Posted by Clear Admit on July 18, 2006, at 3:44 pm
Posted in:  Deadlines , Essay Topics , School: Northwestern / Kellogg Kellogg has just released its application deadlines and essay questions for the coming admissions season. As usual, we’ll follow up later in the week with some commentary and tips on each of the essay question, but here is the vital information in the meantime:
Deadlines:
Round 1
Application Submitted: October 20, 2006
On-campus Interview complete: December 18, 2006
or
Off campus Interview requested: October 6, 2006
Decision Mailed: January 8, 2007
Round 2
Application Submitted: January 5, 2007
On-campus Interview complete: March 9, 2007
or
Off campus Interview requested: December 22, 2006
Decision Mailed: March 26, 2007
Round 3
Application Submitted: March 9, 2007
On-campus Interview complete: April 16, 2007
or
Off campus Interview requested: February 23, 2007
Decision Mailed: May 7, 2007
Essay Questions:
1. All applicants must complete A, B, or C as appropriate.
A. Master of Business Administration applicants only. 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)
B. Master of Management and Manufacturing applicants only. Briefly assess your career progress to date. How does the MMM program meet your educational needs and career goals? (one to two pages double-spaced)
C. Joint-degree applicants only. Briefly assess your career progress to date. How does the joint program meet your educational needs and career goals? (one to two pages double-spaced)
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)
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)
4. Complete three of the following six questions or statements. (two to three double- spaced paragraphs each)
A. What have been your most significant leadership experiences to date?
B. Describe an ethical dilemma that you faced and how it was resolved?
C. Outside of work I…
D. Describe a professional situation where you were able to successfully persuade others to see things your way.
E. I wish the Admissions Committee had asked me…
F. Since your previous application, what are the steps you have taken to strengthen your candidacy? **
** Question 4F must be answered by all re-applicants as one of the required three questions.
Posted by Clear Admit on July 18, 2006, at 1:18 pm
Posted in: Essay Topic Analysis , School: Virginia / Darden As promised last week when we published Darden’s essay topics for this season, we’ve provided some tips for tackling each of the school’s questions below.
Essay 1: Why is an MBA a critical next step toward your short- and long-term career goals? (500 word limit)
This is a standard career goal essay, with an interesting emphasis on the necessity of an MBA to an applicant’s success in achieving his or her objectives. Though the question does not explicitly touch on a candidate’s work experience to date, providing a brief summary of your prior professional path and the skills gained along the way may help to highlight the specific areas of need that could be addressed during an MBA program. Be sure to tailor the discussion to Darden’s program, naming specific classes and clubs in which you are interested and explaining why each would be helpful in making progress toward your goals.
Essay 2: Each of our applicants is unique. Describe how your background, values, education, activities and/or leadership skills will enhance the experience of other Darden students. (500 word limit)
Whereas the first essay touches on the subject of what Darden can do for you, this question is focused on what you would do for Darden. The prompt is quite open, giving candidates a wide range of characteristics and involvements to choose from. A fruitful approach to narrowing down the list would be to consider which options both set you apart from other applicants and translate to some tangible future impact. Whichever elements of your background and personality you elect to discuss, remember that it will be key to tie each to some specific way you could make a unique contribution to the community, perhaps commenting on a specific class to which your insight would be especially relevant or naming an event that you would like to organize on behalf of a particular club.
Essay 3: Choose one of the following questions. (250 word limit)
a. What would you do if you didn’t have to work for a living?
b. Describe a significant maturing experience.
c. What have been the most satisfying aspects of your work life thus far and the most dissatisfying?
The choices presented here cover very different ground: Option A provides a chance to delve into a discussion of a key extracurricular or reveal a passion that might not have otherwise come up in an application, Option B offers the opportunity to share a specific story of personal growth, and Option C invites a discussion of professional preferences and the applicant’s work experience.
