Posted by Clear Admit on August 31, 2005, at 10:52 am
Posted in:  Admissions Tips Last week’s posting about the importance of outside activities led to several inquiries about what exactly qualifies as an activity in the eyes of an MBA admissions officer. As a means of explanation, we thought we’d use today’s posting to actually list a few of the varied activities we’ve seen over the years.
We’ve compiled this list by grouping activities into a handful of key categories. These categories apply to both collegiate and post-collegiate involvement:
1) Community/Volunteer Work. Community/volunteer work comes in many flavors. An applicant may spend time volunteering with a well-known organization (Habitat for Humanity, the Red Cross, CRY, New York Cares, Big Brothers/Big Sisters, etc). There are also less formal volunteer activities, such as donating time to go food shopping for an elderly neighbor, mentoring a local high school student or working with a grassroots organization in your community.
2) Sports. Many MBA applicants enjoy participating in a range of sports. It’s not uncommon to see marathon runners, tri-athletes, golfers, cricket players, tennis players and skiers in the applicant pool. Adventure sports, such as skydiving and mountain climbing are also more and more common. Some applicants are able to combine their passion for sports with a desire to give back to their community, resulting in activities such as little league baseball coaching, charity runs and more.
3) Cultural Pursuits. It’s no surprise that applicants to the leading MBA programs are often active in arts, languages and travel. After all, b-schools are looking for well-rounded, globally-minded leaders. Membership and active involvement with a local arts organization, performance as a musician, pursuit of language coursework or conversation (via groups like the Alliance Francaise, etc) and extended travel all qualify as outside activities. So does participation in a book club, film club or concert series. Over time, we’ve seen classical violinists, rock musicians, book club founders, museum volunteers, world travelers (with expertise or passion for a specific region/culture/language) and more.
4) Professional Activities, Alumni Associations. Some applicants use their free time to engage in professional associations or stay active with their alma mata (by serving as an alumni interviewer, mentor to current students or alumni club officer). This type of involvement often allows participants to gain solid leadership and networking skills. It also suggests dedication to one’s professional field or college.
5) Other Hobbies. While many pursuits fit neatly into the various groups above, some will not. For example, a great number of applicants are passionate about gourmet cooking, international politics, rotisserie baseball, floral arrangement, religion, etc. In these cases, the actual activities will vary, but formal involvement is always helpful when it comes to supporting your interest (e.g. taking a cooking class or organizing a political discussion group is probably better than passively pursuing these interests as a consumer of fine food or reader of political publications).
We’ve no doubt left out many valid and interesting activities here, but our goal has been to merely demonstrate the range of involvements and interests that might qualify as an outside . . . → Continue Reading
Posted by Clear Admit on August 30, 2005, at 6:51 am
Posted in: Essay Topic Analysis , School: London Business School Today, we’d like to take a look at the essay questions for this year’s London Business School application. With two of the school’s five essays weighing in at a mere 100 words, it’s true that this school requires less writing than most other applications – but applicants will quickly realize that this does not translate into less thought or effort.
1. In what role do you see yourself working immediately after graduation? Why? How will your past and present experiences help you achieve this? How will the London Business School MBA Programme contribute to this goal? Finally, how do you see your career progressing five years after graduation? (600 words maximum) See our general tips on writing the standard career goals essay for guidance in tackling this question. One thing to note is that unlike the vast majority of questions covering this topic, LBS’ framework is far from chronological. While this makes for a less linear essay, the good news is that it will be fairly easy to produce a response that is clearly tailored to the school’s question, giving applicants who take the time to do this a slight edge over others who are cutting and pasting content they’ve drafted for applications to other schools. We should also point out that LBS asks for very specific information about your short-term goal and your five-year plan (further underlining the need to be specific when it comes to career goals essays).
