We appreciate very much your loyalty reading this blog and hopefully we can welcome you as well in 2011 – and some of your friends! Use this blog as your starting point for an exciting journey through IE, as student, as alumni or just as curious person seeking broaden your knowledge.

Many candidates struggle with the concept of NO DEADLINE in the application process at IE as they don’t know when to submit their application. This post aims to clarify the concept and provides recommendations on when to apply.

IE operates a rolling admissions process which allos candidates for the Master programs to apply all year around. So, you can apply for a Master Degree which starts in Spring 2012 as well as for a program that might start within the next couple of months. The main difference to admissions processes with established rounds is that IE does not compare candidates with each other as it is difficult to compare an Architect from US with an Engineer from Japan or a Lawyer from Germany. A Master Degree is all about contribution and it is difficult to tell if the architect, the engineer or the lawyer enhances more the class discussions with their experiences while in the program. Candidates who meet the admissions criteria will receive an admission to the program of their choice independently when they apply.

Of course, this does not give any revelation on WHEN to apply. The general indication is to start your application process around 9-12 month before the intended program start. Taking into account that some programs close up to 5 months before the program officially starts, the admissions process takes up to 2 month and the student visa processing alike, you quickly notice that applying 9 months ahead, might already be a little tight. Probably the more simple rule is the following:

• You apply for the spring intake (programs starting from February to April), you should take your summer holidays to start with your preparation for your GMAT, GRE and gathering the additional required documents.
• You apply for the fall intake (programs starting from September to November), Christmas time always provides a nice break from the stress at work and gives you time to plan ahead for your Master Degree.

Nonetheless, the best thing of a rolling admissions process is its flexibility. You still might decide to start your program in the coming spring intake, but you should start working on your application NOW and check with the Admissions Department or the Representative Offices whether there are still spaces left in the desired program and intake. As the admissions standards are continuously high, don’t expect an easier process but it might be a little quicker than the previous indications. The worst case scenario always can be that you don’t arrive on time and you have to wait till the coming intake – but if it’s important to you to start as early as possible, if you don’t give it try you definitely won’t make it!

One final recommendation: if you plan to apply for Financial Aid, opt always for the “well-planned option”. Financial Aid funds are limited and will get assigned on the first come first serve basis. The later you apply for any intake, the less likely it is that you will get the desired funds to finance your program.

Watch Michael Wadleigh, Oscar winning film-maker and co-founder of the Homo Sapiens Foundation, when he was talking on sustainability and the cultural legacy of the 1960s at his recent visit on the IE University campus in Segovia. Also, have a look a the university campus from a singular perspective.

IE Business School holds the No. 5 position in Europe and No. 1 in Spain in this year’s ranking of European business schools published by the Financial Times.

The annual report is an accumulation of rankings published by the Financial Times throughout the year of MBA programs, Executive MBAs, Masters in Management, and Executive Education programs. This overall ´ranking of rankings´ considers factors including graduate salary progression, levels of diversity among faculty and student body, and fulfillment of expectations of students and recruiters.

IE Business School’s position in the Financial Times’s ranking of European business schools further consolidates results achieved by the School this year in international rankings conducted by The Wall Street Journal (No. 1 worldwide, MBA), Bloomberg Businessweek (No. 3 non-US based, MBA; No. 1 in Europe and No. 6 worldwide Executive Education), Forbes (No. 3 worldwide, MBA), and The Economist (No. 1 worldwide, distance learning international Executive MBA).

As the previous post on the exciting launch of the Master in Architectural Management & Design caught your attention, here comes the good news of the Architectural Challenge Scholarship Competition. Details you will find using the link of the image and HURRY UP – the deadline is on January 1, 2011!

Good luck!

IE School of Architecture recently presented its new Master in Architectural Management & Design in London. Influential architects, academics and journalists discussed the need for improved management skills in architecture practices.
Featured participants:

Christine Murray, Editor, The Architects’ Journal 
Ken Shuttleworth, Make Architects
Ron Sidell, Sidell Gibson Architects
Peter Murray, Chairman, NLA & Professor, MAMD, IE School of Architecture
Manon Janssens, Zaha Hadid Architects
Javier Quintana, Dean, IE School of Architecture, IE University
Paul Davis, Paul Davis + Partners

If you wish to explore more about the IE Master in Architectural Management & Design, log on to mamd.ie.edu.

Words are human, substantially human. They link our thoughts to reality and to other thoughts. Thanks to words, others know what we are thinking or what we want to say. Depending on how skilful we are with words, we succeed or fail in reaching others, obtaining personal or collective benefits, and building the future.

No matter how knowledgeable they are, no matter how intelligent they are, people who do not express themselves very well are at a disadvantage. Words are effectiveness.

Our thoughts are made up of words. As we progress in the art of the word, we learn to think better, we acquire mental skills that we did not have previously because the brain develops with language, and if we train and teach the word, the brain increases its muscle power.

Our brain deals with images, sensations, all kinds of memories and an endless array of words. Our language brings all that together. The word and the action are what best reveal what we are and what we want to be. People who do not use words well act as if they have had their strongest member amputated. Read more…

At IE Business School, we take a holistic approach to evaluating each candidate. We look at every aspect of your application; as such no single element is of unique importance within evaluation, but rather a compilation of all the elements submitted.

Between those submitted elements are the letters of recommendation, fundamental in “adding score points in the path to admission” as Julian Trigo, Director of Admissions at IE Business School. He also addressed that ”finding the right recommenders is crucial” to get to know the strenghts and weaknesses of a candidate applying to the International MBA program.

Here are some tips when choosing your recommenders: Read more…

Prof. Tara Wernsing, professor at IE Business School, is researching on Authentic Leadership. Find out on how this can be developed… adding a bit more to the discussions whether leadership is born or can be taught!