Round 2 applicants – we haven’t forgotten about you! Sometimes R2 applicants can get lost between those who are on time to hit the R1 deadlines and those who are scrambling last minute to apply (or reapply) R3. But you are a unique applicant with...

Knowing they’ll have to write essays about their goals, most b-school applicants have identified their goals prior to starting the application process. But I’ve found that “identified” often has a very narrow scope, too narrow to effectively serve the purpose of the essays. With some moderate...

Are you planning on applying to the top b-school class of 2016? Think you’ve got plenty of time before you need to start worrying about applying? Think again! Those applications will be published before you know it, and if you want to complete them efficiently...

This post originally appeared on Stacy’s “Strictly Business” MBA blog on U.S.News.com Setting aside time to read over the next few months is one of the smartest things you can do to enhance your candidacy for top-flight MBA programs. The broader your knowledge base, the more...

A good application essay is comprised of both anecdote and analysis, the what and the why of your personal experiences. Telling a straight story (anecdote without analysis) will leave your essay flat, with no depth or insight into your character or motivations; on the other...

The University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Business is one of the leading business schools in Canada. Known for its design approach to MBA education and strong emphasis on problem solving, Rotman’s program is growing in size and renown. Essays Questions: 1. What is your post-MBA career...

Don’t hide your lucid answers to essay questions behind meaningless verbiage and abused clichés. I once read an interview with a recent grad. (To protect the guilty, I won’t link.) “As a new company in a new space, we need to exceed client expectations, so first...

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 5:...

You’ve got great stats and strong skills. Any top business school would be thrilled to have you join its next class…almost. There’s one obstacle standing in your way: your MBA resume. The problem is that you are victim to what can be referred to as Frequent...

I am not sure why I made muddled thinking the last flaw. Good writing starts with good thinking and ends with lots of editing, but editing is a topic for another series. Let’s stick with thinking in this tip. One of the biggest causes of...