Business - BusinessWeek

Your applications are done. You've been accepted at your dream school. You paid the deposit. What could go wrong? For the would-be MBA class of 2011, plenty. The unforeseen events that often waylay admitted students were compounded this year by difficulty securing loans, problems selling homes, and anxiety about leaving the workforce. At many programs, that meant more would-be students asking for a deferral of admission. ... Full Story »

Leaving the Army was a difficult decision. I had already invested eight years of my life in my military career, considering the time spent as an ROTC cadet at Wake Forest University and an active duty tour that took me everywhere from Kansas to Iraq. However, during my deployment I realized that my professional and personal goals weren't compatible with a lifetime spent in the armed forces. With this in mind, I began the bittersweet process of getting out -- and at the same time I had to ask myself the next logical question: Now what? Full Story »

From the day my parents took me to the Philadelphia Phillies spring training complex in my hometown of Clearwater, Fla., I wanted to be the starting shortstop for the New York Mets. My Hungarian immigrant father and my Brooklyn-native mother had fallen in love in New York and there was no way they'd allow me to root for anyone but the Mets. Little League followed and I made all-star teams but when I hit high school, the growth spurt I had anticipated failed me and professional baseball became a fleeting dream. ... Full Story »

At first glance, banks seem to be recovering nicely from the financial crisis. But investors cheered by optimistic earnings reports could soon face a painful surprise. Full Story »

Home buyers might soon have to bring more cash to the table to qualify for Federal Housing Authority-backed mortgages. The FHA mortgages, which now make up 30% of originations, have surged in popularity because borrowers need a down payment of just 3.5% to qualify, but the housing crisis has battered the agency's reserves. Full Story »

Macao - The Venetian casino complex in Macao is plenty grand. Singing gondoliers ply their boats along a canal that meanders through a mall featuring luxury boutiques, an 1,800-seat theater for the Cirque du Soleil, and dozens of bars and restaurants. Full Story »

Dubai -- After Dubai announced in late November that the state-controlled investment firm Dubai World was seeking to reschedule payments on some $26 billion of debt, global markets went into a tailspin. While foreign bourses quickly rebounded, local shares have taken a pounding, and the credibility of Dubai's leadership has suffered serious damage. Yet lost in all the drama is the fact that Dubai is an important economic experiment in a strategically vital region. ... Full Story »

(Bloomberg) -- The tallest tower to open next year in London's main financial district won't house bankers or office workers. It will be a student dormitory. Full Story »

(Bloomberg) -- Mortgage rates for fixed 30-year loans in the U.S. dropped to a record low amid signs that the housing market is beginning to emerge from the worst slump since the 1930s. Full Story »

More than half of employees who have Internet access at work say they will shop for holiday gifts from the office, according to a November poll conducted for Shop.org, a division of the National Retail Federation.While online shopping may be more efficient than braving the crowds at lunch hour, employee shopping can compromise both security and productivity, says David Kelleher of GFI Software, which sells remote monitoring and management software primarily to small and medium firms.He spoke recently about this topic with Smart Answers columnist Karen E. Klein. ... Full Story »