Posted by Clear Admit on August 16, 2005, at 11:40 am
Posted in:  Deadlines , Essay Topics , School: London Business School On the heels of our INSEAD posting, we’ve included the relevant deadlines and essay questions below for another leading European program: London Business School.
Although many of the MBA programs in Europe offer a 1-year degree, LBS follows the more traditional two-year format (with some flexibility for candidates who wish to complete their studies more promptly).
Deadlines for September 2006 intake
Round 1: October 21st, 2005
Round 2: January 6th, 2006
Round 3: February 24th, 2006
Round 4: April 28th, 2006
Essay Questions
The essays are an opportunity to tell us more about yourself. Use the essays to detail your interests, values and goals. We are interested in what motivates you, evidence of leadership and team work, why you are looking to pursue an MBA at this point in your life, and what you will bring to the London Business School Community. The essays are a vital part of your application and thus we recommend that you spend a significant amount of time in their preparation.
Question 1 (600 words max)
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?
Question 2 (500 words max)
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?
Question 3 (400 words max)
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?
Question 4 (100 words max)
Describe any experiences outside of your home country. What did you gain from these?
Question 5 (100 words max)
Please explain if you have been involved in charity/volunteer and/or entrepreneurial activities, giving examples of your involvement, the amount of time you gave to each activity and why you chose to get involved.
Posted by Clear Admit on August 16, 2005, at 11:11 am
Posted in: Deadlines , Essay Topics , School: INSEAD For those of you looking at INSEAD for your MBA studies, here are the relevant deadlines and essay questions. Keep in mind that INSEAD offers a 1-year program with two intakes every year (September and January). They also have two locations: Fontainbleau, France (about 45 minutes from Paris via train) and Singapore.
Deadlines for September 2006 intake
1st round: October 5th, 2005
2nd round: December 7th, 2005
3rd round: February 1st, 2006
4th round: March 22nd, 2006
Deadlines for January 2007 intake
1st round: March 22nd, 2006
2nd round: May 10th, 2006
3rd round: July 5th, 2006
Essays
(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)
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)
(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.)
2. Describe what you believe to be your two most substantial accomplishments to date, explaining why you view them as such. (400 words approx.)
3. Describe a situation taken from school, business, civil or military life, where you did not meet your personal objectives, and discuss briefly the effect. (250 words approx.)
4. Discuss your career goals. What skills do you expect to gain from studying at INSEAD and how will they contribute to your professional career. (500 words approx.)
5. Please choose one of the following two essay topics:
a) Have you ever experienced culture shock? What did it mean to you? (250 words approx.), or
b) What would you say to a foreigner moving to your home country? (250 words approx.)
6. Is there anything that you have not mentioned in the above essays that you would like the Admissions Committee to know? (200 words approx.) This essay is optional.
Posted by Clear Admit on August 15, 2005, at 12:23 pm
Posted in: General We’d like to call your attention to an upcoming MBA Forum that has been organized by the Princeton Review in Philadelphia. The event, which will take place tomorrow evening, should be of interest to anyone in the Philadelphia-area who is considering an MBA. There will be a GMAT presentation (with some tips on how to tackle the exam), a free networking session (with wine and hors d’oeuvres provided) and a panel discussion about the admissions process, MBA experience and value of the degree. Clear Admit’s Alex Brown will be in attendance as a guest speaker/panelist.
Registration is required for this free event. Here are the details along with a description from the Princeton Review:
The Greater Philadelphia Area Business School Admissions Forum
Tuesday, August 16th, 2005 from 7:00-9:30 PM
The Inn at Penn, 3600 Sansom St., Philadelphia, PA 19104
Attendees will have an opportunity to meet a Princeton Review GMAT instructor who will offer a presentation on the ins and outs of the GMAT. Applicants will also have a chance to network with other professionals and business admissions personnel over complimentary wine and hor d’oeurves.
