Austin GMAT Review

11/14/2023

The new GMAT Focus edition began one week ago, and the legacy edition is set to end forever on January 31. Erring on the side of caution, we are recommending that you take older GMAT format if possible.

https://www.mba.com/exams-and-exam-prep/gmat-exam/everything-you-need-to-know-about-the-gmat-focus-edition

Find out how the GMAT™ Focus Edition can help you reach your potential and achieve your career goals.

10/01/2023

If you are interested in the consumer packaged goods (CPG) industry, some business schools can provide a direct route to industry jobs. According to Bloomberg, Kellogg School of Management sends the most by far: 44 MBA graduates into CPG.

Other MBA programs send significant percentages of their graduating classes into the CPG space (demonstrating industry connections), or have a class size that creates a significant network of alumni. Here are 10 US-based schools that can provide both, to varying degrees:
- University of Florida: Warrington College of Business Administration - 22%+ (8 grads)
- Wisconsin School of Business - 16%+ (12 grads)
- BYU Marriott School of Business - 14%+ (20 grads)
- Indiana University Kelley School of Business - 13%+ (10 grads)
- Notre Dame MBA - ~10% (10 grads)
- Vanderbilt Owen Graduate School of Management - 8%+ (13 grads)
- UCLA Anderson School of Management - 8%+ (23 grads)
- Georgetown McDonough School of Business - 6%+ (13 grads)
- Ross School of Business - 5%+ (16 grads)
- Haas School of Business - UC Berkeley - 5%+ (13 grads)

Please note that European schools and the Indian School of Business are also strong contenders in this space.

Check out the Bloomberg article here: https://www.bloomberg.com/business-schools/industries/consumer/

Connecting decision makers to a dynamic network of information, people and ideas, Bloomberg quickly and accurately delivers business and financial information, news and insight around the world

09/07/2023

Harvard Business School has a new managing director of MBA Admissions and Financial Aid. Rupal Gadhia is an HBS alum with deep experience in brand management - most recently, she was senior VP and global head of marketing for SharkNinja's robots and home environment categories.

College admissions in general has often required difficult decision-making, and in the wake of the Supreme Court striking down affirmative action precedent, HBS admissions has even more difficult decisions to make. Director Gadhia says of her new role, "While there is a lot of scrutiny on college admissions these days, I am confident that we can maintain our community values of being respectful and accountable to the law while continuing to strive for the diversity and inclusion that is so critical to educating leaders who will make a difference in the world."

Find her Q&A here: https://www.hbs.edu/news/articles/Pages/rupal-gadhia-Q&A.aspx

A Q&A with new managing director of MBA Admissions and Financial Aid, Rupal Gadhia (MBA 2004), in which she discusses her thoughts on the impact of the HBS MBA, her career leading strategic marketing efforts, and what excites her about this role and returning to campus.

09/02/2023

Our former student Alexis has made the Poets&Quants list of MBAs to Watch! Not only did Alexis lead the Women in Business Leadership Symposium, she also founded the Black McCombs Alumni Association to provide mentorship and career connections, as well as recruiting new MBA students for McCombs School of Business, The University of Texas at Austin.

With Alexis' impressive list of achievements, we always knew that Alexis would be an MBA to watch! Congratulations, Alexis!

Find her profile on P&Q: https://poetsandquants.com/2023/08/21/2023-mba-to-watch-alexis-allen-university-of-texas-mccombs/

08/07/2023

Interesting data from Poets&Quants on the relative popularity of the GMAT vs. GRE for business school applications. According P&Q, the popularity of the GRE among applicants to Top 50 business schools had been going up steadily and really surged in 2020 as GMAC struggled to get its online exam up and running smoothly. Since then, however, the number of applicants sending in GRE test scores has leveled off.

All of the top 50 business schools have more than half of applicants apply with GMAT scores. The business schools that seem to have higher numbers of GMAT-equipped applicants are:

Chicago Booth
Columbia Business School
NYU Stern
Carnegie Mellon University - Tepper School of Business
UCLA Anderson
Washington Foster

Even at Wharton School, Harvard Business School, and Stanford GSB, where the number of GRE submissions have notably increased, most applicants are still relying on the GMAT.

Read more at P&Q: https://poetsandquants.com/2023/08/02/gmat-versus-gre-which-top-50-mba-programs-prefer-which-test/

If you have decided to take the GRE path on your way to business school, we recommend our GRE prep affiliate Austin Elite Prep - GRE Prep Classes.

https://www.austineliteprep.com/

Where a GMAT or GRE score is a must for admission — and where you don't have to worry about sitting for an entrance exam.