As is always the case when allowed to decide which of several questions to address, it will be important to think carefully about the potential topics for each of these essays and select the one that will allow you to introduce information that would best complement and balance the ideas expressed in the school’s other essays.
Posted by Clear Admit on July 18, 2006, at 10:52 am
Posted in: Deadlines , School: Penn / Wharton While Wharton has not yet officially announced their deadlines to the public, several sources indicate that they will be as follows:
Round 1
Application deadline: October 12th, 2006
Round 2
Application deadline: January 4th, 2007
Round 3
Application deadline: March 1st, 2007
Our sources for these deadlines include students who have recently heard Wharton admissions representatives quote these dates at information sessions in Australia. We also confirmed these reports with our contacts in the Wharton admissions office. We expect the school to post these dates shortly.
Keep in mind that Wharton is making changes to their online application. It should be available in mid- to late-August.
Posted by Clear Admit on July 18, 2006, at 10:45 am
Posted in: Deadlines , School: Michigan / Ross The Ross School of Business at U. Michigan has released their MBA application deadlines. These deadlines are virtually unchanged from prior years, which means that students targeting Michigan should have ample time to apply in R1 (thanks to their slightly later deadline). Stay tuned for the essay topics, which should be available in early August.
Michigan/Ross Application Deadlines
Round One
Application Deadline: November 1, 2006
Decision Notification: January 15, 2007
Round Two
Application Deadline: January 7, 2007
Decision Notification: March 15, 2007
Round Three
Application Deadline: March 1, 2007
Decision Notification: May 15, 2007
Posted by Clear Admit on July 17, 2006, at 2:51 pm
Posted in: General Because we mention our free initial consultation fairly frequently but have never gone into depth about what this entails, we wanted to answer some of the most frequently asked questions about this service.
What happens during the consultation?
This service is intended to provide applicants with an overall assessment of their MBA candidacies based on available information about their educational background, work experience, outside activities and future goals. In addition to letting prospective students know where they stand relative to other applicants, we also answer any questions the applicant might have about the admissions process, provide some information about our services, and explain the steps for moving forward with Clear Admit, but there is absolutely no obligation following the consultation.
Who will provide this assessment?
One of Clear Admit’s Admissions Counselors will conduct the consultation, so you’ll receive feedback on and advice about your candidacy from someone with admissions experience and expertise in business school admissions.
Why do you ask for my CV or resume?
Because a candidate’s work experience and education are arguably the most important components of his or her b-school application, a copy of an applicant’s resume or CV serves as a nice starting point for the assessment and provides much of the background information needed to inform our perspective on a candidate’s goals and competitiveness relative to other applicants. As an added bonus, we’re able to give you some feedback on tailoring this important document to the admissions process.
How do I sign up?
Simply send an email, attaching your resume and mentioning any other relevant details (GPA, GMAT scores) in the body, to info@clearadmit.com. A member of our team will be in touch to set up the consultation. We look forward to hearing from you!
Posted by Clear Admit on July 17, 2006, at 9:15 am
Posted in: Essay Topic Analysis , School: Stanford Following up on last week’s post announcing Stanford’s new essay questions for for this admissions season, we wanted to offer some commentary and tips to assist applicants who are getting ready to tackle this application.
Though the school’s essays have remained very much the same for the past few years, it seems that Stanford has opted to change things up a bit. The adcom has reduced the suggested length for its two standard “what matters most” and “career goals” questions (the guidelines for prior years have been 3-7 pages each, whereas this year’s recommendation is 3-4 for the former and just 2-3 for the latter) and added the task of selecting and answering two additional questions from four options. To begin, let’s consider how one might approach take a look at the tried and true topics.
Ideally, an applicant’s responses to Essays A and B would work together to provide the adcom a picture of the guiding force or principle behind his or her experiences to date (which can be covered in the first question) and objectives for the future (discussed in the second). While it’s possible that the thing that matters most to an applicant might be something completely removed from his or her professional objectives, it almost seems natural that the career goal discussion would be a slightly narrower continuation of the theme developed in Essay A.