During the panel discussion, find out what the experts have to say about getting into business school, the value of an MBA, life as a business school student and career opportunities for MBA graduates. Panelists include Alex Brown, former Senior Associate Director of MBA Admissions at the Wharton School and current Senior Admissions Counselor for Clear Admit; David Stewart, Senior Director of Graduate Programs at the LeBow College of Business (Drexel University); Chris Butto, Director of Graduate Admissions for The Fox School of Business (Temple University) and Paul Chi, a 2002 Wharton MBA graduate.
This event is open to the public, so be sure to bring a friend! Advance registration is required. Call Abby Yingling at 215.790.1400 or e-mail AbbyY@review.com including “MBA Forum” in the subject line. Please include your complete address in the body of the e-mail.
Posted by Clear Admit on August 15, 2005, at 10:41 am
Posted in: Essay Topics , School: Michigan / Ross Michigan’s new application is now available online. While things have pretty much stayed the same with regards to the essay topics (there is only one new question), it is worth noting that the admissions office has made their questions a bit leaner this year – eliminating much of the background/required context about the school’s action-based learning process that served as a preface for last year’s questions.
Without further ado, here are the essay topics:
Required Essays
1. We believe one of the keys to effective leadership is the ability to transform ideas into action through people. Please describe a professional leadership accomplishment in which you transformed an idea into action. How did your leadership impact your organization? (500-word maximum)
2. Describe the initiatives you have taken over the past two years to develop professionally. (500-word maximum)
3. What career goals have you set for yourself and how will a Ross MBA support the achievement of these goals? How will you utilize the opportunities at Michigan to co-create an MBA experience that is right for you? How will you enhance the experience of other members of the Ross community? (500-word maximum)
4. Describe a situation where your professional ethics were challenged and how you came to terms with the situation. What did you learn from this? (500-word maximum)
Optional
You may answer one, both or neither of the following questions:
1. Describe a situation where others with whom you were working on a project disagreed with your ideas. What did you do? In retrospect, is there anything you would have done differently? (500-word maximum)
2. Please feel free to elaborate on any other information that you believe is important for the admissions committee to assess your candidacy. (500-word maximum)
Posted by Clear Admit on August 12, 2005, at 12:29 pm
Posted in: Fridays from the Frontline Following up on the last installment of Fridays from the Frontline, which was largely GMAT-focused, we’d like to send our best to Anand Rao and Eric, who will be done with the exam by this time next week, and wish all other test takers luck.
A number of bloggers have been focusing on essays this week, both in terms of the writing process and the content of their responses. Vatsa works to formulate a positioning for Tuck, while Axechick comments on her progress and offers some essay tips, and Redwolf ponders the topic of lessons and learning and wonders what the schools are looking for in asking such questions. ISB student I, the Absolute reflects on the importance of having a clear conception of one’s goals and future direction in terms of a broader scope that reaches beyond the application process. Completing the spectrum and writing from the viewpoint of a business school graduate, Chicago MBA Steve Shu offers some interesting comments on the real motivations behind people’s professional objectives and the importance of determining one’s fit with a firm and field during the interview process.
While many are moving ahead with their applications at full speed, others are still thinking about the financial ramifications of a business education. Santa Clara Rick Upton offers some thoughts to potential applicants on the cost and benefit of full vs. part time programs, and the blog What’s Happening… considers the same issue from the perspective of a career switcher.
Posted by Clear Admit on August 11, 2005, at 12:05 pm
Posted in: General We’d like to point out a few B-school related articles that have come out over the past week:
Yesterday’s New York Times featured an interesting article titled “M.B.A. Students Bypassing Wall Street for a Summer in India” following the experience of several American students at top US business schools who’ve taken a nontraditional but increasingly popular approach to the summer internship. The arrangement is mutually beneficial, as MBA students are able to spend their internships getting personally acquainted with the global economy and becoming familiar with another culture, while Indian companies are able to build a diverse work environment and benefit from the resulting richness of perspectives.
