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This week’s MBA news roundup starts with a question on every applicant’s mind: How much work experience do you need before b-school? Read on to learn about the experience question, post-MBA job prospects, and what MIT Sloan is looking for in its applicants.

1. No Experience Necessary

Students are applying to b-school programs at younger ages these days, and more schools are offering acceptance to applicants without work experience. Read more in this Wall Street Journal article.

2. Ring the Bells: McDonough School of Business Closes NYSE

Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business students and faculty had their own New York Stock Exchange closing ceremony, complete with cowbells.

3. Admissions Q&A: MIT

If you’re interested in attending Sloan, read these application tips straight from the admissions team.  A big challenge for applicants?  Making sure those “beneath the water” qualities show up.

4. More Jobs Projected for Class of 2011

Recruiting is on the mend at Washington University in St. Louis’ Olin Business School.  Read more about the statistics in the school’s publication, Student Life.

5. Lending Farmers a Hand, a Long Way from Home

One UMass MBA student is stretching his skills all the way to Tajikistan to help farmers in need.  Read more about what he’s doing in this Amherst Bulletin piece.

6. Banana-Based Pad Maker Elizabeth Scharpf Wants Rwandan Women Educated. Period.

From Harvard Business School to social innovation, Elizabeth Scharpf is making an impact on women’s lives in Africa.  Find out more about it in this Fast Company piece.

7. Babson MBA Muscles into San Francisco

Bay Area businessmen no longer need to switch coasts to earn an MBA from Babson.  Babson’s Fast Track program in San Francisco cozies up with Stanford Graduate School of Business and UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business to attract the brightest business minds in that area.  Read more in this article in The Bay Citizen.

8. Alumni Set Up Harvard Dating Site

Not a Harvard student (yet)?  You can still date one!  Two female Harvard Business School graduates created DateHarvardSQ.com to help people find dates.

9. Columbia to Offer E.M.B.A. Saturday Program

Starting in May 2011, you can attend Columbia Business School on the weekend without quitting your job.  Learn more about this program in this article in the Wall Street Journal.

10. Peer to Peer

For more info on E.M.B.A. programs in general, check out this Wall Street Journal piece that discusses how these Executive Program students at schools such as Notre Dame, Duke, and Texas A&M are learning a lot not only from their teachers, but from their peers as well.

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