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Professors, faculty members, and second-year students at ten of America's most recognized business schools contribute survival advice and lessons.

Business Week asked 12 B-school students -- six new ones for the 1999-2000 school year, added to the six who participated last year -- to write accounts of their B-school experiences.

Career Journal of the _Wall Street Journal_ presents the results of its two-year long survey of corporate recruiters' ratings of MBA programs from around the world. According to their survey, three smaller B-schools, Dartmouth's Tuck School, Carnegie Mellon University's Graduate School of Industrial Administration, and Yale University's School of Management, were rated the top three, displacing the University of Pennsylvania, Stanford, and Harvard. In a series of articles about the findings, the _Wall Street Journal_ also discusses the methodology and rankings, as well as information on the top school. Be sure to view the fascinating moderated discussion of the rankings. [Scout Report Annotation]

And you think you know how to work a crowd? Incoming B-school students from Harvard to Stanford use Web-based communities to get to know each other, to make group deals for cell phones, and to launch business plans -- before they attend their first class!

Aticle looks at Roger Martin, co-founder of Monitor Co. and new Dean at the Joseph L. Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto and his attempts to change the way MBAs are taught, focusing on integrative learning.

B-school candidates often beg, wheedle, and humiliate themselves to secure a position in the class. But it needn't be so, say admissions officers at some of the nation's top schools. Less is usually more. Often much more.

With so many business schools in the U.S., why are some American students choosing to pursue their degrees at foreign institutions?

Your response to a classroom cold call can make your reputation—one way or the other. Here's how to shine when the spotlight's on you.

For international students who choose to return home after B-school, the challenges are just beginning.

Getting into an MBA program is no easy task these days. Check out our tips on where, when, and how to apply for your ticket to the best B-school for you.

Experts say that acing the GMAT doesn't guarantee you'll get into business school, but a low score can definitely keep you out. So how can you make sure you're in the running? Check out our GMAT cheat sheet to learn how to tame the test.

If you want admissions officers hanging on your every word rather than sneak-checking their watches, take a look at this Jungle guide.

Add an MBA to your resumé, and your earning potential can skyrocket. But a B-school education doesn't come cheap. Find out how to get yourself the right financial aid package so you don't start off your new career saddled with debt.

Is a business school degree worth the considerable investment of your time and money? Forbes' rankings show which schools--elite, regional and international--offer the best return on your investment.

The Graduate Management Admission Council conducts a survey of the attitudes, values, and expectations of the graduating MBA class annually in order to collect systematically factual information from a representative sample of this important group.

In January 2002, the Graduate Management Admission Council® (GMAC) conducted a survey of the opinions, values, and expectations of corporate representatives who recruited MBAs during the past year. The goal was to collect systematically a factual set of information from a representative sample of these important "customers" of the MBA degree. The online survey questionnaire asked corporate respondents topical questions about their actual and estimated MBA recruiting goals and expectations from 2001 through 2003 with regard to:
- MBA selection/hiring criteria
- MBA recruiting strategies in a weak economy
- Sponsorship of employee MBA education
- Strategies for employing interns
- Expectations of MBA salaries and bonuses
- MBA hiring within the overall hiring mix
- Timing of campus interviews and offers
- Selecting MBA schools at which to recruit
- Corporate recruiting structure

The Application Trends Survey is an informal annual survey designed to take a snapshot of the demand for management education by comparing changes in application volume. Year over year comparisons for women and international applicants are analyzed. In addition, industry trends-e.g., electronic application use and changes in class size-are also tracked.

This information has allowed GMAC and business schools to monitor the demand for graduate management education and to respond effectively to media questions. For participating schools, the results can provide valuable insight into the trends affecting peer institutions.

Graduate Management Admission Council conducted its first survey of graduating MBAs during March and April of 2000-the GLOBAL MBA SURVEYSM. Survey respondents were asked to provide permanent email addresses if interested in participating in follow-up research. Seventy-seven percent of them did so. On September 1, 2001, GMAC launched its first survey of this group-MBA Perspectives: Career Decisions.