Essay A: What matters most to you, and why? (3-4 double-spaced pages)
The open-ended and somewhat philosophical nature of this question makes it a daunting (and potentially paralyzing) starting point. If a topic doesn’t immediately spring to mind, a constructive approach might be to think about your work experience, outside activities and general interests and look for some unifying theme among some or all of them. Because it’s always a good idea to introduce specific details and anecdotes to really tie the general ideas expressed in your essays to the key elements of your candidacy, it would be wise to select a topic that not only gives the adcom a sense of your values and priorities, but also allows to you discuss some of the ways you have translated these into action.
Essay B: What are your career aspirations? How will your education at Stanford help you achieve these? (2-3 double-spaced pages)
This is a fairly standard career goals essay. Though Stanford leaves the question rather open ended, it will still be to the applicant’s benefit to outline a specific short and long-term goal, explaining the motivation and reasoning behind each, and to provide a detailed discussion of the ways a Stanford MBA would be conducive to acheiving these aims as well as the potential contribution he or she could make to the program.
Essay C: Short Essays (1-2 double-spaced pages each)
-Tell us about a time when you did something that was not established, expected, or popular.
-Tell us about a time when you felt effective or successful.
-Tell us about a time when you had a significant effect on a group or individual.
-Tell us about a time when you tried to reach a goal or complete a task that was challenging, difficult, or frustrating.
One interesting thing to note is that the school’s prompt to describe what one “felt, said and thought” in addition to what one did is a distinct echo of the instructions that follow each of MIT’s essay questions. It seems possible that the adcom realized that it would benefit from a picture of an applicant’s experiences in a few specific situations to complement the broad overview of values and aspirations that its standard questions provide. An important thing to remember when considering possible topics is that the school (again, much like MIT) requests that candidates select stories that cover events that occurred within the past three years.
In addressing any of these questions, it will be important to provide a clear description of the initial situation at the outset of the essay, as this will help the reader to understand the reasons for your thoughts, feelings, words and actions. Providing a detailed “before picture” will also allow the adcom to fully appreciate the difference you made. To decide which two of the four options to select, it would be wise to consider all of the situations you could discuss in response to each question, and select those that will provide a balanced picture of your activities and interests (one story from work and another from a key extracurricular might be a nice balance) while supporting the message set forth in response to Essays A and B.
Posted by Clear Admit on July 14, 2006, at 5:30 pm
Posted in: Essay Topics , School: Penn / Wharton When we spoke with the Wharton adcom a week ago, we were told that the committee might not issue their 2006-07 essay topics until August – despite the school’s track record of issuing topics in early July. In a strange twist of events, their team has just emailed us to state that they’ve published the new topics in their blog. Despite being a bit puzzled, we’re happy to see that the essay questions are now available!
We’ve listed the topics below and will follow up next week with a bit of analysis. There are actually a few changes to note for this year: essay #2 is new, and some of the multiple choice options have not been used before. We’ll cover this in more depth when we post our tips.
FALL 2007 Wharton MBA Application Essay Questions
The Admissions Committee is interested in getting to know you on both a professional and personal level. We encourage you to be introspective, candid, and succinct. Most importantly, we suggest you be yourself.
First time applicant essays
All first time applicants and those who applied for an entering class prior to Fall 2005 are required to complete the first time applicant essays. Reapplicants who applied for the Entering Fall 2005 or 2006 class are to complete the Reapplicant Essays in the following section.
Essay 1 (Required)
Describe your career progress to date and your future short-term and long-term career goals. How do you expect an MBA from Wharton to help you achieve these goals, and why is now the best time for you to join our program? (1,000 words)
Essay 2 (Required)
Describe a failure or setback that you have experienced. How did you respond, and what did you learn about yourself? (500 words)
Essays 3 & 4 (Required)
Please complete two of the following four questions (500 words each):
-Describe a personal characteristic or quality that will help the Admissions Committee to know you better.
