P&Q’s Must Reads: Wharton MBA, Jobless For A Year, Says Many Like Him Are ‘Suffering In Silence’ 

Hello everyone  — Welcome back to Poets&Quants’ Must Reads, a quick, digestible recap of the top business school news, sponsored by CentreCourt, P&Q’s virtual admission events.

I’m your host, Kristy Bleizeffer, and I’ll be highlighting the most important P&Q stories you might have missed. So, let’s get to it. 

No. 1: Wharton MBA, Jobless For A Year, Says Many Like Him Are ‘Suffering In Silence’ 

John Costa’s struggles to find work as a Wharton MBA struck a chord with Poets&Quants readers. Not only is our story on Costa’s journey since graduating from Wharton in 2016 among the most-read of 2024, but since its publication more than a month ago, Costa has received a huge outpouring of support.

Costa’s background is in law enforcement and crime and intelligence analysis. He says a little over a decade ago, he decided to get an MBA because he saw little opportunity for career advancement in the public sector. His goal: to find work in management consulting.

That’s now how things have gone. Costa updates readers are his job hunt and prospects since first sharing his story with P&Q. You can find it in our trending tab.

No. 2: Duke Fuqua Received More MBA Apps Than Ever For Fall 2024

History is happening right now at Duke University. After receiving the most applications ever to its Daytime MBA program, the Fuqua School of Business has enrolled 51% women for the MBA Class of 2026 that began classes earlier this month — the first time in the program’s storied history that it has achieved gender parity.

The school received the most MBA applications in its history in the 2023-2024 cycle, up more than 15% from the previous year. The turnaround from the past couple of cycles allowed Fuqua to seat its biggest class since the pandemic year of 2021.

This is the first in our series of MBA class profiles at all the top schools. You’ll find this one, and all the upcoming profiles, on our homepage.

No. 3:  Nominate The Best Undergraduate B-School Professors Of 2024

Attention undergraduate business school professors, students, and administrators: Nominations for Poets&Quants For Undergrads’ annual Best Undergraduate Business School Professors are now open. Between now and October 7, 2024, we’ll be taking nominations for professors to be considered for this year’s recognition.

You can find guidelines for this year’s recognition, as well as fill out the nomination form, on our sister site: poetsandquantsforundergrads.com.

No. 4: Our Weekly Round Up of  News You Can Use

No matter where you are in your MBA journey, we bring several helpful stories for you this week.

First up: The ‘Introduce Yourself’ MBA Essay. This article, up now on our homepage, invites you to ask what you’ll bring to the school community.

Next: How To Highlight Growth In Your MBA Application. This article explores vital success factors that will get you noticed. Find it on our homepage. 

Finally: Communicating Why You Need An MBA. 

There’s a vast difference between knowing internally why you should get an MBA and conveying those reasons on paper or in person. This article in our admission hub, shows you how to explain why you need the MBA in your essays.

And, that’s it for this week’s Must Reads recap. 

I also want to alert school seekers to our events tab from our main menu. There, you’ll find all the upcoming admissions events for a range of degrees and programs including full-time and online MBAs, specialized masters, entrepreneurship and more. Registration is free.

Again, I’m Kristy Bleizeffer, and you can join me next week, right here, for a recap of what’s important in the world of business education. Thanks for listening.