1. Brain Drain of MBA Students to Social Enterprise

Rick Cohen of the Nonprofit Quarterly identifies social enterprise as the trendy new career to “seize the imagination of the global elite.” If social enterprise is making its way into your MBA aspirations this fall, be sure to read this article to understand the potential pitfalls of your goals.

2. How Couples Make It Through Business School

You may have heard the horror stories: ambitious woman enters b-school only to realize her significant other doesn’t measure up to the alpha males present; wife decides to get an MBA of her own while waiting for her husband to finish his; divorce ensues. Planning to enter b-school with a significant other? Tips on how to “manage your expectations” will help you stay committed and enrich your relationship in the process of pursuing your dreams.

3. The Most Innovative Companies Today & Tomorrow

If you have your sights set on working for an ultra-innovative company or a disruptive startup post MBA, this article will help you code some creativity into the “DNA” of your work style.

4. Beat the GMAT Launches MBA Watch, a Social Network for MBAs

The go-to-place for all things GMAT and MBA launches MBA Watch, a social network which plans to pull together all the information about b-schools and applicants into one central location. Users can follow individual programs for new information and put in their own stats to see who they’re competing against.

5. MBA Mondays: Financing Options

If you’re interested in entrepreneurship and you don’t know what “preferred stock” means, make your way over to “MBA Mondays” for a whole host of mini lessons in every subject from finance to marketing.

6. This Email Got One Stanford Student A Huge Job

Strapped for a job? Sick of banging on the same castle gates? Try this simple, straightforward tactic. Possibly the best career advice you’ll ever get.

The most accurate answer is: it depends. Here are some of the pros and cons of getting an MBA before you start a company. At the bottom of each consideration, you can see if the “pro” or “con” applies specifically to your case.

PROS:

1. Networking opportunities

Whether you’re looking for investors, partners, or mentors to help you start your venture, schools like MIT Sloan, Stanford GSB, and Chicago Booth will offer enormous student, alumni, and faculty networks. In business, success often comes down to execution, and your network can help you perfect it. The right kind of insight or partnership could put you ahead of your competitors and help you avoid mistakes along the way.

• Disregard this “pro” if: you’re a powerhouse networker or have already built an outstanding network from previous employment.

2. Legitimacy and shared vocabulary

If you don’t know how to communicate with other business people, you’ll have trouble engaging potential partners and investors. “Vocabulary” isn’t just a superficial matter; having the right language to express an idea may help you clarify your thoughts (which translates into more productive decisions). Also know that some people consider the pedigree of the founders when evaluating the potential of certain business plans.

• Disregard this “pro” if: you are skilled at self-directed study and have built up such a record of achievement that an MBA wouldn’t confer any additional prestige.

3. Range of skills developed

Yes, you can always partner with someone who excels in areas in which you are more deficient, but you should have something to offer, too. Business school will give you time to develop your skills in your area of interest, as well as provide you with an understanding of basic business principles. Also, the depth and range of a business education may give you ideas you simply would not have had otherwise.

• Disregard this “pro” if: you have built a deep understanding of accounting, finance, operations, strategy, and marketing in addition to whatever you ultimately specialize in.

4. Access to job opportunities that offer good apprenticeships.

As serial entrepreneur Steve Blank points out, one of Silicon Valley’s most pervasive myth is that “all winning startups are founded straight out of school by 20 year olds from Stanford or Harvard.” Sure, the media loves to talk about young entrepreneurs, but in truth, most successful entrepreneurs are older, with at least a few years experience as apprentices at established companies under their belts. An MBA can help increase your chances of securing a job that will provide you with the experience, skills, and mentors you need to start your own successful company someday.

• Disregard this “pro” if: your resume is already studded with powerful brands and you are ready to break out of apprenticeship mode.

5. Venture/business plan contests.

HBS offers prizes that total $170,000 in their annual Business Plan Contest and Wharton offers $10,000 to “Venture Award” Winners. Though you certainly shouldn’t go to business school expecting to win a contest, know that many successful businesses have been launched with the cash won in b-school contests and the momentum that the win provided. Plus, even if you don’t win a contest, you may receive valuable feedback from the judges that helps refine your idea and make it more attractive to potential VCs.

• Disregard this “pro” if: you already have access to a large amount of cash.