-Describe an impact you’ve had on a team, group or organization. How has this experience been valuable to you or others, and what did you learn?
-What do you do best and why?
-When have your values, ethics, or morals been challenged? How has this shaped who you are today?
Essay 5 (Optional)
If you feel there are extenuating circumstances of which the Committee should be aware, please explain them here (e.g., unexplained gaps in work experience, choice of recommenders, inconsistent or questionable academic performance, significant weaknesses in your application). (250 words)
Reapplicant Essays
Reapplicants are required to complete three essays, with the option of a fourth essay that may be used to address extenuating circumstances. (Please note: reapplicant essays are for Fall 2005 or Fall 2006 applicants only; reapplicants from prior years are to complete the first-time applicant essay.)
Reappplicant Essay 1 (Required)
Describe your career progress to date and your future short-term and long-term career goals. How do you expect an MBA from Wharton to help you achieve these goals, and why is now the best time for you to join our program? How has your candidacy improved since the last time you applied? (1,000 words)
Reappplicant Essays 2 & 3 (Required)
Please complete two of the following five questions (500 words each):
-Describe a personal characteristic or quality that will help the Admissions Committee to know you better.
-Describe an impact you’ve had on an individual, group or organization. How has this experience been valuable to you or others, and what did you learn?
-What do you do best and why?
-When have your values, ethics, or morals been challenged? How has this shaped who you are today?
-Describe a failure or setback that you have experienced. How did you respond, and what did you learn about yourself?
Reappplicant Essay 4 (Optional)
If you feel there are extenuating circumstances about which the Committee should be aware, please explain them here (e.g., unexplained gaps in work experience, choice of recommenders, inconsistent or questionable academic performance, significant weaknesses in your application). (250 words)
Posted by Clear Admit on July 14, 2006, at 9:04 am
Posted in: Fridays from the Frontline Welcome to yet another exciting edition of FFF! The summer heat isn’t the only thing that’s intensified this week; with a number of top schools having released their deadline information and essay questions, more and more applicants are getting serious about the admissions process and putting work into their applications. Juggler is making some headway with her Harvard essays and ScareCrow ponders the merits of HBS’ narrow word limits and array of topics. Dharu, meanwhile, is focused on his planned early application to Columbia and notes the topic switch, while UniQpath is not quite as sure where to start. Itobean is considering questions of school selection, personality and priorities, while Kent Torokvei considers similar issues in conjunction with a GMAT prep update. Speaking of that particular four letter word, several applicants are still dealing with the exam or have just gotten it out of the way; GuyMBA’s test prep materials have finally arrived and he’s already busy studying, whereas FSM’s hard work has already paid off with a stellar score!
DDN2MBA just recently learned of his HEC acceptance, but the majority of future students heading to school in the fall have known of their destinations for some time and are spending the summer in preparation. Angel Angie shares some inside info about the demographic breakdown of the incoming LBS class and Benny provides some similar insight on Tuck’s international student origins. Others are more focused on the immediate logistical issues of starting an MBA program, as Kilgore Trout recounts his move to Austin, Karlitos has at least lined up some temporary housing in London, and Brownoski’s Yale tuition bill makes the expense estimates he’s read more of a reality. Mbwana offers some thoughts on the new Stanford curriculum, while FooBarMe is bracing himself for the time demands of Haas’ part time program and wondering how to balance work, school and life. Marina, on the other hand, is already taking advantage of all CBS has to offer, and has posted some thoughts on the way she’s utilized the Columbia network before even arriving on campus.
