Best MBA-Related Reads for the Week ending 2005.03.04 [Edit 1]

(Note: This will actually cover several weeks of MBA content as I've been too busy hacking away at HBS's application system to do much blogging.)

• The Apply Yourself Fiasco - This is the biggest news the community has seen in a while, which says something about how hard-up we are for anything the least bit juicy in the first place. There are so many takes on it that I'll have to point you to Clear Admit's most excellent wrap-up with myriad links to various takes on the issue. (source)
• Avoid These Mistakes On Financial-Aid Forms - As much as I enjoy saying "Fuck the FAFSA" for its beautiful alliterative qualities, it's time to act like an adult for a minute and start filling out all of these damned forms if I'm ever going to actually attend Wharton. That's why I found this sampling of common mistakes so helpful. Here are my favorites including some fake text to keep you awake:
  • Leaving a field blank. If the answer to an asset or income question is zero, then put in a "0." This of course means that you're a loser and should probably consider offing yourself.
  • Attachments. Do not include anything with the form when you mail it. Leave all attachments at home when you go to business school because you know you'll be slutting around with the best of them.
  • Income. Do not use your W-2 to report income. Wear your income. Broadcast your income. It's all about the bling, baby.
  • Filing Online. If using the online version of FAFSA, do not attempt to hack the online form to determine your FAFSA award early.
  (source)
• Another List That Will Never Get Done - How many of us make lists that look just like chanakya's list of things to do before fall? How much of it will get done? I'm tellin' ya, the siren song of the blank slate draws business school students in droves to the rocky shore. (source)
• Is the MBA responsible for moral turpitude at the top? - The question's been asked a number of times... but the Economist manages to find a fresh twist. Killer quote: "The real problem arises when students, or their new employers, believe that an MBA is, somehow, a qualification for business leadership." (source)
• Sound Advice for Entering First-Years - Though the original post is over a year old now, a link to it was posted this week by CalGrad. The advice ranges from "No shit, Sherlock"-obvious to actually valuable. (source)
• Another B-School Blogger Calls It Quits - Well, that was sure a short run by what looked to be a very promising blog. I'm sorry to see this author close up shop after such a brilliant run at blogging.(source)
• Cizzo-Workas "I'm not saying never. I'm just saying, until your job title is something like, 'Snoop's entourage member #6', you can't call them your cizzo-workas." --An exasperated guy talking on a cell phone at Andronico's. (source)
• Broken Career Center at Marshall? Writes one Marshall student, "the career center ... at this point is just occupying valuable space that could be used for, say, napping or yoga or full-contact origami." (source)
• Student Association (of Idiocy) Never, ever stand between a business school student and free beer. To do so is to risk his blogging ire. JDMBA lets loose. (source)

Edit 1: Erroneously stated that LBS's career center might be broken when, in fact, the linked-to blog was complaining about USC Marshall's career center. Oops.