Our friends at SixFigureStart, a career coaching firm, will be holding a free coaching teleclass this coming Friday, December 19th, from 12 noon – 12:45 p.m. EST. The topic, apropos for the time, will be “How to Effectively Handle a Job Layoff & Move Forward.”

SixFigureStart co-founders Connie Thanasoulis and Caroline Ceniza-Levine will co-lead:

If You’ve Been Laid Off, What To Do Next
If You Haven’t Been Laid Off, How To Recession-Proof Your Current Job
Dial-in: 712 775 7100

Participant code: 151675# (you must hit the pound key)

*The call is free but long-distance charges apply depending on where you are calling from.

Hope this is either helpful or you can ignore it!

Our 3rd Edition Strategy Guides have been out for about a month now, and the feedback has been tremendously positive. Most of the feedback has centered on the obvious additions (e.g. advanced chapters of math content, new idiom list), which have been welcome to many students.

At the same time, we’re very conscious of the balance of giving students all the resources they would need without overwhelming them. It held us back from adding certain esoteric topics that we thought would be more trouble to students than they’d be worth on the test.

Right now we’re also working on a couple more math guides (one as a Math Refresher, one for very Advanced Math Topics), and are considering how best to add them to the curriculum without swamping students.

I’m sure someone reading this is thinking “I want the stuff MGMAT decided not to print!” To which I’d respond in my best GMAT Teacher Voice, “Think depth, not breadth. You’re much better off knowing 100 problems/topics in your bones rather than kind of knowing 500.”

To this end, one change we’re already considering for the next printing of the 3rd Edition Strategy Guides is to move all Advanced Content and accompanying In Action problems to the back of each book, as opposed to the end of each chapter. This physical separation may help keep students from knocking themselves out too early on.

Also, we plan on fixing some of the typos sharp-eyed students have found. 🙂

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.

We are very proud to announce that ManhattanGMAT’s New York office will host an Admissions Panel next week consisting of Admissions officers from 3 of the world’s top business schools. Ainsley Parker, Associate Director of MBA Admissions at Wharton, Yhana Chavis, Assistant Director of Admissions at Kellogg, and Heather Daly, Senior Associate Director of MBA Admissions at Stern will be participating. Our very own Chris Ryan will be the moderator.

This event is free on Thursday night, November 6th at 7 p.m. – click here for more info or to sign up. Space is limited, so first-come-first-edified!

After months of work, the 3rd Edition Strategy Guides have landed! The new guides include 200+ new pages of material spread over 8 books. We’re always trying to offer the most sophisticated and thorough preparation materials around, and these books reflect hundreds of hours of development work by some of our best Instructors.

If you want an inside look, go to the MGMAT Store and click on the individual books to look at .pdfs of the first chapter of each book. There’s a lot of new advanced content (not in the .pdfs so much, but in the books themselves!).

There’s no rest for us though, as we’re hard at work on a GMAT math refresher (working title “Foundations of GMAT Math”) as well as something for the really hardcore math types.  There’s also a rumor that the 12th Edition of the Official Guide for GMAT Review comes in March, so it could be that Strategy Guides 3.1/4.0 will be on the way early next year.

ManhattanGMAT is proud to welcome Katie Malachuk, of Stacy Blackman Consulting , on Thursday night, October 16th, at 6:30 p.m. here at our New York Center!

Some of the topics to be presented include:

– What the top schools are looking for

– Answers to practical questions such as who to ask to write your recommendations, which schools to apply to and whether to plan a school visit

– Common application mistakes to avoid

– Dispelling business school application myths

– Real life applicant case studies

– Practical advice to help you get started

The speaker, Katie Malachuk, has a BA in Women’s Studies from Harvard University and an MBA from Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business. Prior to attending business school, Katie was the Director of Admissions for Teach For America where she created the selection model and oversaw the admissions decisions for over 4,000 applicants annually.

Space is limited, so sign up now!

