It’s April Fools Day so I feel like being a pundit, which is not that far removed from being a fool. The main difference between pundits and fools: Pundits are right, and fools are wrong. However events will determine which category the pontificator falls into long after the prediction is forgotten.

In any case, here are my predictions for application volume in various specialities:

• MBA application volume at the top 20 schools will increase in 2011-12. Recruiting is going well this year says the rumor mill, and reliable sources too. The economic news is predominantly upbeat. Barring some major catastrophe, like oil going to $200 a barrel or Japan taking a greater hit from the earthquake/tsunami/nuclear reactor meltdown than is anticipated now, good news will to dominate, and applications to business school are going to increase.
• The insanity in college admissions at elite schools will continue. More applicants applying to more colleges so acceptance rates continue to tank, making the programs look increasingly exclusive. And causing parents to become increasingly gray while their anxious offspring bite their nails and worse.
• Law school application volume will also continue to tank until the associate job market comes back. I am a big supporter of transparency in law school recruiting reports. I hope and believe that the nascent trends towards more transparency, more practical legal education, and greater realism among applicants who will insist on looking at the costs along with the potential benefits of a legal education, will continue, albeit slowly and with a lot of kicking and screaming along the way.
• Medical application volume. I don’t expect significant change.

So let me know whether I am a fool or a pundit.

By Linda Abraham, Accepted’s president and founder.

April Fool photo by baejaar

In short, you’re going to need to provide the best answers possible to the application essay questions.

Accepted’s newest special report, Top Executive MBA Program Essay Questions: How to Answer Them Right, will help you answer the required and optional essay questions on top executive MBA applications thoroughly, thoughtfully, and compellingly.

View or download Top Executive MBA Program Essay Questions now!

Accepted.com ~ Helping You Write Your Best

• Following in the trend of curriculum overhauls, Cornell Johnson will be making significant changes to its executive MBA program to allow for more elective classes. According to a Financial Times b-school new bulletin, the top EMBA program will also be ramping up its career services resources.
• Another recent Financial Times article, “Kenan-Flagler: Maximum flexibility for unconventional MBA students,” discusses the ways in which UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School has reached out to students who, in the past, have had trouble matriculating, mainly by creating an online business program known as MBA@UNC. The program will begin in July and is geared towards students “who require maximum flexibility.” This includes out-of-state or international students, people with extensive job commitments, members of the military, people with young children, and other non-conventional MBA students.
• According to “The changing face of Executive MBA,” a BusinessReviewEurope.eu article, the “EMBA is no longer about spreadsheets and business plans,” but rather “the scope of the EMBA qualification has changed dramatically thanks to the introduction of a range of new teaching techniques.” Cambridge’s Judge Business School, for example, has implemented a number of electives geared towards entrepreneurship; other programs are focusing on building a global marketplace by emphasizing cultural sensitivity and networking. Leadership, of course, is still a main focus, but schools are teaching leadership skills “in more imaginative, if not downright, quirky” ways, like with HEC Paris’s “no-holds barred” MBA boot camp run by the French navy. Warwick Business School in the UK is putting its creative touches on its MBA program by introducing students to acting and directing techniques.
• A GMAC press release reports that the number of women GMAT test takers is at an all-time high. You can download the report on women in management education here.

Accepted.com ~ Helping You Write Your Best

Newsflash: No matter how compelling and well-written your essays are, if they don’t answer the questions as they are presented to you on the application, they will not impress the admissions committee—or at least not in the way you want them to.

Your challenge is two-fold: to understand exactly what each essay question is asking, and to answer the question in the most compelling and impressive fashion.

To meet the challenge, I recommend that you keep the following in mind:

• Each school asks different questions; therefore, each essay you draft should be unique to each essay question and to each program. While you may be able to adapt essays from one school to another, keep in mind that adaptation is not the same as recycling (i.e. DO NOT copy and paste). Adcoms can usually tell the difference between a recycled essay and an essay answers their question—and they certainly prefer the latter.

• Whether you’re applying to business school, grad school, law school, med school, or college, you will need to prove that you are an ideal match, or “fit,” with your chosen school. Be sure to research each program you apply to and to envision yourself at that particular school—on its campus, in its classrooms, interacting with its professors, etc.—while drafting your essay. If you want the adcoms to believe you will be an irreplaceable fixture in their next class, then you’ll have to convince them that your ideals and goals are one with theirs.

