Warning: This post will be a little more personal than most of my posts, but there is a lesson here for applicants. Please let me know by posting a comment, if occasional posts like this one, are OK with you. It’s been an interesting few weeks. Starting...

Schools want to see that the applicants will actively participate in and contribute to their student bodies and alumni communities, not to mention the greater community and society. Yet grandiose, declarative statements and promises to be a superlative do-gooder are unpersuasive. So how is an applicant...

Planning to apply to business school this fall or next? Nine or more months out is the perfect moment to take stock of your strengths and weaknesses as a candidate. There’s still time to make improvements that will help you stay competitive with peers also striving...

  In honor of the first birthday of MBA Admission for Smarties: The No-Nonsense Guide to Acceptance at Top Business Schools, by Linda Abraham and Judy Gruen, we are posting a series of excerpts from the book throughout November. This post is excerpted from Chapter 6:...

MIT Sloan Fellows 2011 Essay Questions Statement of Objectives: What are your immediate and ultimate professional objectives for attending the program. Specifically, please indicate how your objectives fit with the purposes of the MIT Sloan Fellows Program in Innovation and Global Leadership and indicate what you...

If you’re applying to business school, you know how important it is to highlight your leadership skills. In the admissions world where so much relies on “It depends…,” it can universally be agreed upon that leadership is an absolute, desired quality. But what exactly is leadership?...

This Georgetown McDonough 2011 MBA Application tip post is one of a series of posts providing MBA application and essay advice for applicants to top MBA programs around the world. You can access the entire series at http://blog.accepted.com/acceptedcom_blog/tag/2011-mba-application-tips. My tips for answering Georgetown’s essay questions...

UT McCombs 2011 MBA Essay Questions This UT McCombs 2011 MBA Application tip post is one of a series of posts providing  2011 MBA application and essay advice for applicants to top MBA programs around the world. You can access the entire series at http://blog.accepted.com/acceptedcom_blog/tag/2011-mba-application-tips. My...

informative interview I had a few years ago with Stephen Sacca, Director of the MIT Sloan Fellows Program, is no longer entirely accurate because of changes that have taken place in the last four years. Mr. Sacca graciously agreed...

Developing leadership skills is an essential requirement for all MBA students. U.S. News describes some of the most innovative leadership courses at top b-schools today: UVA Darden‘s “Leadership and Theatre: Ethics, Innovations and Creativity” Duke Fuqua‘s Fuqua/Coach K Center on Leadership and Ethics University of California...