New Wharton, HBS Research Shows Last Interviewee of the Day is the Worst

A research paper co-authored by Wharton operations and information management professor Uri Simonsohn, shows MBA candidates interviewed at the end of the day are more likely to be rejected than those interviewed earlier. 

On a five-point scale, with five being the best possible score, a similarly qualified applicant who interviewed on the tail end of his top-scoring competition got lower scores overall than what he or she would have otherwise received. Conversely, those who interviewed after a group of weaker competitors got better than expected evaluations. The data covered more than 9,000 interviews done by 31 interviewers, none of whom were alumni.

So if an interviewer interviewed four people, and all four were good, they will think the fifth person is less likely to be good, they say. The effect very well could be unconscious.

They say a phenomenon called "narrow bracketing" was affecting how those late-day candidates were being judged. Narrow bracketing is when an individual makes a decision without taking into account the consequences of many similar choices.

The report is called "Daily Horizons: Evidence of Narrow Bracketing in Judgment" 

Source:  Knowledge@Wharton

Registration Open Winter Visits to Stanford GSB/ スタンフォード大学ビジネススクール,

Registration is now open for winter information sessions and class visits at Stanford Graduate School of Business (GSB), according to Stanford GSB admissions blog.

Invited  prospective applicants to the MBA program to come see campus for themselves when the Class Visit Program resumes on January 14th.

Weekly information sessions will resume on January 7th. These are held each Monday and Friday, and are 85-minute-long sessions feature MBA admissions officials providing an overview of the Stanford GSB MBA program and admissions process. 

The sessions conclude by 12:10 p.m. to allow interested parties to also take part in tours of the Knight Management Center, which depart from the Bass Center at 12:15 p.m. Registration for information sessions is required.

Interested applicants can register now.

Only one class visit is available per quarter. Visitors must stay for the full duration of the class and not participate in the class.

Prospective applicants visiting campus can also take part in the Meet a Student Program. 

Current MBA students are available most Mondays and Fridays at 10 a.m. when classes are in session. 

These students conduct half-hour group conversations with interested applicants, sharing their first-hand experiences at Stanford GSB. No registration is required for this offering. Interested students can check at the Bass Center at 10 a.m. to see if a student is available.

Source: Stanford GSB 

KAPLAN: Most Top B-Schools Prefer GMAT to GRE

Kaplan reports that despite a majority of top business schools now accepting the GRE as an admissions alternative to the GMAT, just 16% of prospective business school students said they considered taking the GRE route.

Of the 84% who said they never considered taking the GRE instead of the GMAT, 60% said the primary reason was because some or all their target schools only accept the GMAT; 19% said it was because they felt applicants who submit a GMAT score have an admissions advantage over applicants who submit a GRE score; and 8% said it was because they thought they’d do better on the GMAT than on the GRE. 

Kaplan Test Prep believes an increasing number of business school will accept the GRE in the years to come, though applicants who submit a GMAT score may continue to hold an advantage, especially because the GMAT is adding an Integrated Reasoning section in June to reinforce its status as the best predictor of student success in business school.  Kaplan will continue to track this trend.

In 2011, there were a record 700,000+ administrations of the GRE worldwide.

Source: Kaplan