With fewer people applying to MBA programs everywhere, students at The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania knew they had to take action. Even their own class of 2006 saw a 21% dip in applications. So a few MBAs agreed to help Wharton's admissions office host several rounds of early-admissions events this summer in places like New York, London, Paris, Beijing, Shanghai, Mexico, and Moscow.

Summer is an early time -- the earliest ever for Wharton -- to start the admissions process. Such events usually kick-off in September at most B-schools. But the pre-autumn push is an attempt to catch talent ahead of the competition, and to help applicants get their B-school packages up to snuff.

GLOBE-TREKKING.  The Fuqua School of Business at Duke University has also ramped up its summer recruiting schedule. Since May -- the earliest the B-school has ever begun recruiting new classes -- admissions reps visited 21 cities around the world and made regional trips throughout Asia and Latin America. The admissions office plans to hit the road far more in 2004 than in 2003, visiting some cities more than once.

Sharon Thompson, senior associate director of full-time MBA admissions at Fuqua, says the busy summer is part of an effort to increase the size of the applicant pool. In particular, Fuqua wants an early shot at the recently deflated international markets.

But most schools lack the resources to travel much between May and August. "Too many offices are working with too few staff [members], and often can't travel earlier," says Liz Reisberg, executive director of The MBA tour. European schools also tend to struggle with summer recruiting, she says, because many are on vacation in August.

On the flip side, some schools are setting themselves up for last-minute recruiting efforts in 2005. QS Top MBA, which runs a series of tours throughout the admissions season, will hold MBA fairs in select U.S. cities in February, 2005, a time when most U.S. schools have already wrapped up their recruiting trips. Matt Symonds, co-founder and director of QS, the parent of QS Top MBA, says schools plan to use that late face-time to top-off their incoming September classes.

These extra efforts just might pay off. On July 16, 12 Wharton MBAs and alumni drew about 70 potential applicants to the school's first London MBA-recruiting event for the next admissions season. MBA hopefuls learned about the school's curriculum, its alumni network, and took home some admissions tips. Anne Titterington, a rising second-year, told MBAs about her school-organized trip to Antarctica last January, and she also answered questions about student life. "It's important to continually be promoting the brand," she says.

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A New Dean Rocks Case Western

Myron Roomkin is leaving the political rancor of Washington in November for a more rockin' town. He's taking over as Dean of Case Western Reserve's Weatherhead School of Management. As the current Dean of American University's Kogod School of Business, Roomkin, 59, will head to Cleveland to take charge of a B-school that has faced some trouble over the last few years.In May, 2003, a shooting in the school's brand-new, high-tech, and uniquely structured Frank Gehry-designed building killed one student and injured two more. In June, 2002, the building's donor and namesake, Peter B. Lewis, caused an uproar when he withheld part of his donation to the larger university (the $3.9 million he donated for the building wasn't affected). Lewis was angry that trustees had allowed costs to get out of control, and was instrumental in ousting many board members as a result.

Roomkin joined American in 1998 after more than two decades as a professor and administrator at Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management. He'll replace former Dean Mohsen Anvari. Roomkin will work on rebuilding the B-school's brand and developing broader ties with Case Western's engineering and medical schools. "Weatherhead needs to broaden its competencies to supplement its excellent reputation...in disciplines such as organizational behavior," he says. He also says he'll work to raise the prominence of the school globally.A sculpture artist in his spare time, Roomkin is the latest face of many at Case Western. In August, 2002, the school hired a new president, Dr. Edward Hundert. Since then, a number of other colleges at the university have welcomed new deans.

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Fuqua MBA Workhop Reaches Out to Minorities

In July, 76 newly admitted MBA students from five business schools attended a new, three-day workshop at the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University. The MBA Jumpstart Workshop was aimed at giving underrepresented minority students more information about careers in consulting and investment banking -- industries that are slow to hire minorities.

New MBA students are increasingly job-focused and are starting their job and internship searches before they even set foot in a Finance 101 course. But conference co-founder Elton Ndoma-Ogar says the hectic nature of B-school requires MBAs to start looking before they're mired in coursework -- and are too busy to seriously consider opportunities in the banking and consulting industries . "If you can start making career decisions before you get to business school, it helps the corporations, the students, and the schools know what resources need to be made available," he says. Plus "there's no such a thing as too much exposure."

The conference was limited to minority MBAs from The Wharton School, Chicago Graduate School of Business, Columbia Business School, Stanford Business School, and Fuqua. Ndoma-Ogar and co-founder John Burt, both minorities and Class of 2003 Fuqua grads, limited participation for this first-ever event. Next year, they may invite more schools. Corporate sponsors include Morgan Stanley, Banc of America, UBS, Lehman Brothers, and Merrill Lynch.

Romahlo Wilson, who is of African-American and Indian decent, attended the workshop for some one-on-one advice about a job in investment banking. He'll begin Wharton's full-time MBA program in August with about 800 other new MBAs. No matter how good Wharton's career-services office turns out to be, Wilson says he knew he'd benefit from the personal advice that recruiters, other MBAs, and alumni could offer. "I wouldn't have worked as hard as I now see myself working to get these positions had I not attended Jumpstart," he says. And with "upwards of $100,000" in expected debt, Wilson says the sooner he gets moving on his job search, the better.

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