AIGAC Blog

I am pleased to announce that registration for the first annual AIGAC conference is now open! The event will take place on June 18th and 19th in Chicago, and we are truly excited about the breadth of planned activities and networking opportunities. Please visit the AIGAC annual conference page to learn more about this not-to-be missed event.

The AIGAC Events team and AIGAC Board of Directors invite both AIGAC members and non-members who are involved in graduate admissions to sign up for this one-of-a-kind event. But don’t wait. If you register early you will save $100 off the registration fee.

Members also enjoy a member discount, which makes now a perfect time for non-members in graduate admissions to join AIGAC. All members receive a $100.00 discount off the conference price, and we are offering additional membership discounts to new members who join and regiser for the conference at the same time. Please visit the AIGAC Conference registration page to learn more about the discounts and reserve your space at the conference.

Although the event was only announced today, we are already receiving registrations. It’s going to be a great event. I look forward to seeing you there.

Love ‘em or hate ‘em, US News Grad School Rankings are widely watched and read. And guess who appears in them?

AIGAC and AIGAC’s Treasurer Graham Richmond.

Check out “Hot Tips for a Graduate Degree in Business“  which states, “Find advisers who have agreed to follow ethical practices at aigac.org.”

Inside Higher Ed continues to report on conflicts of interest involving consultants who work for colleges or graduate schools and admissions staff members who moonlight as admissions consultants. Its most recent piece, “Private Counselors Who Won’t Double Dip” spotlights the position of the Association of International Graduate Admissions Consultants.

The article cites AIGAC as the admissions organization that has taken a clear stand on dual employement: It bans what the article calls “double dipping.”

It quotes AIGAC’s president on the basis for AIGAC’s unequivocal position:

Linda Abraham, president of the association and also of a private counseling business called Accepted.com, said that the group wants to be very clear about the philosophy behind its ban. “You can’t have two masters when their interests may be in conflict,” she said. “As an adviser to applicants, we have to try to have one employer, the applicant.”

If you are a graduate admissions consultant who shares AIGAC’s values, please consider joining AIGAC. In addition to receiving the membership benefits enumerated on AIGAC’s web site, AIGAC membership will also publicly identify you with those consultants who are not interested in compromise on conflicts of interest.

If you are an applicant, you should not have to wonder if your trusted adviser and mentor has your interest as primary or that of the school you are applying to. Seek help from an AIGAC member, and you’ll know that your interest in our primary concern. AIGAC’s membershp comprises top experts in the fields of MBA admissions, medical school admissions, and law school admissions.

A relatively new organization, AIGAC is proving itself a leader in defining standards on dual employment and conflicts of interest in admissions. I urge other graduate admissions consultants who share AIGAC’s vision and values to join. I encourage applicants to seek out AIGAC’s growing list of members when choosing an admissions consultant.

In recent days articles have appeared in the press about three admissions directors who serve or have served on an advisory board at a private admissions consultancy in Japan. One advisor has since resigned from her position with the consultancy, which is not an AIGAC member. The arrangement is being questioned and in many cases condemned if not as an ethical breach than at least as an example of extremely poor judgment.

What is AIGAC’s position? An arrangement where a consultant or a member of the consultant’s staff is also working for a graduate school violates AIGAC’s Principles of Good Practice (“PGP”). The Principles state, regarding consultant relations with schools, that members agree to “Maintain independence of thought and action.” That independence could be compromised if a consultant (or one of its staff members) is receiving payment from a school.

Furthermore, one of the articles quotes one of the three as saying that to avoid any conflict she arranged to receive from the consultancy a list of applicants to her school and intended to recuse herself from consideration of these applications. The consultancy’s release of client names would also violate AIGAC’s PGP. AIGAC members agree to “Maintain client confidentiality” and providing a list of client names (presumably without clients’ permission) to someone who is an associate director of admissions at the school to which the clients are applying conflicts with that principle.

AIGAC encourages and values communication with the graduate schools. However, that communication must maintain client confidentiality and come without strings attached. And the ties that bind most tightly are compensation and payment.

We look forward to enhanced communication with graduate schools as we represent applicants, our exclusive clients.

AIGAC has continued its steady growth, and I want to take a moment to welcome several new members who have joined recently:

• Dr. Cynthia Lewis of Lewis Associates Medical Strategies (US).
• Scott Shrum of Veritas (US).
• Ann Levine of Law School Expert (US).
• H. S. Green (Japan).

If you are a graduate admissions consultant who meets AIGAC’s membership requirements and shares its vision and values, I invite you to join AIGAC.

AIGAC has had a whirlwind inaugural year. Since it’s official “door-opening” in May, AIGAC has:

• Launched and expanded its web site.
• Set-up four functioning committees.
• Drafted and approved its by-laws.
• Held its first elections and expanded its Board of Directors.
• Published two issues of its quarterly newsletter.
• Established a members-only Google group.
• Developed a brochure for members.
• Grown to just over forty members.
• Become the go-to organization for members of the press looking for information about graduate admissions consulting.