2. Please describe your experience of working in and leading teams, either in your professional or personal life. Given this experience, what role do you think you will play in your study group, and how do you intend to contribute to it? (500 words maximum) While this question seems to invite a broad commentary on the history of the applicant’s leadership and teamwork experiences at or outside of the workplace, keep in mind that the most effective essays are those that provide specific details and vivid anecdotes. A general comment about the various leadership roles you’ve held is certainly in order, but this would be best used as an introduction to an example that exemplifies your leadership/teamwork skills and style. Note that the question about LBS study groups offers applicants a great chance to showcase their familiarity with the program and prove that they’ve done their homework, as well as demonstrate that they’ve thought through the contribution they would make and the strengths they could bring to the program.
3. Student involvement is an extremely important part of the London MBA experience and this is reflected in the character of students on campus. What type of student club or campus community event do you envisage yourself initiating? How would you set about organising this, and how would you communicate it to the wider School community? (400 words maximum) This question is similar to Kellogg’s second essay, which also gives applicants a chance to discuss their unique interests and activities, and link them to a specific contribution to the . . . → Continue Reading
Posted by Clear Admit on August 29, 2005, at 10:11 am
Posted in: General The academic component of one’s MBA application typically consists several broad categories (undergraduate education, GMAT score, graduate education, TOEFL, continuing/supplemental coursework, certifications, etc). From this group, one of the most important categories is undergraduate education. Breaking down the undergraduate education category into all of its component parts reveals some interesting aspects of the evaluation process:
Undergraduate Education: component parts 1. Overall performance (GPA, class rank, percentile) 2. Quality of program 3. Difficulty of subjects studied (intellectual and quantitative rigor) 4. Trends in performance (upward trend vs. senior slump, etc) 5. Extenuating circumstances (worked part-time to fund studies, first in family to college, etc) 6. Special awards, scholarships and honors 7. Level of involvement in extracurricular activities
Today’s posting focuses on #2: quality of program. The MBA admissions officers often look at an applicant’s undergraduate academic performance in light of their general impression of the school attended. As such, the recent US News undergraduate rankings may be of interest to the MBA applicant pool:
Best Universities: 1. Harvard, 2. Princeton, 3. Yale, 4. Univ. of Pennsylvania, 5. Duke, 5. Stanford, 7. Cal-Tech, 7. MIT, 9. Columbia, 9. Dartmouth
Best Liberal Arts Colleges: 1. Williams, 2. Amherst, 3. Swarthmore, 4. Wellesley, 5. Carleton, 6. Bowdoin, 6. Pomona, 8. Haverford, 8. Middlebury, 10. Claremont McKenna College.
Perhaps more intriguing is a ranking that the Wall Street Journal put together some time ago and entitled ‘feeder rankings’. The newspaper took a careful look at students attending leading professional schools and then attempted to compile a list of where these students had attended college. Although imperfect due to the inclusion of all professional schools (business, law and medical), this ranking offers an interesting look at which undergraduate schools seem to give their students an edge when it comes time to apply to the leading MBA programs.
Feeder Rankings: 1. Harvard, 2. Yale, 3. Princeton, 4. Stanford, 5. Williams, 6. Duke, 7. Dartmouth, 8. MIT, 9. Amherst, 10. Swarthmore.
For a full listing of the top 50 feeder schools at the Wall Street Journal’s site, click here.
Posted by Clear Admit on August 26, 2005, at 11:50 am
Posted in: Fridays from the Frontline This edition of Fridays from the Frontline is packed with great content from bloggers who are documenting their experiences in business school. With orientation in full swing for most first-year MBA students, there seems to be no shortage of postings regarding life on campus.
Many of our readers may be wondering why they should bother to spend time reading blog entries from current students; after all, most applicants have GMAT exams to take, essays to write, recommendation letters to request, etc. The reason it makes sense to read these posts is because they will give you a glimpse into life on campus – the sort of glimpse that you will not get from published brochures or campus tours. Gaining this perspective can help on two fronts: 1) It will make your application essays more informed (resulting in more favorable admissions decisions), and 2) It may help you to decide which schools are right for you (for those of you who are still looking to reduce the number of schools on your list).