Finally, if you are looking for more personalized assistance in composing your application essays or personal statements, please feel free to contact us. Our experienced editors are ready to be of service to you, but please contact us ASAP. Those deadlines are looming large and fast. Don’t wait until we either lack the availability or the time to help you.

Good luck with your applications…and answer those questions directly. Effectively.



Accepted.com ~ Helping You Write Your Best

Here goes:

Admissions committee members are human beings. They are people, just like you and me.

While this may seem obvious to you, I happen to know from reading piles of application essays and personal statements, that while you may understand this concept on one level, your writing does not always reflect this knowledge.

So what does the sheer humanity of admissions people imply? How does the fact that they are humans (and not robots and not monsters and not aliens) affect your personal statements and application essays?

• Humans like stories, which means that the adcom humans would appreciate if you told them yours. And it should go without saying that true, real-life stories are the way to go—they can be just as compelling as fiction and won’t get you automatically dinged.
• Humans don’t all respond the same way, which means your story will have to appeal to a wide audience. Don’t try to imagine, “What will my reader think of this?” because, frankly, there’s no way for you to know what a single individual will enjoy. Write from your heart without worrying about a single end reader. Some people who read your essay will love it and other may not; your writing will appeal to the greatest number of people if you write honestly. (Just note: One thing all adcoms do have in common is their mutual dislike for typos and sloppy writing.)

Your human interest piece should come alive with personal anecdotes. It should engage your reader not because you wrote it for your particular imagined reader, but because you wrote it wholeheartedly, genuinely, and thoughtfully.

Present your humanity as you would like another human being to read it. Not a machine, not a monster, and not an alien.

Learn how to write a memorable, compelling personal statement or application essay when you view Essays that Stick, a FREE, 45-minute webinar filled with professional writing tips!

Accepted.com ~ Helping You Write Your Best

Accepted.com editors and consultants will now answer your admissions and application questions on LinkedIn! Ask us about anything from school selection to choosing essay topics to interviewing to dealing with waitlist woes to choosing the right school when you have the delightful dilemma of multiple acceptances. We’ll respond ASAP.

In addition, we plan to invite other professionals (like GMAT prep experts and career counselors) to join in this group. It’s in its infancy now, but with your participation it will become a resource that will serve you for years to come.

Join our LinkedIn Group today!

Accepted.com ~ Helping You Write Your Best

Although I am presenting our conversation in interview format, her responses are not verbatim quotes. They are based on my notes.

Sloan Masters in Leadership and Strategy (12 month program)

LA: Two of the things that are distinctive about the Sloan Fellows Program are that it’s a full-time residential program and that the applicants tend to be more experienced than regular MBA students. I noticed that London Sloan Fellows have 15-16 years of experience on average and that they need to be in decision –making roles when they apply. What are the minimum and maximum years of experience that you would recommend for a Sloan Fellow applicant?

BG: Although we look closely at the quality of an applicant’s work experience, the minimum amount of work experience is ten years. The maximum? There really isn’t one. Last year I believe our most experienced student had 25 years of work experience.

In terms of qualities we really want to our students to have progressed in their career and have worked their way up to a strategic decision-making role when they join our Sloan Fellows program. They will have been proactive in managing their careers, and many are at a turning point where they recognize that this is a crucial year to build skills and knowledge for the next phase.

What do you want to see in an applicant? What are the criteria for admitting Sloan Fellows?

We want our Sloan fellows to have had strategic decision-making experience. That quality is key. We want to see that they have moved up in their careers, that they have had successes and failures and more importantly they learned from these experiences.

Naturally we also want to see evidence to the intellect necessary to succeed in this program.

What are the typical educational and professional backgrounds of participants in the Sloan Fellows Program?

It varies widely. We tend not to focus so much on undergraduate grades, but we do want to see either in the GMAT or the transcript or the work, that an applicant can handle the coursework, specifically the quantitative aspects of the program.

Given the importance of experience in the Sloan Fellows program, how important is the GMAT?  Is it a major factor in the admissions decision?

It is one element in the decision-making process. Our GMAT average is about 650, and we don’t place as much emphasis on it as does the regular MBA. It is not the be-all and end-all of the decision-making process. Again, we want to see somewhere evidence that an applicant has the quant skills and can handle the work. The GMAT is one way to present that evidence especially for applicants who have been out of school for ten or more years.

Sometimes we see that evidence from work experience or the essays. Sometimes we see it in the references, which we review carefully. Occasionally we will see it from a candidate’s performance in a previous MBA.