07/27/2023

Which business schools should you apply to? Which school should you accept (if asked)? MBA applicants often rely on rankings to help make those types of decisions. If that's you, we recommend a deep-dive deeply critical analysis of MBA rankings by Poets&Quants: https://poetsandquants.com/2023/07/26/the-absolute-worst-mba-rankings/

Here are few snippets of the extensive P&Q critique:

Bloomberg Businessweek: "Yale School of Management Deputy Dean Anjani Jain ... was unable to replicate the magazine’s ranking using the weights the editors applied to the metrics employed to create the list."

QS Global MBA Ranking: "The study by Igor Chirikov, director of the student experience at the Research University Consortium at University of California, Berkeley, 'finds that frequent contracts for services from QS contribute to a substantial increase in the rankings of universities. ... [Rankers] are likely vulnerable to an unconscious self-serving bias also reported by the studies of the conflict of interest among auditors.'"

CEOWORLD: "The publication never discloses the response rate for its survey nor the total number of people who actually completed the questionnaire."

Fortune Magazine: "A so-called 'brand survey' [is] little more than a popularity contest."

As always, we urge all of our students to make the extra effort to contact schools individually, visit MBA events, and read school employment reports. When using MBA rankings, find out what exactly the ranking is based upon, and do not make decisions entirely based on rankings.

Rankings of everything have become an obsession of sorts. In the MBA world, there are good ones and bad ones. Here are the worst

07/20/2023

Did you know that Harvard Business School and Wharton will not accept the new GMAT Focus exam until next year, after Round 2 deadlines? If you need to take the traditional GMAT exam this year, this GMAT prep class will be your best and last way to prepare.

https://www.austingmatreview.com/gmat-prep/gmat-class
- The course provides 98 hours of GMAT prep.
- GMAT classes start July 22 and are taught live online.
- Classes are held Saturdays & Sundays, 1:00 PM - 5:00 PM Central Time

Austin GMAT Review's ultimate GMAT prep course offers advanced techniques, personalized help, expertise, and strategy. See you in class!

06/27/2023

Congratulations to our former student Brian on earning his MBA from MIT Sloan School of Management! Brian is pictured here standing with his proud family. You can read more about his experience at Sloan here: https://mitsloan.mit.edu/programs/mit-sloan-fellows-mba-program/a-day-life-sfmba-student

06/07/2023

Columbia Business School is moving to "Rounds" like its peers instead of its traditional rolling admissions. What does this mean? CBS will review applications for the 2024 fall entry in three rounds, and applications will not be reviewed until after each deadline. If you miss one round's deadline, your application will be pushed to review during the next round (and don't miss the Round 3 deadline, or you won't be under consideration).

Round 1: September 13, 2023

Round 2: January 5, 2024

Round 3: April 3, 2024

https://academics.business.columbia.edu/mba/admissions/options-deadlines

Under the previous rolling admissions schema, each application would be reviewed in the order that it came in, with interviews conducted and applicants accepted during the broader application period. It appears that CBS has not retained its Early Decision deadline, for which applicants agreed in advance that, if admitted, they would withdraw all applications and decline all offers from other schools.

Spyglass

06/07/2023

The time to take the GRE test will be halved this September. What will this mean for you? Read "The New GRE: Shorter But Not Diminished" - https://www.austineliteprep.com/resources/the-new-gre-shorter-but-not-diminished - to learn
- The Good: The GRE scores will be delivered more quickly!
- The Bad: The shorter GRE test may be a real bear if you're underprepared.
- The Good, Bad, or Indifferent, depending on your graduate school target: You will write one essay instead of two.

Don't fear the GRE, but know what you will face after September.

05/15/2023

Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management will be headed by a new dean - Vishal Gaur, a professor of operations, technology and information management. He is currently director of the MS in Business Analytics. His research focuses on using data to analyze supply chain, retailing, e-commerce, and marketplace operations

Read more on Poets&Quants:
https://poetsandquants.com/2023/05/05/cornell-johnson-finds-its-next-dean-in-one-of-its-own-professors-vishal-gaur

Gaur, a professor of operations at Cornell Johnson since 2006, will take the reins from Mark Nelson on July 1.

05/15/2023

Vanderbilt University - Owen Graduate School of Management

Vanderbilt Owen Graduate School of Management has a new dean - Tom Steenburgh, currently senior associate dean at UVA Darden School of Business. He is noted for his analysis of sales and marketing strategies and their effectiveness.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/vanderbilt-hires-uva-darden-star-044739985.html

Tom Steenburgh will become the new dean of Vanderbilt’s Owen Graduate School of Management Vanderbilt University has poached a major player out of the University of Virginia’s Darden School for its new business school ... The post Vanderbilt Hires UVA Darden Star As New Dean appeared first on Po...