We’ll start with this week’s b-school orientation star, MargaritaLuvr, who has set out to fully blog-ument her first-year orientation experiences at Columbia Business School. Think we’re kidding? Check out her entries for Day 1, Day 2, Day 3 and Day 4! Moving down the Atlantic coast, we find Simba, who is a first-year at Duke and has been offering her thoughts on life in the Fuqua MBA program (with photos). Other bloggers who are getting into the orientation blogging business include Lady Rattler from Stanford (who is feeling a bit overwhelmed at the outset of math camp), MBAEurope from London Business School (who documents loans, LBS orientation, apartment hunting and the weather), and Jewellsnake who has just started at NYU‘s Stern school.
After last week’s speed bump, we were relieved to read that Best of Blogging silver medalist, Brit-Chick felt better about her second take of the dreaded math exam at Wharton. Meanwhile, we turn to the Midwest and check in with MarketWizWannabe at U. Wisconsin – Madison for details on orientation and Andy at University of St. Thomas – Minneapolis for an excellent run down of his Fall 2005 course selection.
Second year student Mark, studying at HBS, has unveiled photos of the newly-renovated Baker library, while veteran blogger Harry Potter describes what it is like to be on the other side of orientation at Duke (where he is kindly helping first year’s settle into life in Durham). Georgetown second-year, Jason offers an in-depth review of his internship with Unilever in Sri Lanka which should be an excellent read for CPG applicants considering a move to McDonough. Moving from Sri Lanka to India, we turn to Vijay and Bharanidharan- current students at the Indian School of Business (ISB) – for their thoughts on Grade Non-disclosure (GND) and enhanced customer service for ISB applicants.
We’d like to conclude this week’s . . . → Continue Reading
Posted by Clear Admit on August 25, 2005, at 2:22 am
Posted in: Essay Topic Analysis Given the increasing number of applicants targeting full time MBA programs in Europe, we’d like to spend some time today offering tips on approaching INSEAD’s essays. This school is unique in its division of questions into “job essays,” which are looking for a factual account of your current position and overall professional progression, and “personal essays,” which invite the sort of reflection and exposition to which MBA applicants are accustomed.
Job Essays 1. Please give a detailed description of your job, including nature of work, major responsibilities; and, where relevant, employees under your supervision, size of budget, number of clients/products and results achieved. (250 words) While the essays for most programs begin by addressing the overall progression of your career up to this point, INSEAD’s first question is requesting a snapshot of your career at this moment. Even if you have held a number of positions within the same organization, your focus should be your current position and responsibilities. Keeping in mind that this will be the adcom’s introduction to your materials, it’s important that you provide the context necessary for the reader to understand your place within the organizational structure and the work that occupies your days. While there is some room to talk about “results achieved,” don’t get bogged down in the specifics of certain projects or engagements – you’ll need to keep your comments fairly general (and focused on the present) here, and incorporate some more specific information about your career’s “greatest hits” later on in response to other questions.
2. Please give us a full description of your career since graduating from university. If you were to remain with your present employer, what would be your next step in terms of position? (250 words) This is a tall order for a 250 word essay, so brevity and efficient use of language will be key here. The adcom is looking for an applicant who can present her career as a coherent whole, and demonstrate that she has been on an upward trajectory since the outset. While it would be ideal for you to include some comments on lessons learned and skills gained over the course of your career, the primary focus should be touching upon each full time post you’ve held, explaining the reasons behind each move you’ve made and commenting on increases and changes in responsibility.
Personal Essays 1. Give a candid description of yourself, stressing the personal characteristics you feel to be your strengths and weaknesses and the main factors which have influenced your personal development, giving examples when necessary. (400 words approx.) This essay is actually very similar to Harvard’s “strengths and weaknesses” question, and the same general approach applies – applicants will want to lead off with two or three positive qualites (grounded in specific illustrative examples) and then comment on one or two weaknesses that they’ve taken steps to address. INSEAD’s framework gives applicants free reign to select personal, professional or extracurricular examples, so make sure that you select your examples . . . → Continue Reading
Posted by Clear Admit on August 24, 2005, at 9:31 am
Posted in: Admissions Tips Today’s admissions tip focuses on extracurricular activities, community work and hobbies. While it is fairly obvious why academics (GMAT, GPA, etc) and work experience play a central role in the MBA admissions process, many applicants are puzzled when they discover that it may matter what they do in their free time as well.