The application process is already tough, with a lot of information and essays that should stretch you to demonstrate your candidacy. The GMAT supports this and also helps us position successful candidates in study groups.

Do you accept the GRE?

As a business School we are always reviewing selection tools however at present the GMAT is required.

Is London Business School’s Sloan Fellows program experiencing stable, increasing, or declining application volume?

Last year they trended down slightly. At this stage in a candidate’s career, the level of self selection is very high, and this is a niche program.   The application quality indicators have been good – even improving.

What percentage of Sloan Fellows is sponsored at this point in time?

20-25% are sponsored at least partially. Sponsorship numbers can also vary by geographic region. For example, students from Japan and Korea are almost always sponsored.

Does sponsorship play a role in the admissions decision?

Somewhat. It is vote of confidence from a third party who is willing to invest in an applicant. Sponsored applicants also have a clear path and job waiting for them when they complete the program. It’s great to know someone can go back.

Do fellows have access to the career services even if sponsored?

Yes. They have access to all career services’ events and services. Our career services provide an opportunity to network even if someone is returning to a previous employer. They teach valuable resume and interview skills, which a fellow may use at a future time in his or her career or may use as an employer seeking to hire staff.

There is a suite of skills development that inter-connects with the Leadership development strand of the curriculum, this offers valuable self analysis and frameworks to help a Sloan develop their career strategy.

We expect the fellows to act professionally, but the understanding that fellows have with their employers is between them and their employers. We provide the career services for our students.

What does Sloan Fellows offer self-sponsored students or those interested in entrepreneurship.

We offer a range of electives in entrepreneurship and just had an entrepreneurship fair. The courses cover different areas and sub-topics in entrepreneurship as well as finance, managing growth or new venture development.   The Sloan program offers those fellows interested in starting an entrepreneurial venture a place to prepare to launch that venture as well as a safe environment in which to develop and test their ideas.

What is the purpose of the online Pre-program and orientation?

The purpose of the online pre-program is to strengthen the fellows’ quant skills and prepare them for the demands of our core courses.  It’s a foundation for the classes that follow.

It also includes a thorough leadership questionnaire which will serve as the basis for our 360-degree leadership assessment.

The pre-program is entirely online, but the orientation is in residence and it provides an opportunity for fellows to get to know each other and the school. In that sense, it is a traditional orientation program.

Fellows can socialize with the people who will be in their study groups. They can get comfortable before the hard work starts. And they can learn about the 70 active clubs at London Business School. There are clubs for professional interests, recreational interests, and geographic regions, and these clubs are really the heart of the school. In addition students from all the programs participate in the clubs. So students in the Private Equity Club can come from the Sloan Fellows, the MBA, the EMBA, or the MS in Management programs.

It seems like the Third Term and the Optional Elective Block are optional. The site says “you have the flexibility to balance your elective choices with your reintegration back into the workplace.” What determines whether one stays in the classroom or returns to work?

London Business School prides itself on its flexibility. In that vein, the Sloan Fellows program offers fellows the option of completing their coursework in a very intensive two terms as opposed to the more typical three. We don’t recommend it and not many do it, but some are here for a sabbatical of a defined term and can’t take the full year. Others may get a lucrative job offer or simply have to get back to work. This option is there for them.

They still have to fulfill all requirements including at least one component in Term 3 so as I said it is very intense and compressed.

I realize that London Business School attracts students and professors from around the globe, but does it provide study opportunities outside the UK?

Yes. Sloan fellows take a trip to Shanghai every year. This is a one-week study trip where they learn about the Chinese economy and meet with business leaders to get insight into the Chinese business environment and economy.

In addition, and this is true of all London Business School programs, the education is internationally focused. Students learn organically how business differs from country to country.

By Linda Abraham, President and Founder of Accepted.com.

If you ask an admissions committee member what the most common mistake applicants make is, they will most probably respond, “When applicants lack authenticity and only write what they think we want to hear.”

We all know that we need to write in a way that makes us stand out. “Write something extraordinary,” is what we often advise applicants. But even with that advice, applicants tend to drift towards adcom-pleasing and away from writing about their distinctive experiences, motivations, and lessons learned, which are extraordinary.

For example, if you’re a South Asian engineer, then it seems pretty obvious that you’re going to need to find something interesting to say to stand out. But even the rambutan farmer in Malaysia won’t be able to rely on her profile alone if she wants to truly portray her inner essence to the admissions committee.