The full text of the article can be found at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/10/business/worldbusiness/10intern.html
Meanwhile, Business Week offers a commentary on the continued decline in application volume at full-time MBA programs in the US, attributing the trend to growth in international business schools, demographic issues and increased interest in part-time and executive programs. One interesting element of the article is that the interviewed admissions officers were somewhat dismissive of the implications of the data, insisting that “the MBA is alive and well and in demand.” While the discussion points out the possibility that students are simply applying to fewer schools rather than losing interest in the degree altogther, it also suggests that US schools are going to need to establish programs overseas in order to thrive over time.
You can read the entire analysis at:
http://www.businessweek.com/bschools/content/aug2005/bs2005089_9256_bs001.htm
Finally, the Wall Street Journal published and article earlier this week titled “To Woo M.B.A.s, Companies Personalize Their Recruiting Pitch,” which details the extra measures that Proctor & Gamble have taken to effectively court what’s described as a “cynical and media-savvy” generation of new MBAs. From exercising sensitivity to students’ schedules in timing correspondence and treating the recruiting process as an exercise in branding and marketing, this now novel approach might become the new norm in hiring:
Other recruiters agree with P&G about the need for a more personal courtship of M.B.A.s. “There’s a cacophony of noise out there as M.B.A.s are inundated with information from more recruiters,” says David Sanderson, global recruiting chief at Bain, a major management consultancy. Beyond the usual presentations to a mass audience, Bain also connects its consultants and partners with specific M.B.A. prospects and stages events and dinners for smaller, targeted groups of students.
While it’s always good to hear that companies are going the extra mile to secure their top choice hires, this also indicated that these companies have a very specific idea of what they are looking for and are approaching the recruiting process in a narrow and targeted manner. The other side of this is that it’s really ideal for students to know what they want out of an MBA program before beginning their course of study, as it’s becoming increasingly beneficial to take the classes and join the clubs that will make a student an attractive candidate to campus recruiters in his or her target industry.
Posted by Clear Admit on August 10, 2005, at 4:10 pm
Posted in: Essay Topic Analysis , School: Stanford Before offering tips on answering each of Stanford’s specific essay questions, we wanted to share a few thoughts about the way these questions are framed by the instructions in order to help our readers avoid some common pitfalls that applicants encounter in completing their Stanford materials.
The question of length:
While Stanford’s essay guidelines state that they do not impose word limits and even provide instructions to applicants who’ve written essays that are longer than ten pages, we would encourage candidates to read between the lines of their assertion that most applicants find that three to seven pages per essay is an “appropriate” length. Keep in mind that the person reviewing your application will have somewhat limited time to spend on each file. It’s important that you take the time to fully articulate your motivations and describe the experiences that have been most meaningful to you, but it would be beneficial for you to do so as concisely as possible.
The question of content:
You should take care to fully elaborate upon your interests and experiences, but should always remember the audience to whom your comments are addressed (i.e. a graduate school admissions committee) and keep your remarks relevant to your business school candidacy. While it’s true that your professional accomplishments and responsibilities will be detailed in your application forms, don’t take this comment as meaning that these things cannot be mentioned in your essays. You’ll just need to keep in mind that the adcom is interested in more than the end result of your actions, and that you should be discussing the skills you’ve gained and the lessons you’ve learned over the course of your activities, employment, education, etc.
That having been said, let’s take a look at each of Stanford’s questions in a bit more detail:
Essay A: What matters most to you, and why?
This question in particular says a good deal about what this school is looking for in its students. Successful applicants to Stanford are those who have some common theme or guiding motivation running throughout their work experiences and extracurricular activities, and that ultimately ties into their career goals. This essay is the place to reflect on your values, interests and experiences and arrive at the one factor that has most influenced your actions and endeavors. You have a fair amount of leeway to take your time developing themes given the seven page suggested “limit,” so be sure to include as many details and examples in support of your positioning as possible. Keep in mind that in spite of Stanford’s unique question, your task in these essays remains the same as those of other schools: communicating as much interesting and impressive information as possible about the aspects of your background that are relevant to your candidacy. While it might be appropriate for you to comment on elements of your personal life over the course of your discussion of what matters most to you, your focus should also be on your academics, activities, and work experience.