Why it’s important to the adcom One reason why extracurricular activities are a factor is the vital role that current students play in maintaining the MBA community at a school. Much like the structure of life at college, the clubs, conferences, sporting and social events, and other activities at business school rely on students to propose, plan, run, and attend them. As half to all of the student body is replaced each year, the health of a business school community depends on the new students’ enthusiasm to participate. Admissions committees therefore need a way to assess the extent to which applicants would become involved in their MBA community and, as prior behavior is the best predictor of future behavior, they use applicants’ former and current activities as a barometer to measure the probable extent and nature of their involvement in a business school’s culture.
This aspect of extracurricular activities is likely to have a greater significance for those applying to full-time programs than for applicants to part-time or executive programs. As this latter group is expected to spend only a limited time on campus each week, there tends to be much less emphasis on what takes place outside the classroom. At the same time, all applicants should express interest in building relationships and exchanging ideas with their future classmates as this is always an important aspect of the business school experience.
Another reason why admissions committees consider applicants’ outside interests and activities is as a judge of natural leadership ability and potential. Wharton business school used to explain this connection through the concept of the Renaissance leader: like the original Renaissance man, such a leader has a broad range of skills, interests, and talents. A true leader, this theory holds, is someone who can find something interesting to discuss with anyone, whether that person in interested in art, golf, economics or country music. While having diverse activities and interests by no means creates this type of conversational ability, it can be seen as an indication that an applicant might have the potential for such leadership.
Finally, and perhaps most importantly, outside activities give the admissions committee a certain amount of access to your personality, such that they can determine whether you seem like an interesting person whom others would appreciate having around.
Room to stand out Outside activities provide the one metric where it is still relatively unusual for an applicant to shine. There are plenty of applicants with outstanding professional experiences, academic records, or test scores, but relatively few people have found an extracurricular activity which reflects their passion and which they pursue with vigor. If you have such a pursuit, you will be able to . . . → Continue Reading
Posted by Clear Admit on August 23, 2005, at 2:31 pm
Posted in: Essay Topic Analysis , School: MIT / Sloan As promised in a prior posting, here is our analysis of the MIT/Sloan essay topics for this year. One interesting aspect of MIT’s application are the similarities across the four essay topics – or in particular the potential for grouping essays 1 and 2 (impact/going above and beyond) and essays 3 and 4 (difficult interaction/obstacle). Despite these similarities, it will be crucial for the MIT/Sloan applicant to maintain a balance across topics in order to best showcase each aspect of his or her candidacy.
Cover Letter: The application asks for a cover letter, which should be up to 500 words. This is your first and best opportunity to make a strong, positive impression on us, so take the time to infuse this letter with your personal energy and character. Through what you write we hope to discover whether you will thrive at MIT Sloan, and how you can contribute to our diverse community. Some time ago, Rod Garcia (Director of Admissions at MIT/Sloan) likened the MBA application process to the recruiting process. The philosophy he expressed was quite simple: MBA applicants need to demonstrate that they know how to market themselves – just as they might have to do so when applying for a job. This is why the school requires a cover letter as part of their application.
As you approach this assignment, keep in mind that many of the standard cover letter themes need to be discussed – your attributes, why you like the ‘firm’ (MIT/Sloan), and what you will bring to the ‘firm’. Although you may be tempted to simply reuse a career goals essay, tacking on a greeting at the beginning, if the letter reads exactly like a career goals essay the admissions committee will know they are seeing second-hand material. Therefore you should think of it the way you would a regular cover letter for a job, perhaps with a bit more of a focus on your career history. A potential outline for this essay would start out with a ‘greeting’ to the committee: a statement of your interest in MIT and what you would bring to the school; then a short statement of your career goals, with a summary of your background leading you to the goals, then an MIT section, showing why it is the best place for you – both what you need from MIT and what you will contribute; then a conclusion with a thank you.