While Guillaume has the end of his time at LBS to recount, most student bloggers are more in the middle things at this point in their summers. IESE MBA 2007 seems to be enjoying his internship in London, where, in addition to a bit of distance running, KV and other LBS Finance Club members sought to make visiting MBA students feel at home in their city (nothing says “welcome” like a BBQ). In other student news, Jeff is settling arrangements for a semester in Tokyo on exchange from Brandeis, Brit-Chick marvels on the way that her first year at Wharton has already transformed her thinking, and Marquis wonders what Stanford’s new policy on standardized tests will spell for the future of admissions.
That does it for this week’s buzz in the blogosphere. We hope that everyone is keeping cool – literally and otherwise – and that you all have a wonderful weekend!
Posted by Clear Admit on July 13, 2006, at 4:38 pm
Posted in: Deadlines , Essay Topics , School: Virginia / Darden The University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business has released its official deadlines and essay topics for the coming admissions season. As in previous years, the program offers a non-binding “early action” option providing applicants with a decision just seven weeks after their materials are due. Those applying in this round are also automatically considered for scholarship funds. The dates for this year are as follows:
Round 1 (Early Action)
Application Submitted and Interview Conducted by: October 19, 2006
Decision Notification: December 8, 2006
Round 2
Application Submitted and Interview Conducted by: December 5, 2006
Decision Notification: February 9, 2007
Round 3
Application Submitted and Interview Conducted by: January 11, 2007
Decision Notification: March 23, 2007
Round 4
Application Submitted and Interview Conducted by: March 1, 2007
Decision Notification: April 20, 2007
As usual, we’ll post some comments and advice on each question in the near future. In the meantime, we wanted to point out that both the career goal essay and the question about the applicant’s fit with Darden are worded differently from the previous season’s (with the latter now being more focused on the applicant’s contribution), and the third and fourth questions are both new for this year. Another change is that rather than inviting applicants to use their best judgment in determining appropriate essay lengths, the school is now providing firm word limits for each question.
Essay 1: Why is an MBA a critical next step toward your short- and long-term career goals? (500 word limit)
Essay 2: Each of our applicants is unique. Describe how your background, values, education, activities and/or leadership skills will enhance the experience of other Darden students. (500 word limit)
Essay 3: Choose one of the following questions. (250 word limit)
a. What would you do if you didn’t have to work for a living?
b. Describe a significant maturing experience.
c. What have been the most satisfying aspects of your work life thus far and the most dissatisfying?
Essay 4 (Optional): If there is further information that you believe would be helpful to the Admissions Committee, please provide it below. (250 word limit)
Posted by Clear Admit on July 13, 2006, at 9:56 am
Posted in: School: Columbia We wanted to alert our readers to a recent change in Columbia’s essay questions for the coming admissions season. While the essay topics we posted in early June were accurate at the time, the school has recently altered their second essay question.
Here is the original essay question #2:
2. What has been the greatest challenge to your value system that you’ved faced and how did you handle it? (recommended 500 word limit)
And here is the newer version of essay #2:
2. Leading in the global economy requires enabling high performance from a diverse set of employees, colleagues and partners. Tell us about a manager you’ve observed who enabled or inspired others to do their best work and analyze how this manager did it. (Recommended 500 word limit)
Many candidates have noticed that Columbia’s application PDF features the first version of this question, whereas the online application form displays the newer question. The CBS adcom has indicated that applicants who started the former version can still submit it in lieu of the new question.
For those of you looking for an analysis of the new question, we’ll be updating our CBS essay topic analysis page to include the new topic shortly.
Posted by Clear Admit on July 13, 2006, at 9:17 am
Posted in: Essay Topic Analysis , School: London Business School As promised when we posted this season’s LBS essay questions earlier this week, below are some general comments about each of the school’s inquiries and some tips on how applicants might approach them.
Question 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? (500 words)
Question 2: Where do you see your career progressing five years after graduation and what is your longer term career vision? (200 words)
For this season, the adcom has broken down the “career goals” essay into two discrete inquiries. This new format clearly underlines the importance of having both a short- and long-term career plan in the MBA admissions process. The change also gives applicants an extra 100 words to work with when compared to last year, with a potential downside being that the compartmentalization of the short and long term discussions might make it a bit more difficult to adapt content written for applications to other schools.