They answered questions on the following topics:
- Satisfaction with the MBA in light of at least one -year of post-MBA experience
- How much they are using skills & abilities learned in their MBA programs on their current jobs
- The areas in which they wish they had had more education and training
- How they stay current on business practices
- Work experience
- How they weighed various job-selection factors-and which they now think they weighed "too much" or "too little"
- How satisfied they are with the jobs they chose
- Industries in which they work
- General and specific job functions
- Job characteristics and budgetary responsibility
- Salaries and additional compensation
- How their companies support career development

Note: Business 2.0 is now part of CNNmoney and some older articles are no longer available

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It will cost more than $100,000 to earn a degree at an elite business school. Just one problem: There's little real evidence that it will enhance your career.

Practically speaking, it's time to rethink core concepts of management education.

mbacenteronline.com is an online magazine where you can find expert advice on MBA admissions, articles from the top MBA programs (Harvard, Wharton, Stanford, INSEAD) and interviews with MBA recruiters.

Professor David A. Garvin offers a rare inside glimpse at how the case method is used by both faculty and students in classrooms at Harvard Business School.

Editor's Note: you can read the entire original article from a link provided in the text.

After years of loathing M.B.A. programs, here's why today's savvy entrepreneurs are now seeking these degrees.

With gay and lesbian students increasingly assertive, B-schools are working to be more inclusive and boost opportunities for them

A survey of 100-plus executives in more than 20 countries identifies the knowledge, skills, and attributes young leaders need to succeed.

A research paper entitled "What's Really Wrong with U.S. Business Schools" shines a light on what has become a growing dilemma for business school deans-the yearly scorecard that assigns numerical rankings to selected business programs. The paper describes a "dysfunctional competition for media rankings that leads schools to divert resources from investment in knowledge creation and other important areas to short-term strategy aimed at improving ranking position."

The paper is written by Harry DeAngelo and Linda DeAngelo, business professors at the University of Southern California, and Jerold L. Zimmerman, business professor at the University of Rochester. It criticizes business schools for "failing to practice what they preach, particularly about the dangers of managing for the short term, but also about the importance of searching for Â… substance over form in business practices."

The writers point out that "Rankings mania also leads business schools to distort MBA curricula with ‘quick fix, look good' changes that enhance program marketability at the expense of providing students with a rigorous, conceptual education that will serve them well over their entire careers. This myopic and frenzied rankings competition has generated proposals (e.g., Bennis and O'Toole, Harvard Business Review, 2005) that would further de-emphasize the scientific research that is the source of U.S. business schools' global competitive advantage …"

The study precedes an upcoming AACSB International report that calls for the media to change the way it assigns rankings to business degree granting institutions. The AACSB document, to be released in September, calls the ranking methods used by BusinessWeek, Financial Times, U.S. News & World Report, and other media outlets flawed because of inconsistent and unverified data, which confuses rather than helps the consumer. [AACSB annotation]

This is a short post from Seth Godin's blog. The key idea: "The fact is, though, that unless you want to be a consultant or an i-banker (where a top MBA is nothing but a screen for admission) it's hard for me to understand why this is a better use of time and money than actual experience combined with a dedicated reading of 30 or 40 books."

Why this is interesting is not so much the post but the various TrackBacks that reference it.

Proponents of self-learning say that B-schools are a waste of time and money. Traditional MBAs say there's no substitute for the Halls of Ivy.

If you've ever toyed with the idea of going back to school to get your MBA, BNET's newest blog -- Back to B-School -- is for you. You'll learn how to get into business school and what to expect once you get there, but it's more than just academics. It's also about creating the right balance between work, home and school. It's about getting your MBA without losing your job or sanity.

5 pitfalls for recent grads starting a company