Essay One: Please tell us about a time when you had an impact on a person, group, or organization. Describe in detail what you thought, felt, said, and did. (500 words or less.) The essay should start with a description of the situation, and the ‘problem’ – the issue on which you will have an impact. Then you should provide a window into your thinking and decision-making, how you acted on the situation, and what happened as a result (note the emphasis on this in the second part of the question). You should be able . . . → Continue Reading
Posted by Clear Admit on August 22, 2005, at 11:13 am
Posted in: General When it comes to business school statistics, several interesting themes have emerged in recent months:
1) More Jobs. The job market is looking up for graduates from the leading MBA programs. The various blog entries and article links below attest to this phenomenon. B-School Boon (blog entry on New York Post article) Brightening Job Prospects (blog entry on Boston Business Journal piece) Hotter Jobs, New Faces, More Cash (BusinessWeek) Rising Salaries for 2005 Graduates (Sacramento Business Journal) MBA Recruiters Return (Wall Street Journal)
2) More Test-takers. GMAT volume is increasing for the first time in three years. The number of tests taken during the first six months of 2005 is slightly ahead of the figure for the first six months of last year. While staying a bit ahead may not seem important, it’s actually big news. At this time last year, GMAC was facing a 7% drop in test-taker volume. At this time two years ago, the drop was 14%. Judging from the rebound in international volume, we expect this season to be one of the last ‘flat’ seasons for some time (since GMAT volume correlates quite closely with applicant volume at the top schools). The last couple of years have clearly been great for applicants (acceptance rates have increased steadily since 2002) – but it would seem that increased applicant volume (and lower acceptance rates) may be on the horizon.
3) More Options. Part-time and 1-year programs are getting more and more attention in the press. Perhaps as a result of rough patch for MBA graduates (see the years 2001-2003), some current business professionals have been reluctant to forego two years of salary in exchange for the large chunk of debt that typically comes with a prestigious two-year degree. Of course, the irony of this is the fact that this trend may be arriving a bit late. For example, while a part-time or 1-year program would have made great sense in 2002 or 2003 (tough years for the MBA job market), the current climate would suggest that making a full-time, two-year commitment isn’t a bad bet. Of course, beyond price/opportunity cost, we haven’t compared the fundamental differences in part-time vs. full-time options (stay tuned for a blog posting on that subject in the near future).
Overall, there are clear signs that the ‘MBA economy’ has begun to bounce back. Luckily for those of you who are applying this fall, there is often a delay in terms of this data filtering out into the larger business world. In other words, this may be a great year to apply before the next wave of applicants hits the shore…
Posted by Clear Admit on August 19, 2005, at 4:28 pm
Posted in: General Forbes has just released their biennial ranking of MBA programs. This somewhat unorthodox ranking is 100% based on ROI (return on investment). In other words, Forbes looks at the cost of the various MBA programs, the foregone income on the part of students and the wages of graduates to determine where MBAs get the most bang for their buck.
Check out their web site for a complete list of rankings and a host of related articles and interviews.
The top 10 full-time programs are as follows: 1. Darthmouth/Tuck 2. Wharton 3. Chicago GSB 4. Columbia 5. Yale SOM 6. Stanford 7. Harvard 8. Virginia/Darden 9. Cornell/Johnson 10. Kellogg/Northwestern
Top 10 part-time MBA programs: 1. NYU/Stern 2. UCLA/Anderson 3. Kellogg/Northwestern 4. Chicago GSB 5. Michigan/Ross 6. Minnesota/Carlson 7. Maryland/Smith 8. CMU/Tepper 9. Fordham 10. SMU/Cox
Top 10 non-US: 1. INSEAD (France and Singapore) 2. London Business School (England) 3. IMD (Switzerland) 4. IESE (Spain) 5. SDA Bocconi (Italy) 6. Instituto de Empresa (Spain) 7. Oxford (England) 8. Cranfield (England) 9. Cambridge (England) 10. York/Schulich (Canada)
Posted by Clear Admit on August 19, 2005, at 10:32 am
Posted in: Fridays from the Frontline As many applicants in the blogosphere move forward in the admissions process the quantity of great posts available for perusal has rapidly increased. As usual, in this installment of Fridays from the Frontline, we’ve tried to highlight a handful of informative posts for your reading pleasure.