So the question remains—how do you write an application essay or personal statement that a) shows that you are an extraordinary person, b) expresses something that is important to YOU, and c) still appeals to the adcom?

Easy—write about the experiences that are important to you and distinctive about you. When you’ve completed your essays and are reading through them for a final edit, you should see a portrait of you and what you care about. Not what you think someone else wants to read.

For more personal statement and application tips, check out 5 Fatal Flaws, Accepted’s popular 5-day email course.

Accepted.com ~ Helping You Write Your Best

ESSAYS

JOB DESCRIPTION: Describe the unit for which you are responsible and relate it to the total organization in terms of size, scope, and autonomy of responsibility. What human resources, budget, and capital investment are you responsible for? Please describe your position.

A straightforward question – it contains several components, so be sure to answer all of them.  Try to work in an anecdote or two somewhere, for example, if part of your role is to troubleshoot issues with global clients, give a brief example.

1. Why have you elected to apply to the Kellogg School Executive MBA Program?

This essay should discuss your interest in the Kellogg program as a means to acquire the learning you seek in light of your goals.  Clarify why you are pursuing the executive program specifically.  You can also discuss other benefits that relate to personal preferences such as environment and the program’s schedule, structure, and location.  Be specific and add thoughtful discussion, don’t just reiterate points from the website.  If possible, cite conversations with students or alumni, including relevant insights you’ve gained from them.

2. What are your goals and objectives and how will a Kellogg Executive MBA help you achieve these? Please feel free to discuss both personal and professional goals.

Discuss your goals in specific terms: industry, likely positions, which company or companies, possibly where, what you expect to do, possibly challenges you anticipate.  Also discuss what you want to accomplish short- and long-term.   To make the essay truly compelling, also show how your goals are rooted in your experience, what motivates your goals, and your vision for your goals.  Finally, discuss the learning needs these goals engender and summarize how the Kellogg MBA meets them, saving the greater detail for essay 1.

3. Discuss a professional situation that did not end successfully. Why did you or your peers consider the situation to have negative results? How did you resolve the situation? Did it change your management style? If so, how?

In selecting the story to discuss, use something relatively recent (even though unsuccessful, it can still show you at work in an engaging context and at a decision making level with high accountability), and something substantive.  Be frank about your role as it may have contributed to the lack of success.  For structure, keep it simple: first tell the story, and then address the remaining questions.  The last part, about how it may have changed your management style, is a good opportunity to show you’ve not only learned from the experience but applied the learning, by briefly citing a specific example of your improved management style.

4. What do you consider to be your greatest skills and talents? How will you use these to contribute to an Executive MBA class as well as to a study group?

First, what not to do: strain to find some unique skill or talent that no one else possesses in an effort to differentiate yourself.  It doesn’t exist.  Rather, look inward – whether it’s creativity, initiative, leadership, strategic thinker, interpersonal astuteness, analytic capability, mentoring/coaching – it’s the details and stories of how you manifest it that will make the essay exciting and let the essay strategically support and enhance the other essays.  Select 2-3 skills/talents that differ from each other (i.e., don’t do quant skills and analytic skills, or communication skills and interpersonal skills) and tell a quick story or anecdote illustrating each.  Finally, for each, comment on how it will help you contribute by giving an example – these comments can be short, as they story itself will really convey how the skill or talent will let you contribute.

5. Describe how your relevant global experiences have influenced you professionally. (Optional)

This is a great essay for most people to answer – if you’ve had any global experience, it can only have influenced you professionally.  If you’ve had a lot of global experiences, don’t just do a survey of them and don’t feel you must write about all of them.  Select the most meaningful experiences and tell the stories, and then explaining the influence on you.

6. Is there anything else that you would like to add to help us in evaluating your candidacy? (Optional)

This question invites you to present new material that you think will enhance your application, as well as to explain anything that needs explaining (e.g., gap in employment).  As far as non-necessary points, keep in mind that if you are making the adcom read more, there should be a clear value to the information. Finally, considering the many essays, keep it short.

7. Describe any major reports, instructional materials, or manuals that you have prepared or any research, inventions, or other creative work. (Optional)

Note, “major.”  Do not wrack your brain for every report or training material you’ve contributed to.  If you have numerous patents, ditto.  Focus on the most important ones of whatever type of material you are describing.  A nice format is an annotated bullet list.