CONS:

1. Cost and forgone salary.

Business school is expensive. And while going to school early may put you on the fast-track to success, it can also pressure you to take the highest paying position out of school instead of exploring other options (check out what our CEO Jose Ferreira has to say on the matter). So, if you haven’t saved up a good deal from previous employment and value your short-term financial freedom, you might want to hold off on pursuing an MBA.

• Disregard this “con” if: money isn’t an issue, or you don’t mind waiting a few years post-MBA to start your own company.

2. Less hands-on experience.

What comes to mind when you think of entrepreneurs? People who solve problems, capitalize on opportunities, and recognize the needs of consumers and move quickly to fulfill those needs. Hands-on experience is essential to developing these skills.

• Disregard this “con” if: you already have experience and want to refine your skills with a formal business education before starting your own venture.

3. You won’t necessarily be surrounded by like-minded classmates.

This is a point John Warrilow brings up in his article, 4 Reasons an MBA is Bad for Entrepreneurs. He argues that most students in top-tier MBA programs will have gotten to that program “by answering the questions correctly, not by examining the efficacy of the question itself” — in other words, they’re more concerned with being right than with being creative. It’s certainly true that more b-school grads go into consulting and banking than become entrepreneurs.

• Disregard this “con” if: you don’t mind seeking out a niche of like-minded peers, or if you’re looking at b-schools with dedicated entrepreneurship programs. These places are almost certain to attract like-minded peers.

Bottom line: Salesmanship is a necessary part of being an entrepreneur. Be confident that you can sell yourself and your business idea to potential partners, investors, and customers whether you choose to pursue an MBA or not.

• An “On the GMAT” section so you can see how each concept will appear on test day
• “700+ Tips” for applying concepts on the toughest GMAT questions
• A handy search bar on every page, bigger lists of related concepts, and more…

This video also marks a journey into a wild, weird world of Knewton you may not have seen before. Get ready to enter… The Content Lab.

Over the last few months, we heard from students that viewing classes on demand was giving them some trouble, so we created a custom video player to make some sweet improvements:

• Improved layout: You get a bigger lesson area for easier viewing.
• Easy navigation: A new progress tab lets you jump from section to section as you watch.
• Even more help: A team teaching display gives you two Knewton teachers instead of one!

The first video we’ve released is Sentence Correction 1. You’ll find it marked with an asterisk (*) in the on-demand drop down menu. The rest of your lessons will become available in the new format in the next few weeks, so stay tuned.

Check out the first lesson and let us know what you think by following the link to our survey from the video player! You can also watch the video below to get a sneak peak at one of these classes in action:

This is also the first feature of the course we created with mobile devices in mind, so the new video player is fully functional for those of you with iPads out there! Let us know your feedback and ideas, and watch this space for continued improvements!

• A brand new practice GMAT
• Totally upgraded course content
• Better tracking on all your GMAT concepts

New practice CAT

One of the most important parts of preparing for the GMAT is taking a series of full-length computer-adaptive tests (CATs), and we just added number 6 to the roster.

Creating a new CAT requires a pool of literally hundreds of questions so that the test can select appropriate items for each test-taker. After a lot of careful calibration, we’re excited for students to experience the ways this latest exam gets them in shape for test day.

With 6 practice GMATs now in the course, we recommend that students take one as a diagnostic before the course, three during the live class schedule at specific times, and then two after session 12. Those two should be followed by the GMAT Prep exams from MBA.com for a total of 8 practice exams before the real deal.

Completely updated course content

Click into the concept pages from your homework and test items and you’ll notice a few changes. We added entries for 100+ topics (more on that below), and re-worked each page of reference content to give you more tools to improve.

Now, each piece of content connects the concept you’re viewing to how you’ll see it on exam day. An “On the GMAT” section provides test-like examples for each concept, and the new content features more strategy tips to help you implement what you learn.

More detailed concept reporting

Brad wrote about this last week, but we’re still pretty excited. Our Content team has been hard at work isolating the GMAT concepts you need to know in even more detail.

Instead of being defined by one main concept, questions are now marked with all the concepts that they test. More concept data gives you better progress reports — and an even more complete picture of what you need to work on.

Enjoy! If you have any questions or feedback, let us know over on the Knewton Community Page.

And if you’re not a student, now’s a great time to join

If you’re in class now, you may have noticed that the number of concepts associated with the questions in your CATs, homework quizzes, focus lessons, and extra practice problems has grown. That’s because we refined our concept hierarchy and atomic-level reporting: basically, the way we track how you’re doing on all the component concepts tested on the GMAT.