Question 3: 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)
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 it would be wise to use this 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.
Question 4: 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 leading? How would you set about becoming involved in a leadership position and how would you align and communicate the goals and vision for the club to the wider School community? (400 words)
It makes sense that LBS changed the language of this question from “initiating” to “leading;” after all, it’s not feasible that every applicant can launch a new organization. Further, comments on an existing organization that a candidate would like to lead could be even more helpful to the adcom, as these signals might enable them to build a balanced student body and ensure that student groups that are currently active continue to be staffed with enthusiastic participants. Naturally, prospective students will want to think strategically about identifying the club that will best highlight their potential impact or underscore an interest evident in their files. Even though the school gives applicants lisence to discuss an extant club or recurring event, it would be ideal for applicants to comment on a new contribution or perspective they could bring in addition to their remarks on bringing the club’s objectives and vision into like with the community at large.
Question 5: Describe any significant experiences outside of your home country. What did you gain from these? (150 words)
This question allows applicants the opportunity to showcase their international experience, both professionally and personally, and is designed to gauge the applicant’s ability to navigate unfamiliar terrain and resolve cross-cultural issues. The word limit does not afford much room for detail, especially for applicants with extensive experiences abroad to recount, so a sound strategy might be to focus on providing detail about the lessons and skills gained from these situations.
Question 6: Is there any other information that you believe would help the MBA Admissions Committee when considering your application? (300 words, optional)
Much more open-ended than last year’s final inquiry (which asked specifically about the candidate’s “charity/volunteer and/or entrepreneurial activities”), this optional question provides a nice opportunity for applicants to introduce one or two key details about their candidacy that were not covered by the required topics. As is always the case when responding to optional questions, applicants should keep in mind that they are essentially creating extra work for the adcom, so it’s important that they make their answer count and share information that is of direct relevance to their application. While there will certainly be a number of items on which a given applicant could comment in this response, keep in mind that a detailed discussion of just one or perhaps two will be more effective and memorable than a long list of facts. Therefore, in thinking about which to mention here, we’d recommend taking a look at the subjects covered in the balance of the essays and considering an element of your background or personality that hasn’t yet been covered or fully represented.
Posted by Clear Admit on July 12, 2006, at 9:48 am
Posted in: Essay Topics , School: Stanford In what’s shaping up as a very busy week on the essay topics front, Stanford has just released their essay questions for the 2006-07 application cycle. We’ve included the topics and instructions below.
As always, we’ll be back in the near future with some analysis and thoughts on this year’s questions. In the meantime, it’s worth noting that things have stayed the same for essays A and B, but that Stanford has introduced some additional “Short Essays” this year. The admissions committee has also offered more guidance in terms of the length of the essays – lowering the recommended length somewhat (perhaps to accommodate the introduction of the additional essays for this year).
Without further ado, here are the topics and brief instructions from Stanford’s web site:
Stanford GSB Essays
We read the essays to get to know you as a person and to learn about the ideas and interests that motivate you. Because we want to discover who you actually are, resist the urge to “package” yourself in order to come across in a way you think Stanford wants. Such attempts simply blur our understanding of who you are and what you can accomplish.
Essay Questions for Fall 2007
Please answer essay questions A, B, and C. We provide recommended lengths for each essay, but these are only guidelines. Most applicants will find 7-11 pages (in total) sufficient. If your responses total more than 11 pages, you need to upload the remaining pages in the Additional Information section.
Essay A: What matters most to you, and why? (Recommended length is 3-4 pages, double-spaced)
Essay B: What are your career aspirations? How will your education at Stanford help you achieve these? (Recommended length is 2-3 pages, double-spaced)
Essay C: Short Essays – Options 1-4
Please answer two of the questions below. In answering each question, please tell us not only what you did, but also how you did it. Describe what you felt, said, and thought during these experiences. Tell us the outcome, and describe how people responded. Your responses should describe experiences that have occurred within the last three years.
