Being a student at business school marks only the beginning of your MBA benefits. As an alum, you will have access to numerous educational, professional, service, and social oppportunities.

Kellogg created a new executive education initiative exclusively for alumni. The Kellogg New Directions in Management is a two-day program that brings alumni and faculty together for an in depth exploration of a single managerial topic. This year’s session is “Maximizing Individual Impact in Organizations”.

Every business school features extensive alumni career services. Columbia, for example, has an online resource center with job searching, an e-newsletter, counseling and coaching, access to larger career counseling networks, and resources for alums looking to return to the workforce or explore work-life balance.

Stanford alumni can join the Alumni Consulting Team and partner with other alumni to help non-profits such as the Red Cross or Oakland Unified School District.

Of course, the good times of business school continue with alumni social events. Tuck has upcoming events in Portland, Nantucket, London, and Vail. Haas alums will be gathering everywhere from LA to Singapore to New England.

Business school is definitely more than a two year endeavor.

Yale School of Management recently sent an email to interested applicants with admissions season updates. Remember to visit the websites for your schools of interest to sign up for email updates.

Fall Recruiting Schedule
The Yale SOM fall recruiting schedule is posted. You can view the schedule and register for events online. Note that they will continue to update the schedule, so please check back over the course of the fall for more events.

Application
The application for the Class of 2010 should be available within the next week. We will provide essay tips once the application is posted.

Remember to check out our essay tips for HBS, Wharton, Stanford, Chicago, Columbia, MIT, Ross, and Haas,

This week BusinessWeek.com reported on the rise in MBA applications. The article points out that “nearly two-thirds (64%) of full-time MBA programs reported an increase in application volume compared to 2006.” Further, they found that GMAT registration has jumped by 6.2% within the US (21% outside the US) this year.

Not only is the number of applications increasing, but a survey from GMAC found that “[n]early three in five full-time master’s and MBA programs reported that their applicants are of better quality than those seen last year.” Stacy is quoted in the article commenting that “the quality of the applications that are submitted is going up [because] people are understanding the process better and what it takes to submit a strong application.”

Read the full article here.

This week our GMAT challenge question from PrepForTests is a math problem solving question. Remember you are not allowed to use a calculator in the GMAT.

Have a go at this before you take a look at the answer and explanation.

One of our New York consultants, Katie Malachuk, will be part of an Admissions Consultant Panel Discussion at Manhattan GMAT on August 23. See below for details.

Manhattan GMAT – Admissions Consultant Panel Discussion

August 23, 2007
7:00 – 9:00PM
138 West 25th Street, 9th Floor
New York, NY 10001

“Business School 2008: Preparing For Your Future”

If you’re considering b-school in the near future, remember that the
decisions you make now will affect your success throughout the admissions
process. You must be certain that you have a rock-solid game plan and the
time to start establishing it is now!

ManhattanGMAT invites you to join us for one of our exclusive panel
discussions to help get you on the right track. You’ll receive expert advice
and guidance from the top MBA Admissions Consultants at Clear Admit, MBA
Mission, Expartus, and Stacy Blackman Consulting. Following the panelists’
presentations, you’ll have a chance get your own questions answered.

ManhattanGMAT’s Director of Development and long time instructor, Chris
Ryan, will be the event moderator. Walk out with clear direction on how to
move forward – and a $100 discount off of complete ManhattanGMAT test
preparation programs, plus a free 30-day access pass to ManhattanGMAT’s
computer adaptive practice exams.

As the admissions season picks up, it is a good time to revisit our April blog tips on choosing and preparing recommenders.

Your recommendations, along with your essays and interviews, help schools see your personality and character – the you beyond your resume. However, unlike your essays or interview, you have very little control over the recommendations. So it is essential to choose your recommenders wisely and prepare them well.

Here are some tips on choosing recommenders, but please read the full entry here.
Professional recommendations are best
People who know you well are best
Build your relationships
Impress your recommenders
Prepare your recommenders

We suggest creating recommendation packages for recommenders. Here are the essential components to include but please read the entry on creating recommendation packages here.
Instructions
Your strengths
Area of development
Your goals

You should give recommenders at least 1-2 months notice. For applicants applying to the first rounds in October, this means it is time to talk with your recommenders and give them your recommendation packages.

Feel free to send us questions on recommendations, essays, etc. Read our response here to a question we received on alumni recommenders. We love to hear from you!