What does this mean for you? Better content (written and video) and an even more complete picture of what you need to study. You’ll see a richer, more personal list of relevant concepts, deeper reporting on your strengths and weaknesses, and targeted content for 700-level scores.

Our new concept hierarchy is going into our next wave of adaptive learning tools and instruction, so you’re getting all our latest technology to help you raise your GMAT score.

Check out the new content, and let us know what you think! You can join your teachers and fellow students in the discussion at community.knewton.com.

If you’re a student, halfway through your class you can try 2 Midterm Challenge Quizzes, high-difficulty 15-question mini-tests geared toward 700+ scorers. At the end of the course, take two Final Challenge Quizzes for even more focused practice.

This challenge practice is a great supplement to your core work, so all you high-achievers get ready. You can access your challenge quizzes right from your syllabus page; they’re attached to Session 6 and Session 12.

Happy quizzing!

Knewton is in a maturation stage as a startup – and as such, we have strong needs for creative capacity in all aspects of our Marketing efforts. This role will be dedicated to this effort. The environment is 80-90% online (10% print – print expertise not required), extremely fast-paced, and requires someone with the right balance of facilitator, consultant, organizer, and design mastery/talent. Day-to-day, the Digital Art Director will be expected to extract requirements from one or more business owners, provide creative input and direction, formulate a plan, line up necessary resources, and roll up his or her sleeves to knock out design work. Design work will be overseen at a high-level by the UX Design Lead, but this role will be largely independent.

Much of this design work is conversion-driven and the right candidate will possess business-minded creative skill, understanding what moves levers and metrics. Experience working closely with Marketing and Business executives on affecting metrics is a huge bonus.

The Digital Art Director will play a significant role in the evolution of Knewton as a brand—an exciting and unique opportunity to put your mark on a hot NYC startup. In addition to working closely with the Lead User Experience Designer, you would work with Knewton’s external creative advisor, Bessemer Ventures’ ‘Designer in Residence’ Jason Putorti, (designer of mint.com)

This is an on-site, contract-to-perm position in our offices right on Union Square in NYC.

The right candidate will possess these qualities/skills:

* have years of experience as a web designer at the art direction level
* possess initiative + project ownership (own the project, inspire others, initiate ideas, carry projects across the goal line)
* dependable (deliver on time, even in difficult, changing, circumstances)
* organized (this role has a strong coordination component)
* possess attention to detail – especially in design work
* be a strong, clear, easy communicator
* possess strong design talent (command of typography, color, composition, branding)
* dedicated (present + focused + really wanting to be here)
* ready for start-up life (intense, can handle pressure, passionate)

Agency experience a plus. html/css, flash, or print experience not necessary but would be a huge bonus.

Please send resume, cover letter, and relevant samples to designjobs AT knewton.com

Affordable, Interactive Test Prep Course with Advanced Capabilities Provides Students Around the World with the Resources They Need to Ace the SAT

New York, N.Y. — March 2, 2010 — Knewton, a leading online educational company, today announced the launch of its new SAT prep course. The course is the first in the industry to use adaptive learning technology to ensure that students raise their test scores. By hiring only the best teachers in the country and broadcasting classes online, Knewton offers a course far superior to any other, for a fraction of the price. With an introductory offer of $290 per course (regular price only $490) and the industry’s top money-back guarantee—at least a 150-point gain or a full refund—Knewton is offering the smartest test prep at an affordable price to aspiring college students.

Read more here.

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What’s the position? GMAT, SAT and LSAT teachers (you can be hired to teach one, two or all three of these tests!)

What kind of person are you looking for? All Knewton teachers should be passionate about education, outstanding at taking tests, and, above all, extremely fun to listen to. You’ve got to command a classroom’s attention without being in the same physical room as your students. We like people with interesting backgrounds, the ability to tell a joke, and a love of combining learning and having a good time.

If the first round goes well, then you will be invited back to present some test questions on camera. There, we’ll be looking for your terrific presentational skills. Make sure you don’t fall into the trap of “over-explaining.” Once a question has been explained, ask the students if they understood, and if they did, then move on! If they didn’t, then be fluid, and have a secondary method or explanation ready to go.

Final thoughts. If you look at our teachers page, you will see that we’ve got actors, musicians, web designers, weathermen, scientists, martial arts masters, you name it. There is no “correct person” for a Knewton teacher. We love diversity, and we love people who keep things interesting. I really hope to hear from you soon!

Interested? Just send an email with your résumé and cover letter to teach@knewton.com.