I planning to apply to a Summer Business Program designated for college seniors and recent graduates in non-business majors. A few business schools offer this kind of a 4-weeks long program. I am looking at:

Stanford GSB Summer Institute for General Management:
http://www.gsb.stanford.edu/si/sigm/index.html

Chicago GSB Summer Business Scholars Program:
http://www.chicagogsb.edu/summerscholars/

NYU Stern Advantage Program :
http://w4.stern.nyu.edu/uc/sternadvantage/

(1) In general, what do you think of these programs, considering that I'm a recent graduate from a large state school (top 50 engineering school in the US), in terms of business knowledge and program value ?


(2) How do you view the benefit of attending one of the above three programs both to give me a mini-MBA experience and prepare me, after 2-3 years of work experience, to put a solid application for an M7 program ?


(3) Will attending STanford GSB, or Chicago GSB for the summer program add to my profile some sort of pedigree, compensating for my state school for undegraduate ?


(4) In the Chicago summer program's application, I have to write two essays answering two essay questions. The first one is about short-term and long-term goals and why I chose the school, a regular question. The second seemed strange to me and in fact it appeared in the chicago MBA application for last year:
"If the Admissions Committee were to interview one of your closest colleagues, classmates or professors, what aspect of your personal development would this person say is especially important for the Admissions Committee to know? "

How may I approach the question ? What is really meant by personal development ? can I talk about a personal quality like (passion and initiative - leadership and impact .. etc ) ? Or does it have to be a quality or characterestic that has been developing recently and my colleague shall mention the development process and story of this characteristic ? i am lost here.


Thank you