Simon School Admissions Blog

May 2009 Executive Advisory Committee meeting

By Rebekah:

Under the leadership of Dean Mark Zupan, the Simon School has a very active Executive Advisory Committee that meets semi-annually to discuss current issues and strategies for moving the School forward. These two day meetings occur each spring and fall, and current students are given an opportunity to meet with these business leaders for networking purposes.

Our spring Executive Advisory Committee meeting just concluded Friday, May 1st. The Keynote Address was offered by Richard Sands, Chairman of the Board of Directors, Constellation Brands, Inc. Constellation is a leading international producer and marketer of beverage alcohol brands. He provided insightful remarks on the topic of “embracing change”, and how that has been such a positive driver in the success of his company.

Other business leaders attending this meeting joined us from JP Morgan, Citigroup, Tyco, Xerox, Booz & Co., Raymond Corporation and IBM Global Services. The spring meeting also features M.B.A. student presentations for those taking the Applied Consulting course taught annually by Dean Zupan. In keeping with the University of Rochester motto “Meliora”, latin for ever better, student teams develop and present ideas on how to improve the school. A $10,000 prize is awarded to the winning team, $5,000 to implement the idea, and $5,000 to those who originated the idea.

The next Executive Advisory Committee meeting is scheduled for October 9-11, 2009.

Sands Leadership Lecture series at Simon School

By: Rebekah

 

Last week, Bob Eckert, CEO of Mattel and honorary Simon degree holder, was the speaker at the latest Sands Leadership lecture.  Bob remarks covered the traits of successful leaders, his 10 career lessons, and how to lead during a crisis (in his case, the Mattel toy recall for lead paint). 

 

As always, we are very grateful to Richards Sands, chair of the board of Constellation Brands, for his continuing support of this lecture series.  Through the “magic” of Echo360 we recorded Bob’s presentation and it is available for you to view by clicking on this link:

 

http://echo1.simon.rochester.edu:8080/ess/echo/presentation/2b4e5af9-e4bd-40ce-aedf-0a1811336678

 

Enjoy! We hope to see you at the next Sands Leadership lecture!

Entrepreneurship at the University of Rochester

By Rebekah:

Did you know that the University of Rochester has a Center for Entrepreneurship?  This Center was developed through a special gift in 2003 from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation and serves to create new partnerships with alumni, local businesses and non-profit organizations; publicizes school-based experiences and encourages collaboration among all six schools involved in entrepreneurship education, including the Simon Graduate School of Business. 

Beyond the concentration in Entrepreneurship within the M.B.A. program, here are other opportunities for Simon students:

1. Join the Simon Entrepreneurs club

2. Participate in the Mark Ain Business Model Workshop Series and Competition

3. Serve on an advisory or consultative team to current or aspiring entrepreneurs

4. Subscribe to the Women's Entrepreneurship Blog

5. Read the Center's latest newsletter

6. Attend campus events hosted by the Center for Entrepreneurship

We are fortunate to have some many opportunities available to our graduate students who wish to receive training in entrepreneurship!

New faculty member joins Simon School for 2009-10 year

By Rebekah:

  Today the Simon School will formally install Toni Whited as the inaugural Michael and Diane Jones Professor of Finance.  This professorship supports a faculty member whose work successfully exemplifies the Simon School mission.  Toni is an expert in finance, macroeconomics and econometrics and comes to us from the Wisconsin School of Business at the University of Wisconsin, Madison.  She earned a B.A. from the University of Oregon, majoring in French literature and economics, and a Ph.D. from Princeton University in economics, working with Ben Bernanke. 

Toni worked at the Federal Reserve Board and was on the faculty at the University of Pennsylvania, Northwestern University, the University of Michigan, and the University of Iowa, before joining the University of Wisconsin in 2003.  She has taught at the undergraduate, M.B.A., and Ph.D. levels in her former positions.  Her research deals primarily with the effects of financial markets on firm capital budgeting decisions.  She has also conducted research in the areas of theoretical econometrics, asset pricing, macroeconomics, and corporate debt policy.  She serves on the editorial board of the Journal of Financial Economics and the Journal of Macroeconomics and was one of the co-editors of Finance Research Letters.

We look forward to seeing Toni on the faculty in a teaching and research capacity in fall 2009!

Understanding the Simon Waitlist

Posts by Rebekah:

It's that time of the year when the Simon Admissions committee is busy reviewing applications and releasing decisions.  One of the "mysteries" in the world of B-School Admissions is how the wait list is used.  It varies by school, but here's how it works at Simon, and more importantly what you can do if you find yourself on the waiting list.

First, follow the instructions of the admissions committee.  Simon requires wait listed candidates to verify they are active on the waiting list through a confirmation e-mail within 10 days following our decision to admissions@simon.rochester.edu.

Second, provide updates to your status - this could be an updated resume, additional letter of recommendation, a new and improved test score, or essay providing new information about you.  We don't provide individual feedback to wait listed candidates so the above includes all of the types of items you might consider when choosing what to send us. Be sure that additional information is pertinent to your B-school application.  Pictures, information about hobbies or family members, etc. may be interesting, but if it is not relevant to our decision making process then it should not be included.

