business school

The Art of the Ding

By Dealbreaker Business School Bureau Chief

Regardless of what you’re trying for, how little you think you care, rejection always hurts. So when MBA on-campus recruiting hands it to you in rapid succession and en masse, you’d think that we’d be somewhat steeled for it … and that firms would have some kind of consistent ding delivery mechanism.

But you’d be wrong on both fronts. Instead, we’ve been hit with painful rejections of all imaginable forms. Most of them just sting a bit, some outright cut, and a few are so absurd that all we can do is laugh to keep from crying. Below, we present a few of our most disarming rejection exchanges. Read more »

Dealbreaker’s Business School Correspondent Learns A Lesson In Compelling Correspondence

By Dealbreaker Business School Bureau Chief

Dealbreaker’s Business School Bureau Chief is a full-time MBA student at Chicago Booth. Upon graduation, she plans to go back into the same industry and job function as she held before school, and as a result, some observers have questioned the need for her business school education. Though there are occasional moments when she, too, ponders the MBA, our Business School Bureau Chief is bent on proving its worth.

During first-year orientation last year, we had a special 90-minute session on “Compelling Correspondence” or How to Communicate via the Written Word Without Sounding Like a Douchebag. I took the lecture and feedback session in stride, thinking, “What moron would forget to spell-check and do a final read-through?”

A couple of weeks later, I realized my ego was writing checks my body couldn’t cash. I submitted a resume with the following header – in both soft and hard copy – to a Very Important Firm: Read more »

“Students Prefer Larger Postschool Wages But Dislike Studying”

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That’s how two Wharton professors, Daniel Gottlieb and Kent Smetters, model their students in a recent paper that tries to explain why so many business schools have policies – typically adopted by student vote – that prevent students from disclosing their grades to employers. Seems reasonable!

We construct a model with students, schools, and employers. Students prefer larger postschool wages but dislike studying. Schools are heterogenous in their selectivity (reputation). Under disclosure, employers can observe both a student’s grades and the school’s selectivity; under non-disclosure, an employer can only observe the partial signal of the school’s selectivity.

That model leads to a bunch of equations (no charts, sorry) with conclusions that again seem pretty reasonable. The driving force for preferring a non-disclosure policy turns out to be that mean post-graduation pay has to be higher than median pay – and the authors think that this is likely at a selective school where the top students can be very valuable, but less likely for a less-selective school where everyone is clustered closer to average ability. If the average value of a Wharton student is higher than value of the average Wharton student, then making it hard for employers to figure out who is actually valuable will let everyone get paid for the optionality:
Read more »

The Boom In B-School Applications

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If you’re thinking that now might be a good time to get off Wall Street and lay low by applying to business school, you aren’t alone. Applications to business schools are booming. “It’s the second-largest year-over-year surge in applications to full-time programs since 2002, and the highest level of increase in five years,” Business Week reports.
The sharpest increase is in mid-tier business schools. Penn State’s Smeal College of Business, saw a 39% increase in applications, for instance. But even MIT’s Sloan School of Management and NYU’s Stern School of Business saw double digit increases in application volume.

Sagging Economy Boosting B-School Programs [Business Week]

In Other News, You, Non-Cheater, With The Good But Not Great GMAT Score, Might Be Getting Into HBS This Year!

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I’ve got some upsetting news to share: a bunch of white collar criminals in-training have suffered a serious setback, their dreams of one day ripping off other people for sport and possibly–if cards were played correctly– serving time, shattered to pieces.

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This Is The First In A Series Of Anti-Knowledge Initiatives That Will Culminate In Hiring First Years Who Can’t Read

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Morgan Stanley is said to be cutting back on its b-school tuition reimbursement, from 100 percent to 10k a year. “Sucks for those of us working through 10k/quarter part-time programs,” said our tipster who just wants to learn, damn it. “This sets me back 50k or so. There goes the last of my loyalty to the company.”

Wharton Ethics Maven Shuffles Off His Mortal Coil

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DunfeeWharton.JPGThe Wharton School announced the death of Thomas Dunfee, former Vice-Dean of the school’s undergraduate division, in an email to students yesterday. Dunfee, a professor in the Legal Studies and Business Ethics division, worked for 34 years at the school. R.I.P. Tom. (Here’s a link to the memorial site Wharton set up for him.)
So what does this mean for the school housed under the Eye of Sauron, a.k.a Huntsman Hall? Let the speculation begin on who Wharton brings in to replace Dunfee and teach the up-and-coming “masters of the universe” “ethics.”

