Bell Curves Blog

This past Sunday and Monday (the 8th and 9th of November), the Yale SOM hosted it’s annual Explore Diversity event.  I was invited to attend and give a GMAT Presentation, and had a chance to meet many of the people directly involved in selecting candidates from the large pool of SOM applicants.

I have to say, first off, I was pleased to find that when Yale’s SOM touts a diversity weekend, they mean more than just ethnic or racial diversity. Their notions of diversity extend to include a great many parameters that would distinguish candidates, including career choices, country of origin, undergraduate education, and employment history, among others.

I also have to say I found the members of YSOM Admissions Committee to be a great bunch of people. Smaller, more intimate events such as this one give attendees a better opportunity to meet the people behind those the email addresses. The Admissions Committee seems as committed to diversity as the school is, with members clearly expressing very different personalities and perspectives. I imagine committee discussions about applicants are always interesting, and probably quite often heated. If you’re considering Yale, you should definitely meet some of these folks, and if they are any representation of the YSOM, it seems a great place to be!

Sitting in on the various events and talking to other people there, I got a few insights about the Yale SOM application/selection process.

A recent feature on Management Leadership for Tomorrow Founder, John Rice. Watch for the Bell Curves mug at 1:47 into the video.

In this installment of our MBA school profiles, we will be looking at the Jesse H. Jones School of Management at Rice University. Established in 1974, the Jones School has consistently ranked in the top 30 business graduate programs in the United States. Rice University, a highly regarded undergraduate institution, is located in Houston, Texas. Houston is home to a large number of Fortune 500 Companies (second only to New York in the category), which has helped Jones graduates find jobs on par with many top tier b-schools.

Admissions at Jones are competitive, with students scoring a GMAT mean of 667 and Jones accepting 31% of their most recent round of applications (according to BusinessWeek). Application deadlines are November 10, January 12, February 23, and April 6.

To find out more, visit business.rice.edu

We’ve chronicled the current anti-MBA rhetoric, but what about the good guys? There must be some. The Economist chronicles a few MBA do-gooders that don’t get quite as much press as everyone else.

Check it out here - http://www.economist.com/businessfinance/businesseducation/displaystory.cfm?story_id=13892606

Newsweek recently published an article discussing everbody’s favorite recession activity – bashing MBAs! Check it out here. The article makes several interesting points and does a nice job of discussing the overall phenomena of MBA bashing without taking much of a stand on the issue.

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 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.

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