Recently we brought Wharton Coffee Chats for International Applicants to your attention.

The Wharton Blog just announced a similar event series for prospective Wharton MBA women. The Wharton Women in Business (the largest club at Wharton) will be hosting 30 coffee chats over the coming days. According to the Blog, you can chat about everything from the application process to life at Wharton as a woman and just get to know female students and hear their experiences.

To find dates, locations and more information click here.

As we approach the decision time of year for first round, many applicants will receive the confusing result of being waitlisted. Middle of Nowhere is wondering how to deal with the Chicago waitlist as is My Journey to B School.

While the waitlist is definitely not what you were hoping for, don’t give up hope. In fact, there may be steps you can take to increase your chances of admission.

First, take note of each school’s waitlist policy. In past years some schools, such as Wharton, only wanted to hear whether or not you want to remain on the waitlist. This means you don’t have to do any more work, but it can be frustrating to have no control over your situation.

However, other schools in previous years, such as Stanford, Columbia, and Kellogg, have been open to hearing more from waitlisted candidates. While this allows you to take some action, it also means quite a bit of work. Here are some concrete steps you can take:

Feedback: You can contact the admissions committee to get feedback on your application. What they say should inform your efforts moving forward — Do you need to increase your responsibilities at work? Or take on more volunteer work? Or improve your GMAT score?

Update Letter: Begin with a letter that reiterates your interest and provides an update of activities since you submitted your application — promotions/changes in scope of work/additional responsibility, travel plans, classes taken, new GMAT score, changes in volunteer activities, and personal activities such as learning a language, completing a triatholon or taking on a new hobby. Be sure to include why these updates make you a better candidate than before. How will your activities make you a student who will further enrich their program?

Reference: You can also submit an extra letter of recommendation. However, please be sure it adds new information and a different perspective from your professional recommendations. For example, it could be a letter from someone you volunteer with.

GMAT: Sometimes an improved GMAT score can tip the scales in your favor. However, before you get to work on improving your score, ask the school directly if this would help.

Keep in touch with the Admissions Committee: Check in with them regularly (email is a great method) to demonstrate interest and keep them updated on your situation. Be sure to keep the updates meaningful and do not pester them by asking constant questions.

Before you contact a school with any information, check with their specific policies on how much they want to hear from you — Are they open to receiving just an update letter? Are they willing to read an additional recommendation? Do they want regular updates? You want to do as much as you can without disregarding their requests or overloading their staff. Above all remember that you are still in the game!

Manhattan GMAT is offering special full tuition scholarships for up to 25 individuals in the New York metro area who will be selected as part of ManhattanGMAT’s Social Venture Scholars program. This program provides the selected scholars with free admission into ManhattanGMAT’s intensive 9-session GMAT preparation course (a $1440 value).

These competitive scholarships are offered to individuals who (1) currently work full-time in an organization that promotes positive social change, (2) plan to use their MBA to work in a public, not-for-profit, or other venture with a social-change oriented mission, and (3) demonstrate clear financial need. The Social Venture Scholars will all enroll in a special preparation course taught by ManhattanGMAT’s founder, Zeke Vanderhoek, at the company’s New York City classroom center, beginning on January 28, 2008.

Please visit the following link for more information: http://www.manhattangmat.com/svs.cfm

The next wave of MBA students—the so-called “millennials”—has arrived, leaving business schools to ponder the unique traits of this Internet generation…and adjust their programs accordingly. Millennials, defined roughly as anyone born between 1980 and 2002, bring a never-before-seen attitude to their work and studies, rooted in an upbringing of playdates, helicopter parents, and constant feedback and praise for their accomplishments. A recent Wall Street Journal interview with Daphne Atkinson, vice president for industry relations at the Graduate Management Admission Council, explores the impact this generation has on business schools and beyond.

Some excerpts:

WSJ: Are millennials as interested in an MBA degree as previous generations?