–by DealBreaker intern and Senior B-School Correspondent Travis.

Wharton Grad Gone Bad

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Kirsch.jpgThe story about Wharton graduate Edward Anderton and his 22 year old girlfriend Jocelyn Kirsch is, as far as we can tell, mostly about the hotness of Kirsch. We think that it’s possible that both were arrested last week for identity theft but it’s hard to tell because the newspapers keep running pictures of Jocelyn in a bikini. Apparently, the couple had some kind of fake ID machine in their apartment and the keys to their neighbor’s apartments.

Connie and Clod Lovebirds In Stolen ID Spree [New York Post]

John Fitzgerald Page, Who (Allegedly) Graduated From Wharton But Refuses To Give The School Any Money, Wants To Say Something

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johnfitzgerald.bmpSo John Fitzgerald, who’s getting really sick and tired of engaging in actual auto-fellatio (rough on the lower back), engages in some prose auto-f today, on his website. The topic? Online dating. He’s an expert, you know. “Let me give you a tip about internet dating,” Johnny says. Please do! “Men lie…women lie.” Let us give you a tip, John: no one ever called you a “liar,” but simply “the poster child for late-term abortions,” if memory serves. But speaking of maybe-lies? “I graduated from Penn. [But] I took my name out of the database to avoid donation solicitations .” He also lists a few not so good people (“Stalin. Hitler. Bin Laden. John Fitzgerald Page.”) and in yet another act of unjustified arrogance, ranks himself at #1. After you read about Ann, read this. The whole thing’s after the jump, because we’re guessing that the Johnster gets off on page views (can’t really blame him there), and we couldn’t live with ourselves if we gave him another sparkling accomplishment to add to his Match profile.

A note from “THE WORST PERSON IN THE WORLD”. Stalin. Hitler. Bin Laden. John Fitzgerald Page. Somehow, I am ranked at #1. My crime – murder? treason? pedophilia? rape? No, worse. A woman winked at me on the internet. I sent her an introdutory email. She tried to rescind her initial wink by saying we weren’t a “personality” match . She ascertained that from my first email without ever speaking to me. Here is my crime. Instead of just letting her float away, I let her know that I feel that if you approach me, you should meet my standards and listed facts about myself.
She took this personal email, sent to her only, and sent it out to everyone in America. In turn, every blog in America has villified me. I am being threatened with bodily harm, told to kill and neuter myself, that I am a douchebag, etc. My phone rings and email hums day and night, even the New York Times has called (Is this really an noteworthy news story)?. People feel it is okay to post my phone number, address and personal email in attack blogs.
Let me ask you this? Which friend would you rather have – a straight shooter who doesn’t waste your time, or someone who can take any PRIVATE email, phone call or letter and put it out there to the world if you cross them? Anyone of you could be in my shoes overnight. Do you feel you have any expectation of privacy when you talk on the phone, send someone an email or a letter? I do. I did not threaten her in any way.
Let me give you a tip about internet dating.

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We Will Never Trust Another Human Being Again

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johnfitzgerald.bmpRE: John Fitzgerald, whose yet-to-be announced vasectomy will be the one good thing he’s ever done for humanity:

For what it’s worth, I looked up John Fitzgerald in Wharton’s alumni database and there’s nobody in it that fits his description.

How in god’s name will he convince women to keep not having sex with him now? Our tears are dried slightly in remembering that he still has his 8.9 rating on Hot or Not to fall back on, but, still, this is almost as bad as the time we found out Aleksey Vayner wasn’t actually a ninja.

The Clothes Make You Smarter

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pimp.jpg apk.jpg The Illinois State University College of Business is implementing a dress code that will eliminate the schleppiness of T-shirts, sweats, jeans, hoodies, life-partner-beaters, baby-tees, pleather vests, banana hammocks, juicy couture and cargo thongs found in most college classrooms these days.
ISU is going strictly business casual (the range of which is pictured), instead of student-chic. The punishment for not adhering to the fashion police will be expulsion from class (or the Cabo “case-trip”?) and academically punitive in nature (you get a pass-minus), which seems a bit over-the-top.
In another move to increase “overall professionalism” at the school, ISU may take its own generic-looking “Red Bird” mascot and finally formalize it into the “Cardinal” that it has been ripping off for ages.
Smarten Up, MBA Students, or Else! [Deal Journal]