Poets&Quants

We dig into misconceptions and truths about the true cost of an MBA abroad.

This week we talk test waivers, optional essays, and how big-ticket charitable gifts shape scholarship funding.

In this episode, Gies Business professor Eren Ahsen shares his unconventional journey from mathematics and electrical engineering to machine learning in healthcare and ultimately business education. He discusses how AI evolved from an academic pursuit into a transformative force in medicine and organizations, why combining multiple algorithms leads to better decisions, and how business leaders can thoughtfully integrate AI into real-world workflows. With insights on bias, human judgment, and the future of business schools, Eren makes the case for cross-disciplinary, human-centered AI that improves lives without removing the human touch.

Should applicants use AI in their admissions essays? With extreme caution, as we hear this week.

As we enter summer, we talk about how applicants can strategically approach those early MBA application dates. Plus, we demystify the ‘career vision’. 

In this episode, finance veteran and Gies College of Business professor Rich Excell shares his journey from global trading floors around the world to becoming an award-winning educator. He discusses the evolution of derivatives and market efficiency, the realities of trading risk, and why today’s students bring a fresh sense of optimism to finance. Along the way, Rich offers candid stories from his career—including surviving a $25 million trading loss—and explains how great investors balance quantitative models with human judgment.

A fire sale? An arms race? However you term it, business schools are slashing rates – we look at how applicants can score a scholarship.

We talk over the picks on Poets&Quants’s inaugural Career & Admissions Bestseller List, from ‘How to Win Friends and Influence People’ to ‘What Colour is Your Parachute’. 

In this faculty spotlight, Professor Aimee Barbeau of Gies College of Business explains how she introduces first-year students to business through ethics, experiential learning, and real-world impact projects. She challenges common misconceptions about capitalism by framing business as a value-creating, ethical practice and shows how tools like AI and hands-on corporate partnerships help students build practical skills and rethink the role of business in society.

AI is rapidly reshaping the MBA - and some business schools are racing ahead faster than others. In this episode, who leads the charge and what questions MBA applicants should ask about AI adoption.

Thinking about a dual-degree MBA? In this episode, we break down the most popular pairings – from MBA/MPP to MBA/JD – who they make sense for, costs and career trade-offs.

How much do rankings actually matter to employers? Plus, we talk about career pivots into consulting

From volatility to greatest gains: we dig into the ups and downs of this year's list

Poets&Quants Founder John A. Byrne bids farewell and introduces Executive Editor Pola Lem

Nikhil Jain applied four times before getting in. This is what he discovered once he got there

Gies Business professor Sandra Corredor explores one of the biggest misconceptions students have about business: the idea that there’s always a correct decision. Drawing from her research and teaching, she explains how success comes from thoughtful design, attention to detail, and embracing uncertainty - both in corporate strategy and personal career paths.

How Wharton dominates rankings of business school academic research

We discuss the 20th anniversary of the AIGAC (Association of International Graduate Admissions Consultants)

What if accounting isn’t about numbers—but about uncovering the story behind them?In this episode of Poets&Quants’ Faculty Spotlight, Gies College of Business professor Fei Du joins John A. Byrne to share how intellectual curiosity, and a desire for freedom, shaped her path into academia. What began as a practical career choice in China evolved into a passion for decoding financial statements as “clues” to how organizations think and act.Du explains how accounting, when done right, is less about calculation and more about interpretation. Through real-world examples, from COVID-era market reactions to corporate promotion systems, she shows how financial data reveals deeper truths about strategy, incentives, and human behavior.

What you need to know about the one-year option

What international students experience in a program abroad 

We analyze the severe downturn in international applicants due to the Trump administration

What we really think of the latest ranking from Fortune which has Wharton on top and Stanford missing

Special guest Conrad Chua, former executive director of The Cambridge MBA, helps us dissect the newest FT ranking

The GRE and TOEFL are for sale. Here's why and what it means for test taking

This year, round 3 applications are less a Hail Mary pass than ever before due to slumping application volume at top business schools

Gies College of Business marketing professor Aric Rindfleisch reflects on why he chose marketing and how his research on materialism reveals why buying more doesn’t lead to happiness. He discusses his passion for teaching in the College’s fully online iMBA program, the balance between digital and analog worlds, and why business schools must put humanity at their core in an AI-driven world.

We reveal the unexpected strengths of MBA programs that aren't well known

We discuss the implications to international students if OPT is wiped out 

We discuss the latest questions admission teams are asking candidates this year

Our predictions for business education and the MBA in this new year.

Our interview with Andrew Walker, director of research analysis for the Graduate Management Admission Council

Plenty, according to a new survey of admission officials at business schools. We discuss and debate the findings.

We distill the latest employment reports for this year's MBA grads and remark on the deportation of a Babson student

Reading the tea leaves in the newest class profiles at the top business schools

What are the most common questions? The pitfalls?

For the first time, MBAs from three European business schools have raised the most money for their startups

A candid, brutally honest conversation about getting an MBA in the U.S.

We dissect three rankings — all of which arrived in a single month: Businessweek, LinkedIn & QS

Our annual Meet the MBA Class feature is up. Here's what it says about the latest crop of students to start their MBA journeys all over the world.

We digest the new Financial Times ranking of MiM programs and explain who they are for and what kinds of results grads get from these programs

Our advice in working well with a recommender who might want to use AI to draft a rec letter

With round one deadlines a little more than a week ago, we provide advice on what you need to know right now.

A change in the validity period for GMATs and GREs will impact some applicants this year

The Magnificent 7 MBA programs in the U.S. by the revealing numbers 

Why finance is surging and tech is fading

The results are sometimes as mystifying as they are illuminating

We discuss the increasing possibility of a boycott of the FT's rankings by U.S. MBA programs.

Caroline Diarte-Edwards and Maria Wich-Vila on the changes for MBA applicants

Will other business schools and corporate partners follow? We discuss