On the GMAT prep front, two bloggers have now put the test to rest. After some truly unfair troubles with scheduling/rescheduling, Beat the GMAT has completed the test, scoring a 720. As usual, his blog offers a wealth of detailed advice for test takers and is not to be missed. Similarly, Anand Rao has completed his exam – scoring a 700 – and offering some solid reflections on the breakdown between his math/verbal sections. Our congratulations to both bloggers for hitting the 700 mark!
As many applicants (and reapplicants) are knee deep in the essay-writing process, we’d like to call your attention to a post from Redwolf who offers an extensive breakdown of the essay writing process along with some detailed tips for how he’s approached things as a reapplicant. Similarly, Vatsa tries to unpack the famous ‘why MBA’ question, cautioning those who “look at the MBA from a purely a financial perspective”. Ty Coon offfers a good overview of his planning for essay drafts, transcript requests, and general application details while Franky4MBA struggles with juggling work and MBA applications and seems to be comtemplating a R2 strategy.
As many of you know, letters of recommendation are a critical aspect of the MBA admissions process. Perhaps more importantly, they are a part of the admissions equation that rests in the hands of the applicant (unlike an old GPA that is impossible to change). Thanks to a terrific posting from Simba Roars, those of you cruising the blogosphere should have no excuse for falling short in this area. Combine his tips with those that we’ve posted in this blog, and you should be off on the right foot. Contact Clear Admit directly to learn more about our recommendation guides (for both applicants and recommendation writers).
Finally, this week, we turn to the bloggers who are embarking on their MBA degrees. First, we check in with Bskewl and Brit-chick who are rolling through orientation as Wharton first year students. Brit-chick describes a minor speed bump, while Bskewl continues to offer his unique sense of humor on all-things Wharton-admin. Moving over to Yale, we find FlatpointMBA offering a blow-by-blow of orientation for first-year MBAs. Across the US, reality has set in for Farmadmit (an incoming Stanford GSB student) with regards to the math requirements and general pre-term activities. Closing out the MBA-student entries for this week are Damali, who offers some interesting commentary on loyalty at Tuck and Surviving Hermes, who breaks down the class bidding process at Columbia.
Congratulations to Power-Yogi who was easily awarded a visa for study at the Chicago GSB.
Posted by Clear Admit on August 18, 2005, at 3:10 pm
Posted in: Deadlines , Essay Topics , School: NYU Stern New York University’s Stern School of Business has recently come out with its deadlines and essay questions for the coming year:
Deadlines
Round One Deadline: December 1, 2005 Decision: February 15, 2006
Round Two Deadline: January 15, 2006 Decision: April 1, 2006
Round Three Deadline: March 15, 2006 Decision: June 1, 2006
Essay Questions
1. Professional Aspirations (2 pages maximum, double-spaced, 12-point font) Think about the decisions you have made in your life. Describe the following: (a) What choices have you made that led you to your current position? (b) Why pursue an MBA at this point in your life? (c) What is your career goal upon graduation from NYU Stern? What is your long-term career goal?
2. Fit with Stern (2 pages maximum, double-spaced, 12-point font) The NYU Stern community is one of our strongest assets. Please answer the following questions about community: (a) What is your personal experience with the Stern community? What actions have you taken to learn more about us? (b) How would you contribute to our community as a student? (c) How will you benefit personally and professionally from the Stern community?
3. Personal Expression Please describe yourself to your MBA classmates. You may use any method to convey your message (e.g. words, illustrations). Feel free to be creative. If you submit a written essay, it should be 2 pages maximum, double-spaced, 12-point font.
