The Wharton MBA Admissions Blog offers comfort and guidance to candidates on their summer waitlist. While sympathetic to the frustrations such candidates may be experiencing right now, Wharton implores them to refrain from spending countless hours “developing creative ways to keep in touch and win us over.”

Greek Entrepreneur illustrates a popular charade while communicating. As he sees it, the only two means of effective communication are “speaking the listener’s language”, or, “explaining our terms using his experiences”.

Through her company, Happy Bunny helped raise nearly $15,000 last week for the Chinese earthquake relief fund. Way to go!

Necromonger revisits a post made before starting at INSEAD on the return on investment of an MBA. Now close to finishing the program, he is ever more convinced of the futility of making ROI calculations, especially for those graduating from top programs.

As the term at Chicago GSB ends, Etc and Etc celebrates having earned half an MBA and looks forward to a visit to Chile after finals…provided the visa process goes smoothly!

The Divine Miss N takes issue with personal labels as she juggles perception issues created by being both a designer and an MBA from LBS.

Calling all managers with an interest in Latin America! IESE, based in Barcelona and Madrid, has launched its first American MBA: the Senior Executive Program in Miami. This announcement comes as many European business schools look to strengthen their position in the U.S. market. The IESE program is designed for experienced professionals and will be run with two leading Latin American business schools, Mexico’s IPADE and Argentina’s IAE.

This fast-paced, high-level general management program–taught in English–aims to help senior executives with specific interests in Latin America achieve new levels of success in managing and leading their companies. It consists of four one-week modules (three in Miami and one in Madrid) and kicks off in October. Each participant will liaise with a faculty “coach” charged with helping assess individual progress and stimulating deeper reflection. Throughout the program, participants will develop their own “take-home agendas” and action plans for themselves and their companies.

What sort of participants is IESE looking for? The program is designed for those who derive a significant portion of their business from Latin America or plan to in the future. IESE says participants will typically be top-tier managers or company owners and have 15 years of managerial experience or more, and class selection will be made with diversity of companies, sectors and cultural backgrounds in mind.

The fee for the class of SEP 08/09 is $39,000, which includes tuition, all reading and classroom materials, most meals and accommodations in Miami and Madrid.

IESE, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, opened an office in New York in 2007. To apply online for the Senior Executive Program in Miami, click here.

This week’s GMAT challenge from PrepForTests.com is a problem solving question.

Have a go at answering this and then review your answer.

Though the job market may seem grim at first blush, the Economist finds that both business schools and MBA students have an upbeat outlook on the economy and their job prospects after graduation.

According to the UK news magazine, there are several reasons for the rosy attitude. To begin, commentators dither about whether the United States is truly in a recession, and if so, how severe it will become. Some argue that an economic upturn may begin later this year.

Secondly, rather than hanging all their hopes on stellar salaried positions in investment banking—one of the sectors suffering the greatest economic woes—MBA students are taking a more realistic approach and applying for internships and jobs at standard corporations. The Economist points out that while top job offers have slipped, so far MBAs have not seen internships or job offers dry up; nor have they experienced lay-offs a few months in, as happened rampantly after the 2000 dotcom crash.

At this point, the effect on MBA admissions appears minimal, with no marked downward trend in applications. In the UK, nearly 60,000 students took the GMAT in the first quarter of 2008—a 12% increase over the same period in 2007. Meanwhile, the increase in the United States was 8% and elsewhere 19%, the article states.

MBAs have weathered economic downturns in the past, particularly the global recession of the 1990s and the aforementioned dotcom crash, the Economist notes. But even if the MBA degree is not the golden ticket to a dream job, business schools continue to attract. As IESE dean Jordi Canals points out, when you have been in the B-school world for a while you appreciate how the business cycle works.

Surviving downturns is the only option.

Foreigner and Stern grad New Life City celebrated an unforgettable commencement at Radio City Music Hall, only slightly miffed that graduates didn’t throw their caps in the air at the end like in every American movie.

Christof Meyer offers a long answer to Darden’s short question, “What have you done during the past year to add value to Darden, UVA in general, and the Charlottesville community?”

Umer Khan describes a typical weekend as he laments his crazy commute from Orange County, Calif., to Wharton’s MBA for Executives (West) program in San Francisco.

Greek Entrepreneur provides a third installment on how to get into a top-tier MBA, which focuses on your CV (a.k.a. resume.)

The now work-adverse Miss Curly Bee is shocked and dismayed to see that the BW forum hopes to have less drama after introducing a “troll patrol” policy to delete posts with personal attacks. Her message: take it easy, people! Let the trolls live.. after all, they are the ones who kept the forum alive and kicking.

This week’s GMAT challenge from PrepForTests.com is a problem solving question.

Have a go at answering this and then review your answer.