8. Please list the business/professional/community organizations in which you are active. (Optional)

Note “are active.”  Not “were active.”

Rolling admission.

By Cindy Tokumitsu, co-author of The EMBA Edge, and author of the free, email mini-course, “Ace the EMBA.”

The Chicago Booth EMBA questions are challenging because they break up a concept that for many people is holistic: the need for the MBA and interest in the program – the first question asks, among other things, “Why are you seeking an MBA from Chicago Booth” and the second question asks “what you hope to gain from the MBA.”  While the first question is wide ranging and includes what you’ll contribute to the program, the second question focuses on your goals. I suggest doing the second question first, because the goals discussion will provide context for what you hope to gain specifically from Chicago Booth.  Taken together, these two questions allow you to create a well-rounded picture, with sharp focus on career in essay 2, and an opportunity to present selected highlights of your career (and non-work activities as well) in essay 1.  In both essays, beware of the tendency to present a career summary.  That’s the job of your resume.

Question 1

Why are you seeking an MBA from Chicago Booth and what do you hope to experience and contribute while in the program? (maximum two pages, single spaced, 12pt. Times New Roman)

Let’s break this question into three parts.  Part 1: why you’re seeking the MBA from Chicago Booth.  This section should address the specific education you hope to acquire, presumably dictated to large extent by your goals.  It can also address other benefits you desire, such as the chance to interact with peers from diverse industries and sectors.  In answering this part of the question, be specific about Booth’s offerings and add some insight or reflection, don’t just reiterate points from the website.  If you can cite conversations with students or alumni, that’s fantastic; give examples of insights you’ve gained from them.

Part 2: what you hope to experience.  This part can be seen in two ways, what you want to experience externally, e.g., intellectual rigor or collaborative environment; and internally, e.g., a broadening of perspective.

Part 3: what you hope to contribute.  This is your chance to showcase aspects of your career and your personal experience that distinguish and differentiate you.  You can discuss work points exclusively or work and non-work. Select a few things that complement each other and provide some depth and detail about each, rather than a “laundry list” of points.  Also, think strategically on this last part.  Think about what Chicago Booth values and what the rest of your application doesn’t reveal.

You may also be interested in “The Art of a Gripping MBA Goals Essay, an on-demand webinar.”

Question 2

Chicago Booth Career Services delivers innovative educational programming, offers one-on-one coaching, provides numerous networking opportunities, and provides access to job search tools in order to support your own career management. We would like to learn more about your career strategy and objectives. Please outline your career objectives, how you hope to achieve them, and what you hope to gain from the MBA to help you achieve them. (maximum 1 page, single spaced, 12 pt. Times New Roman)

By starting off this question with a listing of its career resources, the Chicago adcom is showing that the program is invested in your career success.  You should demonstrate your worthiness of this investment by delivering a thoughtful and detailed portrayal of your career objectives.  Discuss not just general aspirations but specifics: industry, likely positions, which company or companies, possibly where, what you expect to do, possibly challenges you anticipate – and as the question says, how.  To make the essay transcend competent and become compelling, also show how your goals are rooted in your experience, what motivates your goals, and your vision for your goals.  Finally, discuss the learning needs these goals engender that necessitate an MBA.

Optional essay

If there is anything else you would like the admissions committee to know about you, please share that information here. If your previous studies have not included quantitative courses (e.g., accounting, statistics, calculus, etc.) please use this question to provide information about your preparation for the quantitative coursework in the executive MBA program (e.g., GMAT, professional certifications, etc.) (maximum one page, single spaced, 12pt. Times New Roman)

This question invites you to present new material that you think will enhance your application, as well as to explain anything that needs explaining (e.g., gap in employment, choice of recommender if not using a direct supervisor, etc.).  As far as non-necessary points, keep in mind that if you are making the adcom read more than is required, there should be a clear value to the information you’re sharing. Also, because essay 1 asks you what you will contribute, make sure that any additional “enhancement” topics here aren’t things that really belong there. Finally, keep it short – 300-400 words should suffice in most cases.

First Deadline February 1, 2011; final deadline April 1, 2011 (Chicago and London) and April 15, 2011 (Singapore).  Program begins June 20, 2011.

If you would like help with Chicago’s executive MBA essays, please consider Accepted.com’s Chicago Executive MBA Packages or our other MBA admissions consulting and MBA essay editing services.

By Cindy Tokumitsu, co-author of The EMBA Edge, and author of the free, email mini-course, “Ace the EMBA.”