Option 1: Tell us about a time when you did something that was not established, expected, or popular. (Recommended length is 1-2 pages, double-spaced)
Option 2: Tell us about a time when you felt effective or successful. (Recommended length is 1-2 pages, double-spaced)
Option 3: Tell us about a time when you had a significant effect on a group or individual. (Recommended length is 1-2 pages, double-spaced)
Option 4: Tell us about a time when you tried to reach a goal or complete a task that was challenging, difficult, or frustrating. (Recommended length is 1-2 pages, double-spaced)
In other parts of the application, we learn about your academic and professional accomplishments (i.e., what you have done). Through your personal essays, we learn more about the person behind the achievements (i.e., who you are). This is the time to think carefully about your values, your passions, your hopes and dreams. In your short answer responses, we learn more about the experiences that have shaped your attitudes, behaviors, and aspirations.
We want to hear your genuine voice throughout the essays that you write. Truly, the most impressive essays are those that do not begin with the goal of impressing us.
Posted by Clear Admit on July 11, 2006, at 1:47 pm
Posted in: General The WSJ Career Journal came out with an article today about the Yale SOM’s new curriculum, focusing on the way the planned changes are being received by the students who will undertake it and the faculty who are working to design it. The shift, which involves adopting an integrated approach to understanding broad business issues rather than a compartmentalized discipline-by-discipline introductory method, seems to be going over very well – even among those who will need to go to great lengths this summer to ensure that all runs smoothly in the fall:
“Dean Podolny believes the curriculum change has advanced so quickly because Yale’s M.B.A. program is relatively small and nimble (425 students) and its faculty already tended to work well across disciplines. Indeed, after overcoming some initial reservations, the faculty unanimously approved the new curriculum.
Professors aren’t getting much rest this summer as they race to finish the curriculum by August. Senior faculty meet at least weekly to hash out course details and craft new case studies and other teaching materials. ‘This change is requiring the faculty to stretch, but it’s incredibly exciting working around the clock on it,’ says Jonathan Feinstein, an economics professor. ‘In my 20 years in business schools, I’ve never experienced a curriculum development like this.’”
In addition to commenting on the planned changed to the Yale curriculum, the article mentions the measures that several other business schools are taking to revitalize their course offerings and tailor the content of their classes to the realities of the business world. With two of the top programs undertaking major overhauls of their approaches to business education this year – the other being Stanford’s new focus on personal development during the first year of study – one can’t help but wonder whether this is just the beginning of a trend of reevaluation and adjustment that will manifest itself across MBA programs in the next few years.
The full text of the article is available at:
http://www.careerjournal.com/myc/school/20060711-alsop.html
Posted by Clear Admit on July 11, 2006, at 8:50 am
Posted in: Essay Topic Analysis , School: MIT / Sloan As promised in yesterday’s post announcing MIT’s essay topics for the coming admissions season, we wanted to take some time today to comment on what the school might be looking for and offer a bit of guidance on how applicants might tackle this set of questions.
While the cover letter and first essay are unchanged, three of the school’s four required situational essays are new for this season. Whereas several of last year’s inquiries focused on overcoming difficulties, with questions about a trying interaction with a teammate and a challenge the applicant circumvented, this year’s set is just as directed in terms of topic but features prompts that are framed in ways that are open to a broader range of potential examples. Another thing to keep in mind when approaching MIT’s questions is that it’s very important to address each of the subjects of “what you thought, felt, said and did.” As also evident in the school’s unique behavioral interview process, the Sloan believes that past actions and experience are the best predictors of future performance, and that gathering as much information as possible about the applicant’s internal state to supplement the remarks about external results is a good approach to understanding whether he or she will be successful in similar situations in the future.