Essay B: How do you plan to achieve your learning objectives at Stanford? How do you see your career developing?
This is a fairly standard “career goals/why MBA” essay, but with a broader framework that is new for this year. While you should definitely outline your specific short and long-term career goals and explain the ways that particular courses and initiatives at Stanford will prepare you for success, there is also room for you to comment on the campus culture, student body and other elements of the school itself that will be conducive to your learning experience. And of course, it will also be important to demonstrate that you would make an equally valuable contribution to the community by linking your past experiences to future participation in campus clubs, and explaining how you would bring your unique interests and skills to benefit others. This essay will be the place for you to recount the details of visits to the school and discussions with current students with whom you have been in contact. Remember that the more you are able to say about the program’s offerings, the more evident it will be that you have done your homework on the school and are making an informed decision in applying.
Posted by Clear Admit on August 9, 2005, at 7:40 pm
Posted in: General We have added a new section on the left: “Admissions Tips”. This lists the more recent tips we have offered via this blog. We have also added the “Best of Blogging” winners to the right hand column. This is part of our continued upgrade to this site, which was launched last week.
Posted by Clear Admit on August 8, 2005, at 3:35 pm
Posted in: General A recent article in BusinessWeek mentioned that a group of MBA professors have written a white paper about MBA rankings and what they’ve done to the b-school landscape. Here’s the abstract of the forthcoming publication:
What’s Really Wrong With U.S. Business Schools?
Abstract: U.S. business schools are locked in a dysfunctional competition for media rankings that diverts resources from long-term knowledge creation, which earned them global pre-eminence, into short-term strategies aimed at improving their rankings. MBA curricula are distorted by “quick fix, look good” packaging changes designed to influence rankings criteria, at the expense of giving students a rigorous, conceptual framework that will serve them well over their entire careers. Research, undergraduate education, and Ph.D. programs suffer as faculty time is diverted to almost continuous MBA curriculum changes, strategic planning exercises, and public relations efforts. Unless they wake up to the dangers of dysfunctional rankings competition, U.S. business schools are destined to lose their dominant global position and become a classic case study of how myopic decision-making begets institutional mediocrity.
Paper by:
HARRY DEANGELO: University of Southern California (Marshall School)
LINDA DEANGELO: University of Southern California (Marshall School)
JEROLD L. ZIMMERMAN: Simon School, University of Rochester
Of course, this sort of territory has been covered in the past – by other academics:
Read David Downes’ article: Does BusinessWeek Ranking Matter?
Read Ivo Welch’s article: The 2000 Business Week Rankings of Business Schools
The debate also brings to mind the HBS/Wharton rankings withdrawal saga that took place over a year ago in April of 2004. Here are the links to our coverage of this episode (which should serve as excellent background reading).
1) Wharton and Harvard Alter Policy
2) Wharton’s Official Statement
3) HBS and Wharton vs. Business Week (continued)
4) Business Week Op-Ed ‘Why Harvard and Wharton Are Wrong’
Posted by Clear Admit on August 6, 2005, at 3:37 pm
Posted in: Essay Topics , School: MIT / Sloan MIT has released their essay topics for the coming season. We’ll offer some analysis of these topics next week, but in the meantime, here they are:
Cover Letter
The application continues by asking for your 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.
Essays
For each essay, describe the situation, your thoughts and actions, and the outcome. The essay questions listed below are for the 2005-06 application.
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.)
Essay Two: Please tell us about a time when you went beyond what was defined, expected, established, or popular. How did others react? Describe in detail what you thought, felt, said, and did. (500 words or less.)
Essay Three: Please tell us about a time when you had a difficult interaction with a person or group. Describe in detail what you thought, felt, said, and did. (500 words or less.)
Essay Four: Please tell us about a time when you overcame an obstacle. Describe in detail what you thought, felt, said, and did. (500 words or less.)