This past weekend, I attended a barbecue and wound up in a conversation with a current Wharton student. We talked about Scoretop for a little bit, as she had just received an e-mail from the administration about the 3 students at Wharton whose scores had been canceled due to confirmed usage of the Scoretop site.

One interesting point that this student shared with me that I was surprised by was that, prior to her showing up at Wharton, she went through the equivalent of a background check, with people calling her past employers and confirming various details. She said that one of her supervisors at Ebay had since left the company, and she had to scramble to track the person down so that her information could be verified.

Businessweek also reported recently on steps B-schools are taking to catch resume-puffers. It seems there’s a growing trend of ‘trust, but verify’ in the MBA application landscape. Something to be aware of as you’re filling out your applications.

The Wall Street Journal has the number of applicants who have had their score canceled at 84, with 12 having supplied testing items and 72 having confirmed seeing live items when they took the GMAT. The 84 includes 2 University of Chicago students, and one graduate from Stanford. The article seems to suggest at least one Wharton student has been identified too, as Wharton didn’t say “None of our students were involved,” which was the preferred response of most other schools.

Update – the Wall Street Journal updates that three current and past Wharton students have had their scores canceled.

It will be interesting to see what becomes of the more visible of the 84 in the coming weeks. Be glad it’s not you, and study hard (legitimately)!

We are pleased to announce that Clear Admit will be offering two free MBA application seminars for applicants in San Francisco and the Silicon Valley. The first seminar will take place in Santa Clara on Monday, September 15th and the second will be in downtown San Francisco on Thursday, September 18th. Both events will take place from 6:30 – 8:30 PM. Registration is mandatory and space is limited. Sign-up details are below.

What You’ll Learn at the Clear Admit MBA Application Seminars
As the deadlines for leading schools approach, now is the perfect time to attend a seminar that will review the application process, explain MBA admissions from an insider perspective and help you to think through your overall positioning strategy as well as your approach to the essays. Learn what admissions officers look for, how to avoid ˜red flags’ in your application, how to address weaknesses and more. Both seminars will be led by Clear Admit’s Stacey Oyler.

About Stacey Oyler
With a mix of MBA admissions and recruiting experience, Stacey Oyler is ideally prepared to guide business school applicants toward the right schools given their background and goals – and to help them get in. Serving as assistant director of admissions at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth from 2003 to 2005, Stacey read applications, conducted interviews and participated directly in admissions decisions. She also oversaw the waitlist process and provided feedback and coaching to candidates who were not granted admission. Beyond her perspective on what a top MBA program looks for in its students, Stacey’s view extends into what post-b-school employers want. Upon leaving Tuck, she joined McKinsey & Company, leading all West Coast recruiting efforts for advanced degree and MBA candidates.

Prizes!
Seminar attendees are also eligible to receive several prizes, including:
¢ A set of five Clear Admit School Guides (a $175 value)
¢ A set of five Clear Admit Interview Guides (a $100 value)

How to Sign Up
Clear Admit has teamed up with ManhattanGMAT to offer these seminars. The events will take place at the Manhattan GMAT centers in Santa Clara and downtown San Francisco. To sign up for the Santa Clara seminar, click here. To sign up for the San Francisco seminar, click here. (Note: These links will take you to the manhattanprep.com/gmat/ website. If it is your first visit to the site, you will be asked to complete a short student profile.) For questions about the event, contact ManhattanGMAT at 800-576-4628 or email studentservices@manhattanprep.com/gmat/.

Monday, September 15th, 6:30 – 8:30 PM.
Santa Clara Manhattan GMAT Center: 2905 Stender Way, Suite 66, Santa Clara, CA 95054
Register Now!

Thursday, September 18th, 6:30 – 8:30 PM
San Francisco Manhattan GMAT Center: 870 Market Street, 6th floor San Francisco, CA 94102
Register Now!

We look forward to seeing you at these events!