surrounding both the market and b-schools. The financial crisis has brought MBAs and their contribution to companies into focus. Graduates, students, and prospective students now face intense scrutiny as many people have begun to take aim at MBAs for perceived slights in the market.

So you took the GMAT and are not happy with your score.

First and foremost, you should not be feeling depressed by your score, even if that score is not what you wanted or what you expected. The GMAT is often difficult to do well on. Take the next few days to assess what you did to prepare, whether you did as much as you could or should have, and how you could have done more to ensure you have the score you wanted. Assess whether the course you took or tutor you worked with was really in line with your learning style and whether you should have recognized that earlier and done something to make the course or tutoring more effective. Finally, stop beating yourself up if you did not get what you wanted or expected. It often takes a couple stabs at the test before you settle down enough to achieve your best score. To provide you some perspective, the arithmetic mean (a little GMAT speak for you) score is 538.5 and 79% of test takers score below 650, according to the Graduate Management Admission Council.

While not explicitly about business schools, this article on CNN/Money.com is a must read. Could educational insitutions really become accountable for the chances their students have of succeeding? Why shouldn’t schools be evaluated like any similar expense. It would make sense for one of the major school reports to factor in return on investment (ROI). It’s not far fetched to think that students would be attracted to a school that maintained a high ROI.

Although not a new problem, the recent rise of for- profit schools scams (aka diploma mills) is still very troubling. The few gems are being tainted by the abundance of shady organizations. Worst, con artists are targeting those who least can afford to be scammed. They play on people’s dreams and aspirations. Thus international students and those who recently lost their jobs and seeking new careers are especially vulnerable.

When it comes to for- profit schools, it is buyer beware especially in tough economic times. Below are some general tips and advice to avoid being scammed.

Between the GMAT, the essays, the recommendations, and everything else, it is easy to feel overwhelmed when trying to apply to B-School. Your best asset when starting this process is a timeline. In this timeline include events and deliverables including GMAT practice tests and courses, application essays, scholarship applications, recommendations, and school visits. Once you can figure out what needs to be done first, your priorities begin to align themselves!

The Babcock Graduate School of Management is recognized by ranking institutions such as Forbes and the Wall Street Journal as one of the top fifty graduate programs in the country. Part time or full time, management or entrepreneurship, Babcock consistently ranks alongside some the nation’s best B-schools. They offer classes sizes and student-to-faculty ratios that are smaller than the national average, and have recently unveiled an initiative to further diversify their student body to more accurately reflect the global nature of today’s business world. For more information visit www.mba.wfu.edu

Preparing for the GMAT can be a daunting challenge, particularly for students that are just beginning to study. Before you decide to sign up for any course or tutor, or undertake any type of study, it only makes sense that you find how much study you will need. Far too many people make assumptions about their scores. Whether you assume your score will be good or bad is irrelevant. It makes no sense to guess if you have the resources to find out the truth!

Everyone considering applying to business school (and thus by nature considering preparing for the GMAT) must immediately and without delay go to www.mba.com, download GMATPrep, and take a practice test under as realistic conditions as possible. This is the only practice tests created by the writers of the GMAT, and it will give you a highly reliable assessment of your current level of readiness to take the test.

Once you’ve taken the test you must spend some time analyzing your performance and understanding what you need to do to achieve the score you want. Follow the link below for information that will help you understand your practice test score.

Every few months Bell Curves teachers take the GMAT in order to assess our test taking techniques, evaluate the accuracy of our question pool, and experiment with different result patterns.

Interviewee: Joseph Kambourakis, Instructor and Developer

Interviewer: James Yudin, Online Support Manager

The Assignment

Joe’s assignment was to go all out on the math section, getting as many correct as possible after getting the first question wrong, and to get about 1 in 4 wrong on verbal.