Supplemental Information
Use this part of the application to give us any additional information that might help us understand the choices you have made, your leadership activities and skills, and your scholastic and professional achievements. Please elaborate on your personal interests, activities and hobbies-as well as any special circumstances you feel are relevant. We would like to know what you’ve learned and how you learned it. Please tell us anything that will round out our impression of you as a unique individual.
See the MIT/Sloan web site for further details and instructions.
Posted by Clear Admit on August 5, 2005, at 2:41 pm
Posted in: Fridays from the Frontline Since GMAT preparation seems to be a popular topic in the blogosphere, we’ll start this week’s Fridays from the Frontline with blogger Anand Rao, who has been closely tracking his performance on a variety of practice tests (Powerprep, Kaplan, Princeton Review) and seems to be nearly ready for the big day. Of course, if you aren’t feeling fully prepared, have a look Mur’s blog, which points out that rescheduling the GMAT is always an option, if necessary. You might also appreciate Scuba Steve’s recent review of several GMAT test-prep books. Finally, for those of you who are looking for some free advice on GMAT strategy, we encourage you to attend the virtual workshop being offered by Manhattan GMAT this Sunday at 1PM (EST). Clear Admit’s Graham Richmond will be on hand to discuss the role of the GMAT in MBA admissions.
Moving along to the application process, we find Take Two Bskool, who will be a reapplicant this year. Bskool offers some thoughts on what it’s like to work for another year and how challenging the reapplication process can be.
The majority of this week’s selections focus on the process of settling into new cities and ramping up to b-school with pre-term, math camp, team building exercises, etc. For those of you who recall Bskewl‘s postings during the admissions process, you’ll be pleased to learn that he’s landed at Wharton and started documenting pre-term with exactly the sort of dry wit that we’ve come to love. Also detailing the Wharton/Philadelphia experience are Brit-chick and Iceman, who describe the medical exams, shopping and social life.
While some students are shopping, finding night spots and setting up apartments, KV describes the homework that LBS has given him in advance of school. In a similar vein, Risitos – who just got into NYU (congrats!) – talks about the process of prepping for b-school subjects like accounting and statistics (as a non-traditional).
Finally, this installment of Fridays from the Frontline takes us to the windy city, where Majalo is settling into Evanston in preparation for Kellogg‘s MBA program and Le Voyageur describes internet-withdrawl while setting up an apartment before classes at the Chicago GSB.
Posted by Clear Admit on August 5, 2005, at 12:14 am
Posted in: Essay Topics , School: Stanford Stanford’s essay questions are now available on their web site.
Here are the details:
Essays A & B
You must complete two personal essays.
-Essay A: What matters most to you, and why?
-Essay B: How do you plan to achieve your learning objectives at Stanford? How do you see your career developing?
In other parts of the application, we learn about your academic and professional accomplishments (i.e., what you have done). It is through your personal essays that we learn more about the person behind the achievements (i.e., who you are). This is the time to think carefully about what matters most to you: your values, your passions, your hopes and dreams.
We want to hear your genuine voice throughout the two essays that you write.
Required Format for All Essays
-Double-space your work and make sure that it is easy to read. We suggest at least a 10-point font.
-Number all pages.
-The length of your responses is up to you. You should feel free to take the space you need to answer the questions fully. Most applicants find that three to seven pages each for Essays A and B is appropriate. If your essays are longer than 10 pages each, you may upload the remainder into the Additional Information section.
As many of you know, Stanford’s first essay is one of the more challenging questions out there. This requires a somewhat unique approach. Stay tuned to the Clear Admit blog for some Stanford-specific guidance in the near future.
