On the conference’s first day, June 18, attendees will visit the University of Chicago’s Graduate School of Business in Hyde Park for a tour led by GSB Dean of Admissions Rosemaria Martinelli and her team. The same day they will enjoy a tour of Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management in Evanston. During each campus visit members will have opportunities to meet with admissions officers and tour school facilities. The day will close with a private dinner for AIGAC members at a downtown Chicago restaurant.

The conference’s second day will be hosted at the Gleacher Center, the U. of Chicago’s state-of-the-art downtown campus. The day will feature a full schedule of panel discussions including:

• Admissions Officials Panel – Admissions officers such as Mae Shores (UCLA/Anderson), Peter Johnson (Berkeley/Haas), Sherry Wallace (UNC/Kenan-Flagler), Tamsin Shillitoe (London Business School), and Christie St. John (Dartmouth/Tuck) will discuss what makes their programs unique, what they look for in applicants, and how consultants can help to make the admissions process more effective.
• Best Consulting Practices Panel – Admissions consultants including Linda Abraham, Maxx Duffy, and Anna Ivey will discuss how they overcome day-to-day challenges such as the client selection process, working with clients with unrealistic expectations, and managing chronic procrastinators.
• Technology & CRM Panel – Representatives from some leading CRM and business productivity software companies will introduce themselves and show how their tools can help small admissions consulting businesses manage client relationships, market their services, and manage virtual workforces.

In the afternoon of June 19, AIGAC will sponsor an event for MBA admissions officers attending the Graduate Management Admission Council’s annual conference, just a few blocks away at the Chicago Marriott. This will give AIGAC conference attendees a comfortable environment in which to dialogue with admissions officers from dozens of top business schools from around the world.

The conference’s organizer, Graham Richmond, Co-founder and CEO of admissions consultancy Clear Admit and AIGAC’s Treasurer, is pleased with the way the event is shaping up. “When embarking on the organization of this event, the AIGAC Events Committee frankly wasn’t sure what to expect in terms of interest, but we decided to follow a ‘If you build it, they will come’ philosophy. As a result, we’ve assembled an event that will offer unrivaled access to leading graduate programs, extensive networking opportunities and sound advice from experts in the field — not to mention some great food and socializing.”

The strategy worked. Registrations have already exceeded AIGAC’s original goal by 200%. Linda Abraham, AIGAC’s President and Founder and president of admissions consultancy Accepted.com, enthused about the conference: “I am excited about the school visits, because I always acquire insight when I visit a campus. I am excited about the panels because I know I will learn a lot. And I am excited about the opportunity to network with representatives of top admissions consultancies.”

The Conference is made possible through the generous sponsorship of Veritas Prep, Manhattan GMAT, and NY Test Prep.

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.

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.”

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 is 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.

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.

• 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.

• 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!

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

• 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?

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.