This last question is a particularly difficult one for most applicants, as it’s often tricky to determine what constitutes “creatively.” Some applicants have tried to use some sort of list of attributes, activities or interests to describe themselves, but this is not creative. A better plan would be to use this inventory of your experiences and characteristics as a starting point for something like a poem or a story, a journal entry, or a dialogue. Alternatively, you might describe an ideal or even a typical day – anything that really conveys your personality, interests, values, or passions.
Posted by Clear Admit on August 17, 2005, at 5:45 pm
Posted in: School: Penn / Wharton The Wharton Admissions blog announced earlier this week that the MBA program’s online application would be available for use at 9am today. It actually went live late Tuesday and has been up and running all day, so all seems well (as usual). While applicants are welcome to sumbit their applications as early as today, the adcom also commented that review won’t begin until mid-September, with interview invitations being issued (in no particular order) from October 20th through November 17th.
Interested applicants can get started on the online forms here. Good luck!
Posted by Clear Admit on August 17, 2005, at 12:04 pm
Posted in: General A few weeks ago, Clear Admit’s Graham Richmond and Alex Brown participated in an online chat hosted by Business Week online, fielding admissions questions from MBA applicants and offering general and school-specific advice. Those of you who missed the live event can now view an edited transcript of the discussion. Here’s one particularly interesting insight from the Q&A:
NathanGen: In your opinion, what is the single most important factor in an MBA application? Alex Brown: The weakest element of your application is the most important factor. The admissions process takes a holistic approach and looks at many variables, so you really cannot identify one critical variable.
You can check out the rest of the transcript at: http://www.businessweek.com/bschools/content/aug2005/bs20050816_1191.htm
Posted by Clear Admit on August 17, 2005, at 6:38 am
Posted in: Essay Topic Analysis , School: Northwestern / Kellogg While Kellogg’s online application hasn’t yet gone live, they’ve posted their essay questions for the coming year in the admission website’s FAQ. The program has again opted to retain its format of three 1-2 page responses and three shorter essays of 2-3 paragraphs each, and there have been only minor changes made to the latter set. Even though the questions look much the same as they did last year, we’d like to offer applicants some fresh tips on tackling each of the topics:
1. Briefly assess your career progress to date. Elaborate on your future career plans and your motivation for pursuing a graduate degree at the Kellogg School. (one to two pages double-spaced) This is another fairly standard career goals/why MBA essay. Again, remember that specificity of goals is key, and keep in mind that Kellogg prides itself on its collegial culture when addressing the ‘why Kellogg’ issue. One thing to note is that the request that applicants “assess” their progress to date is unique to Kellogg’s version of this question. This would suggest that it might be appropriate to incorporate a few reflective or even evaluative comments into your discussion of your professional path in order to tailor your perspective to Kellogg’s question.
2. Each of our applicants is unique. Describe how your background, values, academics, activities and/or leadership skills will enhance the experience of other Kellogg students. (one to two pages double-spaced) You’re being given the opportunity to do two very important things in this essay. The first is to share a good deal of interesting information about your interests and experiences in order to distinguish yourself from other applicants and help the adcom get to know you. Second, this essay is the perfect forum for you to demonstrate your research on and fit with the program by explaining the ways your involvements and experiences to date translate to a number of specific contributions to the Kellogg community. Whether it’s a class to which your insight would prove especially relevant or a function you could organize as a member of a certain club, the more detail you can provide about the impact you would make, the more reason you’ll give the adcom to admit you.
3. You have been selected as a member of the Kellogg Admissions Committee. Please provide a brief evaluative assessment of your file. (one to two pages double-spaced) This is one of the trickier questions out there, as the request that applicants take a third-party perspective on their own applications virtually prohibits them from introducing any new information in this essay. The key is to use this response to draw the inferences that you would hope the reader to make based on your file, perhaps explicitly commenting on themes that run through your experience or drawing connections between your goals and some aspect of your background. This is also a great place for you to address weaknesses in your file – for instance, commenting that while your GPA is below the . . . → Continue Reading
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