As we look to 2008, I want to congratulate and welcome the new members of AIGAC’s Board of Directors:

• Stacy Blackman, Stacy Blackman Consulting.
• Anna Ivey, Anna Ivey Admissions and Career Counseling.
• Jeremy Shinewald, MBA Mission.

We look forward to 2008 with confidence that it too will be a year of “firsts” and growth.

To members of the admissions and applicant community, best wishes for a Happy and Healthy New Year!

On behalf of the Aigac Board, I am pleased to announce that AIGAC’s membership voted to ratify the organization’s bylaws dated November 2, 2007. With your overwhelming support, we now have in place a set of rules and regulations for internal governance. The bylaws will now be submitted to the state of California. We are well ahead of the deadline for this submission. Thanks to everyone for your swift and positive response to the bylaws.

Special thanks go to AIGAC’s governance committee members, who spearheaded this project and invested many hours to bring it to fruition:

• Maxx Duffy, Maxx Associates, Chairwoman
• Luvy González de Wilson, The MBA Image
• Anna Ivey, Anna Ivey Admissions and Career Consulting
• Gilam Levi, Aringo
• Jeremy Scheinwald, MBA Mission
• Kathy Snelson, AIGAC Executive Director

One of the benefits of AIGAC membership is increased visibility as the press turns to AIGAC for sources to quote in stories about graduate admissions. Here is a short list of news items in which AIGAC and AIGAC members have appeared:

• CNN interviewed AIGAC member Anna Ivey about “Helicopter Parents in the Workplace.”
• BusinessWeek quoted AIGAC president Linda Abraham of Accepted.com on July 17 in “Applying Oneself, Creatively.”
• Crain’s of New York and New York Business.com published a lengthy story, “Advisors Coach MBA Hopefuls” on August 6. Author Karen Bannon quoted members Jeremy Shinewald of MBAMission and Stacy Blackman of Stacy Blackman Consulting.
• MBAPodcaster cited AIGAC in “Comparing Admission Consultants: Questions to Ask Before Hiring a Coach” as “a recently formed organization that promotes high ethical standards among its members.”
• Luvy González de Wilson of The MBA Image in Monterrey Mexico was quoted in El Norte in “Capitalizan demanda de graduados en MBA,” an article that also mentions AIGAC.

In AIGAC’s 3 busy months of existence, the press and prospective clients have already turned to the AIGAC membership directory when they want to speak with leading graduate admissions consultants. In the future that directory will be the starting point when people –whether members of the press or prospective clients — seek a top graduate admissions consultant.

If you are an admissions consultant who meets AIGAC’s requirements for membership, shouldn’t you submit a membership application?  Can you afford not to?

Thank you to AIGAC member Chioma Isiadinso, CEO of the admissions consultancy Expartus , who graciously contributes the following article.

Managing the Recommendation Process

Choosing a recommender for your business school application is one of the easiest parts of the application, right? Wrong… managing the recommendation process should be undertaken as carefully and thoughtfully as all other parts of your application. Following is EXPARTUS’ take on the top ten things to consider to best manage the recommendation process for your business school application.

1. What is the application asking? A recommendation from a peer (as required by some MBA programs such as Stanford) is not the same as a recommendation from a supervisor. Make sure that you know and understand what the application is asking for and deliver. A peer recommendation should be just that – a recommendation by someone who is of similar title and/or rank while a professional recommendation, if it simply asks for that, should generally be from an immediate and current supervisor.

2. Often, for confidentiality reasons, an applicant cannot ask a current manager for a recommendation. If this is the case, include a very brief explanation as to why you have not been able to use your present supervisor and why you selected the person that did write your recommendation. Admissions committees are understanding in regards to this difficult topic, but be forthright in explaining your decision. You can get a recommendation from a former supervisor or even from a client if you are unable to one from your immediate supervisor.

3. Familiarity trumps title. A recommendation by a Vice President who has worked closely with you over the course of several years and various projects trumps a recommendation by a State Senator who is a family friend. Schools are looking to get to know you and a recommendation that can shed light on the type of person and professional that you are is key to this process.

4. Acknowledge the time commitment involved and respect their time. If you are applying to only two schools, it is probably okay to ask two people to write two recommendations each. If you are applying to five schools, you may want to think about how many recommendations you can reasonably ask one person to complete. Overwhelming your recommenders with several requests will most likely lead to burn out, resulting in a loss of quality.