Cover Letter: Prepare a cover letter (up to 500 words) seeking a place in the MIT Sloan MBA Program. Please comment on your career goals and those factors which influenced you to pursue an MBA education at MIT Sloan. The cover letter provides a chance for you to discuss your passions, values, and interests. Through what you write we hope to discover whether you will thrive at MIT Sloan and how you will contribute to our diverse community. Address your cover letter to Mr. Rod Garcia, Director of MBA Admissions.
For years, Rod Garcia has likened the MBA application process to the recruiting process; MBA aspirants, just like job applicants, need to demonstrate that they know how to market themselves. 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 and skills, why you are interested in joining the ‘company’ (MIT/Sloan), and what you feel you could contribute. These certainly intersect with the ideas covered by other schools’ “career goals” essays, so much so that it may be tempting to simply tack a greeting onto the beginning of a career goals essay you’ve prepared for another program. MIT’s request for these ideas in cover letter format, however, actually makes it very easy to spot recycled material, so it’s important that you tailor your response to the school’s unique process. A potential outline for this essay might open with a ‘greeting’ to the committee followed by 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 the ways in which your experience to date has prepared you, then a “why MIT” section explaining why it is the best place for you in terms of what you need from an MBA and your fit with the school, concluding with a thank you.
Essay 1: 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).
This has been a standard question for this program for several years running, indicating an enduring focus on an applicant’s ability to affect positive change on a small or large scale. In sharing this story, keep in mind that in addition to providing a clear discussion of the specific steps you took to achieve the end result, it will also be important to quantify or at least concretely describe the impact you made on the person, group or organization and explain why it was important or significant to you all parties.
Essay 2: Please describe a time when your team had to arrive at a compromise. Describe in detail what you thought, felt, said, and did (500 words or less).
This question is new for this year. While potentially touching on issues similar to last year’s question about a difficult interaction with a person or group, this prompt is also open to completely amicable team dynamics and seems more focused on building consensus and positive sentiment than simply navigating a less than ideal situation. This essay topic poses a great chance to showcase your maturity and ability to remain objective in setting aside personal opinions and preferences to arrive at the course of action that was best for the group as a whole. Because it’s best to select examples in which you played a very active role, it would be ideal to arrive at a story in which you took the lead in facilitating this compromise.
Essay 3: Please tell us a time when you advocated for a position. What alternatives did you consider? Describe in detail what you thought, felt, said, and did (500 words or less).
Another new one for this season, this question seems geared toward understanding the applicant’s ability to evaluate multiple sides of a situation, pick a stance, and explain its merits to others in a convincing manner. The element of what you said will be of particular importance to this essay, as the adcom is clearly interested in learning about a candidate’s communication skills and interpersonal abilities. Additionally, you’ll want to discuss your reasoning and ultimate actions as you respond to this question, as well as the final outcome of the situation.
Essay 4: Please tell us about a time when you put an idea into action. Describe in detail what you thought, felt, said, and did (500 words or less).
Yet another new question, this topic covers ground that is very similar to the “impact” essay, as one would hopefully have translated idea into action toward some positive end. The key difference, then, might be discussing some idea or theory that you applied in a novel way or a situation in which you came up with an innovative approach; that is, this inquiry focuses a bit more heavily on the front end of the story. You’ll also want to spend a fair amount of time explaining the steps you took to set your plan into motion, but keep in mind that this response might be a bit less focused on the end result.
As a final note, we’d like to point out the following phrase from the MIT Sloan essay instructions: Please select experiences or events from the past one to two years. This phrase is important, because it underlines the admissions team’s focus on the candidate’s recent past. While there are some exceptions (the committee has told us that candidates need not apply a rigid barrier if they had a great experience that took place 2.5 years ago, for example), it’s still a good idea to try to keep the focus of your MIT Sloan materials within this timeframe.
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