A few months ago, an article on the academic gender gap at Harvard Business School sparked us to write our own piece  on gender inequality in business (and in school).  We looked at information from numerous sources on how women perform in school, in the boardroom, and in academia, and we found that, in all cases, there was something holding them back. Recent research highlighted in the Financial Times sheds some light on the subtle discrimination that may or may not still be taking place. While our brief investigation left no doubt in our minds that gender inequalities exist, we were still unsure as to what could be done to change them.

This week, an article in The Economist described the steps European nations are taking to give women in business a better fighting change. Read more

This is part 3 of a series featuring b-school advice gleaned from one of Manhattan GMAT’s own. Until recently, Patty managed marketing and student services for our sister company,Manhattan LSAT. But she chose to return to business school and started at Wharton last fall. She has agreed to share her application experiences with us  in a series called, “Patty’s Path to Wharton.”
Read Part 2 here.

Once Patty had finished the GMAT, it was on to the essays!

Her first move was to formulate her working process. She spoke to friends who’d attended business school and collected their essays. Then, she printed out various essay questions on heavy cardstock and began carrying them around so she could jot down ideas on the go.

She explains her decision: Read more

In this article, we’re going to tackle a challenging GMATPrep problem solving question from the topic of Percents.  (The GMATPrep software can be downloaded for free at MBA.com)

Let’s start with the problem.

Set your timer for 2 minutes… and… GO!

*Before being simplified, the instructions for computing income tax in country R were to add 2 percent of one’s annual income to the average (arithmetic mean) of 100 units of country R’s currency and 1 percent of one’s annual income. Which of the following represents the simplified formula for computing the income tax, in country R’s currency, for a person in that country whose annual income is I?

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In my first year as an MBA alumna and as a startup entrepreneur, I have realized that the same lessons for startups apply to how you might conduct yourself in business school.

Two years is not a long time “ ask any recent grad “ and making the most of the experience is something every student should think about before they arrive on campus.

I’ll admit I could be stretching this analogy “ but since startups and MBAs are my life, here is some of the best advice I’ve received as an entrepreneur that I think applies to making the most of your MBA. Read more

It’s application season, and our partners at mbaMission have been working hard to give you the best chance at your MBA applications. As essay questions come out, they have been systematically writing analyses of each question for each school. You can find more on their blog, and you can see the latest essays they have analyzed below. Just click on the name of the school for the analysis:

• University of Michigan (Ross) Essay Analysis, 2011“2012: questions include, “introduce yourself,” “what are your career goals” and “what are you most passionate about?”
• Duke University (Fuqua) Essay Analysis, 2011-2012: questions include “what inspired you to take your career path,” “how will your background and values enhance other Duke students’ experience” and “why Duke?”
• Dartmouth University (Tuck) Essay Analysis, 2011“2012: questions include “why are you getting an MBA,” “discuss a meaningful leadership experience,” and “describe a failure you have experienced.”
• University of California Los Angeles (Anderson) Essay Analysis, 2011“2012: questions include “what event/experience has shaped your character,” and “what are your career goals?”

Last week, a student asked me to write an article on finding The Point in a reading comprehension passage “ specifically, what is The Point and how do we find it? I thought it was a great idea; a lot of people struggle with this.

Note: this article doesn’t address how to answer reading comprehension questions; it focuses on the initial read-through in order to understand the main point of the passage. If you do that well, though, then that should help you answer any kind of question.

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Andrew Yang, our former President here at Manhattan GMAT, recently left us to pursue his own vision: creating a non-profit organization which aims to place college grads with start-ups across the country, following the model for Teach for America. Below is Andrew’s description of his new idea, Venture for America:

When a company has a serious problem, it sends its best people to solve it.

Right now our country has a serious problem – we need to create more jobs. And yet, our top college graduates are often not heading to innovative start-ups and early stage companies that will generate jobs and produce new industries. In 2010 over 50% of Harvard graduates went to work in financial services, management consulting, or to law school, with fewer than 15% going to industry, which includes companies big and small. The same picture holds true at other top college campuses.

Despite the numbers, many graduating seniors would have a strong interest in working for a start-up that had the potential to grow. It’s an ambition that’s commonly expressed among students. But there are significant obstacles for a senior looking to pursue this sort of opportunity: Read more

This is part 2 of a series featuring b-school advice gleaned from one of Manhattan GMAT’s own. Until recently, Patty managed marketing and student services for our sister company, Manhattan LSAT. But she chose to return to business school and started at Wharton last fall. She has agreed to share her application experiences with us  in a series called, “Patty’s Path to Wharton.” Read Part 1 here.

Today, Patty’s advice for the GMAT: Take it as soon as possible. Everyone always says take the GMAT early, but no one actually does that”unless you are me and kind of crazy! Patty studied on her own before taking her first crack at the exam, and she didn’t get the score she wanted.   I was so traumatized, I was like, forget it, she tells us. She knew she had to retake the test, but it was tough to overcome the inertia after a disappointing first result. You get so dejected”I shelved it for like 3 months.

But after taking a short break, she steeled herself for another try and took a Manhattan GMAT class. I was glad I did it, she says. A lot of people do the GMAT and then applications, and you just get so burned out. I could take a mental break and then focus on my story. In the beginning you’re so exhausted you don’t even have the energy to focus on another big task.

Read Part 3 Here.

Recently, Chris Ryan, our GMAT instructor and Vice President of Academics, realized that helping our students through the GMAT just wasn’t enough. “When I had students come up to me and tell me their GMAT score, I was thrilled,” said Chris, “but I wanted to help them more.”

Although Chris considers the two years he spent at Duke Fuqua to be some of the most incredible of his life, he realized that, had he had a leg up when he had arrived, he would have immediately felt more comfortable. Many of his former GMAT students felt the same way.

That’s where Eric Caballero came in. After Chris and his co-writer Carrie Shuchart received great feedback and reviews for their book, Case Studies and Cocktails, Eric wanted to help Chris bring his lessons for pre-MBA students into the classroom.

And so, on Saturday and Sunday, July 23 and 24, Manhattan GMAT will be hosting its first ever pre-MBA Boot Camp. This two-day course will provide enrollees with a refersher of Economics, Statistics, Finance, Pricing and Accounting, all applied in the context of a B-School case study. The course takes place in New York.

In addition, the course will be free if students provide feedback about their experience.

Inetersted? If so, email ecaballero@manhattanprep.com/gmat/ or check out more info here.

Last year, the New York Times published an interesting article: Forget What You Know About Good Study Habits. At Manhattan Prep, we’ve been discussing it since it came out and I wanted to share this discussion with you.

Get up and move

According to the article, multiple studies support the hypothesis that altering our physical study environment helps us to retain material better. Our brains are apparently making connections based on what we see and hear while we study, even when the sights and sounds are unrelated to the subject matter and noticed only subconsciously. The more connections your brain makes with regard to a specific piece of knowledge, the easier it is for you to retrieve that information when you need it.

What this means for you: Read more