5. So, you’ve selected the appropriate people for each required recommendation. But, do they understand your brand? Do they know what you stand for and what message you are trying to convey throughout your application? Can they effectively and eloquently describe who you are? Will they be conveying the same messages to the admissions committee as the other parts of your application? Applicants should take the time to meet with recommenders and should talk with them about their brand. What are the three to four main points that you are trying to convey to the admissions committee throughout your application? Your commitment to diversity, your proactiveness in evaluating problems, your communication skills, etc. It is a warning flag when a recommender speaks of communication skills as an area for improvement while the applicant speaks strongly about their strength in this area. Make sure that you are on the same page as your recommenders in this regard and that your recommenders know your brand and provide specific examples that support your themes.

6. Do they understand your goals? Here again, it is of utmost importance that recommenders and applicants convey the same message. It presents another cautionary point to the admissions committee when an applicant talks about his or her desire to change careers to marketing, for example, while a recommender speaks of this same applicant’s return to consulting post-MBA.

7. Help your recommender by putting together a document that outlines the projects on which you have worked, including locations and dates, as well as your specific role and tasks during each project. Not only does this process require a serious time commitment from them, but it is a key part of the application and, as such, it is of utmost importance that it contributes positively to the overall application. Don’t leave it to chance that the recommender will remember the stellar work that you did on that consulting project in Canada or that in-house marketing project. It is perfectly acceptable, and actually very important, to remind them of this information.

8. Recommenders are often asked about an applicant’s ethics… on this note, it is unethical to write the recommendation for them. Many people may ask this of applicants and it is the applicant’s responsibility to respond that, while they will be more than happy to help with the process as much as possible (see above point), they really believe that the recommendation will be much stronger if it comes directly from the recommender.

9. Help them manage their time. Give them ample time to complete the application by approaching them at least two to three months ahead of time.

10. Be enthusiastic. Get them to become a strong supporter of your brand and to buy-in to your goal of attending business school by being enthusiastic about the process. Tell them how important this process is to you, how much you would like to attend the school to which you are applying and how.

Anna Ivey, founder of Anna Ivey Admissions, former Dean of Admissions for the University of Chicago School of Law, and author of The Ivey Guide to Law School Admissions, provides these tips for MBA applicants.

1. Know what you want.
Many people apply to business school because they are dissatisfied with their current jobs and are looking for a change, but they’re not quite sure what they do want. An MBA can indeed open doors to new industries and roles and lives, but you need to research and plan your post-MBA goals thoroughly before you even apply. Think you’ll have the time and the energy to conduct all your career planning once you get to business school? Wrong! The on-campus recruiting process ramps up very quickly during the first year, and you will be expected to pick a niche very early in the program. On top of that, the first year is designed like a boot camp in order to test your limits, and doing the mental equivalent of midnight push-ups in the rain doesn’t leave a lot of room for soul-searching and navel-gazing. Finally – and most importantly – business schools won’t even admit you unless you can persuade them in the application stage that an MBA makes sense given what you’ve done in the past, what you hope to do in the future, and how the two connect. You need to write a business plan for your career before you even think about applying for an MBA.

2. Whip your current job into shape.
Business schools and corporate recruiters will scrutinize your pre-MBA history carefully. They want to see increased responsibility and recognition over time. They want to see initiative. They want to see impact. They want to see big-picture thinking and a sharp analytical mind. They want to see both hard and soft skills. They want to see someone who can make good decisions with imperfect information. They want to see someone who can lead but also follow. They want to see someone who can motivate a team and make it better. If your track record doesn’t demonstrate those things, give yourself time to whip your current job into shape before applying to business school, and if your current job won’t let you make an impact, it’s time to move on to a job that will. If you can’t change jobs right now, or you’re applying right out of college, make sure that your life outside of work demonstrates those accomplishments and skills. One of the biggest misconceptions among applicants is that they can go to business school in order to build a track record. The reality is that you won’t even get in the front door at a good program without one.

3. Women, assert yourselves!
After working with many MBA applicants, I’ve observed that many women are more reluctant to show off their achievements than men are. It’s a habit you must conquer if you want to succeed in business school and beyond, as both business school and the business world will require you to toot your own horn over and over again. I work closely with female applicants on this reluctance, and by the end of the application process, they are much more comfortable articulating and defending what they bring to the table. It’s a life skill you need to master.

4. Acquire international experience.
The business world – and business schools – greatly value international experience and language skills. At the top business schools, it is quite common for people to be completely fluent in two, sometimes three languages. Especially if you are single and childless, take advantage of that freedom now to acquire international experience. It’s harder (though not impossible) to make that happen when you have a spouse with his or her own career and school-age children.

5. Build your communication skills.
The business world complains bitterly that even star students emerging from top business schools cannot communicate effectively. Many graduates are missing what employers consider the most basic communication skills, and while business schools have begun ramping up their training to address that complaint, honing those skills before you apply is a great way to stand out from the crowd. It’s never too soon to work on your spoken and written English and learn how to communicate your ideas succinctly, professionally, and effectively.