Ms. Atkinson: A segment of this generation will definitely gravitate to b-school, in part because of their interest in lucrative careers and the connection between earning power and the lifestyle they want. But this is a generation inundated with information that has developed very sophisticated screening mechanisms. So getting to them is a challenge.

WSJ: Are schools encountering new challenges in teaching these multitasking technology whizzes?

Ms. Atkinson: Some schools are looking at new approaches in the classroom, such as the use of a talk-show format that allows for different points of view and more interaction than a straight lecture. There also are classroom role-playing simulations that are more personal and interactive than a printed case study. And some schools are even introducing games to engage millennials. At the same time, millennials’ multitasking is driving some instructors wild.

WSJ: What do you believe will be the millennials’ biggest contributions to companies?

Ms. Atkinson: I would say probably their skill in integrating technology seamlessly and their optimism. They also are quite serious about reforming the work environment for more flexibility and reasonable hours to accommodate their personal goals and interests. Unlike baby boomers who talked about work-life balance but weren’t wholehearted about achieving it, these young people will insist on it.

WSJ: What deficiencies do employers see in millennials?

Ms. Atkinson: While millennials bring skills in multitasking, technology and working in teams, they tend to demonstrate less ability in oral and written communications and interpersonal interaction. They also have been socialized since childhood to get constant feedback and are going to look for it in the workplace too. As a result, some employers consider them high maintenance. But if everyone can agree on the terms of the feedback, it could be a superb tool for managing performance.

According to an earlier article in the WSJ, schools are starting to become more technology savvy to attract this digital generation. Some b-school Web sites feature blogs and online chats and allow applicants to check their acceptance status online 24/7. But MBA programs may have to go further, creating promotional podcasts for prospective students to download to their iPods, for example, and making admission officials available for instant messaging.

But, wonders bschoolers.com, what of the obtrusive parental involvement in the millennial student’s life? Graduate level students are adults who are expected to be capable of making independent adult decisions. Prospective students who walk into events holding their parent’s hand (so to speak) present a poor impression of their independence and decision making capacities.

Harvard, meanwhile, is capitalizing on the best and brightest of this generation by introducing the HBS 2+2 Program: two years of work, then two years of immersion in the Harvard Business School MBA Program. In order to be eligible for the 2+2 Program, you must be a current college junior with at least one remaining semester, after July 2008, necessary for the completion of your degree. HBS career coaches help program participants navigate their job search and introduce them to a wide network of recruiting partners to fulfill the two years of employment requirement. Interestingly, the 2+2 Program is primarily targeted towards students who are not already on a business track (i.e. students studying the liberal arts, sciences, engineering, etc.).

As we’ve mentioned in our essay tips, you need to do your homework on schools and express in your essays how you will contribute to each school’s community. A great resource around this is the Businessweek.com Admissions Chats with admissions representatives from top schools. These are online Q&A’s the Businessweek.com posts regularly.

Topics covered with the Yale representatives include:
*Study abroad and international trips
*Health care sector coverage
*Consulting careers post-Yale
*Dual degrees
*New curriculum
*Yale culture
*New Haven
*What the admissions committee is looking for and trends in admissions
*Nuts and bolts of interviews, timelines, extra recommendations, scholarships

They also have admissions chats with Haas, HBS, Columbia, LBS. Here’s the link to all of them.

This week’s GMAT challenge question from PrepForTests is a data sufficiency question. You may find it helpful to sketch a diagram to help you answer this one.

In a rectangle ABCD, P is at the midpoint of AB and Q is at the midpoint of BC. What is the area of triangle PBQ?

1. Area of triangle ABD is 20
2. The length of AB is 10

1. Statement (1) ALONE is sufficient, but statement (2) alone is not sufficient
2. Statement (2) ALONE is sufficient, but statement (1) alone is not sufficient
3. BOTH statements TOGETHER are sufficient, but NEITHER statement ALONE is sufficient
4. EACH statement ALONE is sufficient
5. Statements (1) and (2) TOGETHER are NOT sufficient

Once you have tried to answer the question review your answer.