Posted by Clear Admit on August 4, 2005, at 5:06 pm
Posted in: General Clear Admit’s Alex Brown and Graham Richmond will be taking your MBA admissions questions today at 12 PM (EST) on the BusinessWeek website. To attend, follow the link below:
http://forums.businessweek.com/bw-chats/chat
Posted by Clear Admit on August 4, 2005, at 4:04 pm
Posted in: Essay Topic Analysis , School: Dartmouth / Tuck As promised in Monday’s blog entry reporting Tuck’s essays for the coming season, we’d like to offer a few general tips on how you might tackle each of the questions posed:
1. Why is an MBA a critical next step toward your short- and long-term career goals? Why is Tuck the best MBA program for you? (If you are applying for a joint or dual degree, please explain how the additional degree will contribute to those goals.)
This is a fairly straightforward “career goals essay” of the type asked by virtually every MBA program. See an entry we posted last June for general tips on tackling this sort of question [http://www.clearadmit.com/2005/06/admissions-tip-approaching-career.html]. In terms of tailoring your approach to Tuck, keep in mind that this program is not just concerned with an applicant’s fit with the school’s curricular and extracurricular offerings, but also its unique setting.
2. Tuck defines leadership as “inspiring others to strive and enabling them to accomplish great things.” Describe a time when you exercised such leadership. Discuss the challenges you faced and the results you achieved. What characteristics helped you to be effective, and what areas do you feel you need to develop in order to be a better leader?
This is a tall order for a 250-500 word essay (Tuck’s suggested length for all of your responses), as you’re being asked to roll a leadership success story and a discussion of your strengths and weaknesses into a single concise narrative. The key will be to ground your comments in a specific example of an instance in which you brought out the best in a team and enabled your colleagues to meet the collective goal. It would then make sense to include some analysis of the positive qualities that the story illustrates, and explain how a Tuck MBA would address any weakness and make you an even more effective leader.
3. Many highly effective leaders have noted that they learned more about leadership in times of crisis than in times of success. Discuss a significant nonacademic failure that you have experienced. What did you do that contributed to the creation of the problems you faced? How did you handle the situation, and what have you learned from it?
Tuck’s failure question is even trickier than the typical failure essay, as it explicitly asks you to own some of the blame and discuss something that you did less than ideally. This aspect of the question makes it all the more important that you summarize the situation itself as briefly as possible and focus the majority of your comments on a discussion of the lessons you learned and the description of subsequent situation in which you employed these lessons and achieved success. In selecting your examples, don’t overlook your activities outside of the workplace, as you want to present as rounded a picture of your background and interests as possible. Given the first sentence, it would be appropriate to reflect for a sentence or two about how the events you describe have influenced your development as a leader and the ways these lessons will continue to serve you in the future.
4. What do you most want others to know about you as a person? How do you hope that aspect of who you are will contribute to the Tuck community?
While there will naturally be a temptation to pack a great deal of information about all of your unique characteristics into this essay, it is first and foremost important to answer the question. Note that you are being asked to discuss a single item here. This might seem limiting at first, but it actually gives you a fair amount of latitude. Because you want to discuss some element of your personality with the adcom, your answer should center on some trait or characteristic that is an integral part of who you are. Keeping in mind that your essays are also the place to share information about those elements of your background that are relevant to your business school candidacy, you should aim to provide some information about specific activities that this characteristic has prompted you to pursue and in which it has enabled you to excel. A great response to this question will include some vivid details about an outside activity or unique interest – and discuss how you will bring the quality it illustrates to benefit the Tuck community. This essay is the place to name a few clubs you would like to join or identify some classes to which your perspective and experiences would be especially relevant. The more detail you are able to provide about constructive ways you would engage the community, the stronger your response will be.
5. (Optional) Please provide any additional insight or information that you have not addressed elsewhere that may be helpful in reviewing your application. Complete this question only if you feel your candidacy is not fully represented by this application.
Remember that in responding to an optional essay, you are creating extra work for the person reviewing your file. This is the place to discuss extenuating circumstances surrounding a weak element of your profile or to explain an unusual selection of recommenders. While the question seems to invite another full-length essay about your work or outside activity, you should use your discretion here and respond to this question only if the item in question could not possibly have been included in your application forms or mentioned in your interview.
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