Third, be patient.  Contacting the office every week or two for an update on your wait list status goes beyond a demonstration of your interest in Simon.  You need to remind us of your commitment to Simon and then remember that review of the waiting list is not immediate.

A little more on our process.  If you are wait listed, you will not receive a numerical rank - Simon doesn't use this as there is constant fluctuation with new candidates added to the waiting list and others who indicate they do not wish to remain on it.  We review the entire wait list as a batch and any updates from Simon will be communicated initially by e-mail to reconfirm your interest and then formal decisions are posted through the online application system.  Remember we are eager to enroll the best possible incoming class and we typically have a portion of these students who enroll from our waiting list, so be positive if you have a wait list status.

BusinessWeek 2008 Rankings and Next Steps

By: Rebekah

The November 24th issue of BusinessWeek included the annual survey results for B-schools.  It was very disappointing that the Simon School was not included among the top 30 U.S. M.B.A. programs - as we were 28th in 2006 and 29th in 2004.   We were listed alphabetically among 2nd tier schools (only those within the top 30 are actually ranked).  The silver lining - we were rated 1st among private schools and 4th among U.S. B-schools for "Return on Investment" - showing a strong value for the Simon M.B.A. degree.

As a B-school that has historically been included as a top-tier M.B.A. program by such rankings as the Financial Times of London and U.S. News and World Report, the news has brought the Simon community together to try and identify areas of concern and potential recommendations.  Even though rankings fluctuate on ever changing criteria that is unique to each survey, Simon is taking the following next steps:

• A task force will be assembled to assess current student satisfaction
• A second task force will review corporate recruiter satisfaction 
• Recommendations on each task force will be forthcoming in early 2009 for review and implementation

While our School has not changed, we recognize the importance of the rankings to prospective students, current students, alumni, and corporate recruiters and remain steadfast in our desire to play at the highest levels among the nation's top business schools.

Annual Simon School Secret Santa Silent Auction

Last week, the Simon Volunteers student club completed their annual Silent Auction to raise money to purchase Christmas presents for underprivileged children in the Rochester area.  Auction items included a number of items donated by local businesses, such as gift certificates for spa treatments, restaurants, coffee shops, an oil change for your car, and hair salons.  There were also some special items that members of the Simon community donated such as desserts by Associate Dean Holli Budd, and lunch or dinner with Dean Zupan.  Almost $2000 was raised this year through the Silent Auction - an increase over last year's fund raiser. 

In early December, the Simon Volunteers will coordinate their annual gift wrapping party.  They invite staff, faculty, and student body to come together as a community for a half day to wrap the presents that were purchased for these children.  For those of us who have participated, it is truly one of the most enjoyable and meaningful activities that brings members of the School together.  It allows us to make a difference in the lives of some special families in the Rochester area, while also supporting Rochester area establishments.  This is just one example of the type of student activities that are planned each year. 

Simon School Full-time Application Deadlines

By: Rebekah

Are you wondering which deadline to target to have the best chance for admission to the full-time M.B.A. or M.S. program at Simon? 

First and foremost, don't rush to submit your application just to hit the earliest deadline.  We would rather see your most competitive application - including properly proofed essays and a competitive GMAT score - even if this means that your application comes in for a later deadline.  Simon uses a waitlist to ensure that we can make admission offers across every application deadline.  We don't have a specific number of available offers for any given application deadline - each year our offers vary, depending on the quality and size of the applicant pool. 

Simon Convocation - September 2008

On Friday, September 19th, the Simon School welcomed the M.B.A. classes of 2009 and 2010 and the M.S. class of 2009 during our annual Convocation Ceremony.  This marked the end of the first full week of classes for the fall term. Esteemed University participants included many Simon faculty, Dean Mark Zupan, President Joel Seligman, and University of Rochester Trustee, Roger Friedlander.

Alan Zekelman, M.S. '87, delivered an inspiring and often-times humorous keynote address.  He fondly recalled his Simon School academic experience and the impact it had on the turnaround of his family's business.  Zekelman is a board member of the John Maneely Company, a niche manufacturing firm.  He is also the former president of its subsidiary, Atlas Tube Inc. - a leading Canadian manufacturer of steel construction and industrial tubing.

Following the ceremony, the Simon community gathered for a picnic - an excellent time to meet the new incoming M.B.A. and M.S. classes, and also reconnect with the returning 2nd year M.B.A.s.   

Curriculum change for 2008-09

By Rebekah:

We are excited to announce that starting in fall 2008, there will be a change in curricular content to the Business Communications course taught at Simon.  This 3-credit course is required for all incoming full-time M.B.A. students, as well as those in the M.S. Accountancy program and taught over three quarters of study. 

The curriculum change will allow for additional emphasis on topics related to networking and interviewing.  Delivery of these topics will be provided on a "just in time" basis, related to both the hiring cycle and the academic year.  Small group lab sessions will also be incorporated, offering students the opportunity to practice and further develop these interpersonal skills, while also giving appropriate real-time feedback on how to succeed.  The course will continue to be co-taught by Career Management Center administrative staff and the Director of the Center for Leadership Development. 

This change will allow students to effectively enhance both their quantitative and qualitative skill sets during their Simon experience - as each area is very important to success in the classroom and the job search.