ManhattanGMAT was fortunate enough to host several Admissions Officers from top business school programs earlier this month in our New York center.  The panel featured:

NYU STERN SCHOOL OF BUSINESS Heather Daly, Senior Associate Director of MBA Admissions

THE WHARTON SCHOOL Ainsley Parker, Associate Director in the Office of MBA Admissions and Financial Aid

KELLOGG SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT Yhana Chavis, Associate Director of Admissions

The panel discussion lasted close to 2 hours.  A few points that emerged:

Highest GMAT: All the schools reiterated that they take your highest GMAT score “ they do not average your scores. (It must be a single GMAT score from one test administration, though “ they don’t do a Franken-score, as Ms. Daly from Stern put it, of your best math and best verbal subscores from different tests.)

More than Once is Fine: In response to the question how many GMATs is OK, and how many is too many? Ms. Parker from Wharton said that they worry when you get into double digits. But otherwise, no one gave a specific number that’s too many. In fact, taking it more than once can demonstrate persistence, as Ms. Chavis from Kellogg said. The issue on the high end is judgment (e.g., if you take the test a dozen times, then you are not showing good judgment about where you can realistically improve your chances of admission).  At another panel, admissions officers from Kellogg & Harvard said 5 to 6 was getting to be too many. Short answer: taking it more than once is fine, as we’ve always said, and don’t worry unless you’re really climbing the charts in terms of number of times.

Effects of Economic Crisis: Schools are seeing increases in applications to varying degrees. There was some report of fluff applications (i.e., applications that do not convincingly explain why you are applying to that school in particular or even business school in general), though not universally. The representatives agreed that so far, the people who are getting in would have gotten in in other years, and the people who are being rejected would have been rejected in other years. In response to a question about financial aid (i.e., will it be available), the representatives said that they don’t know yet how this issue will play out exactly, but that their

Third Round Futility: Ms. Parker from Wharton actively discouraged students from applying in the 3rd round. Last year, they had over 600 applications in the third round, and they accepted fewer than 10. (Do the math: that’s less than a 2% acceptance rate.)

Much more was said at the Panel, as each representative went over her individual institution’s approach to candidates.   If you missed it, we’ll host another one before too long!

If you are applying for Round 2 or later for Fall 2009 (or thereafter) and have questions about applying, we’ve got some good news: our friends at Accepted.com are holding a telethon during which you can talk to an admissions consultant for FREE.

Go to the telethon page on Accepted.com for more info and to sign up. You’ll submit a resume and fill out a questionnaire in order to make your conversation more specific and productive. Sign up now, as the slots will likely fill up before the 19th!

A recent Washington Post article heavily referenced ManhattanGMAT, and even included a snippet of video from our Washington D.C. location. If you squint, you can see a couple of ManhattanGMAT Instructors, and our Strategy Guides make a star turn. 🙂

The article itself discusses more generally how it’s a very competitive landscape out there as people seek shelter from the recession in the oasis of business school.