Booth 2012 - Calling All Applicants

Hey MDF,

For the majors listing, I would call the adcoms to be sure. Better to ask than pick a wrong major and get questions from them later on IMO.

As for the education level, I have a BSc. as well, and looks like I listed my level as "undergraduate". Now that you mention it though, I wonder if this option means you are a college senior applying as an early career candidate, and that we should be selecting diplomas instead. I'm going to contact the adcoms to find out what I can when I get the time to this week, and I'll let you know (if no one has provided an answer here yet).


All the best on the apps!

I sent the adcom an e-mail yesterday in regards to these two questions. I'll be sure to reply back once they respond.

I can possibly shed light on your first question.

In some countries such as India, a Degree is different from a Diploma. Programs that meet a certain benchmark or certain criteria are eligible to be issued as "Degrees". Almost all full time undergraduate majors such as Bachelors of Science, Arts, Engineering or Commerce are issued as Degrees. In your case, I am quite sure your level of study i.e. the certificate issued must be a Degree.

On the other hand certain programs that are not eligible to be awarded as a Degree are awarded as a Diploma. Diplomas are usually awarded in cases such as part time study in music, nursing, languages or any form of vocational training. However this is not a rule and it is up to the institute's discretion if it wants to meet the standards that are required for calling the certificate a Degree instead of a Diploma. The most famous example of this is the prestigious Indian Institute of Management. Contrary to popular beliefs, the IIMs issue a Post Graduate Diploma in Management and not an MBA Degree.

I just got a response back from admissions in regards to the following two questions:

1.) I have completed an undergraduate degree (Bachelor of Science) at a university and I am unsure what I to select. Should my 'Level of Study' be 'Diploma' or 'Undergraduate'?

2.) My major is not listed in the 'Major' drop down list. Would it be okay to choose 'Business Administration' since it is relatively close? Or do I have to choose other or not specified?

Their response...

Thanks MDF!

Okay, so now that I have that sorted out, I'm confused again.

Once I selected 'undergraduate' as my level of study, a whole new list of degrees populate under the 'degree' tab.

I have a bachelors of science and I graduated with honors/dean's list.

The following three options are available, which do I choose?

Bachelor of Science
Bachelor of Science (BSc)
or Bachelor of Science with Honors??

I don't know what BSc means, so I assume that is not what I want. But what about Bachelor of Science with Honors. Is this referring to graduating with honors/dean's list? Or is this an entirely different type of degree? I didn't really intend on graduating with honors/dean's list, it was just a consequence of obtaining above a 3.5 cumulative GPA.

Can anyone shed some light?

bumping my own questions - would appreciate anyone's advice

My two cents..

1. in the "work experience" section - under each job is asked 'number of direct/indirect reports' - this means the number of people who report to me right? not the number whom i report to (I'm 99% sure just want to be 100% )
the number of people who report to you

2. what do you think is expected under 'reason for leaving' section for our present job? do we leave this blank since we have not actually left it? or do we answer it as if we were admitted to booth and would be leaving our jobs? - i'm assuming they don't want a 'why mba' in 50 words
you could either leave it blank or simply write "Not applicable"

3. in the 'activities' section - would you consider a humanitarian project you founded and led just for a couple of months (specifically because there was a war in your country at that time) an activity? it was a one time thing specific to the situation at the time (and probably to be mentioned in essay 2 about leadership style) but should it be listed in the activities section as well?
IMO, yes, you can and should include it. Wouldn't hurt checking with the ad com though..

4. finally about the 'hobbies' in the activities section - do you think they just expect a list of hobbies? or some detail about our involvement in each? for example if you mention 'soccer' - do you say something like "play twice a week" - since its just for fun with friends, not a community group or fixed activity listed in the section above. or is it?
pretty sure that it needs to be more detailed than just a laundry list of hobbies..If you write soccer, it could mean anything from playing locally, training kids, following it passionately or whatever else..you get it right? it needs to give the ad com sufficient information regarding your involvement..

thanks scorpionz!

Applying R1
710 GMAT
75% Math
90% Verbal
5.5 AWA

Should I retake GMAT as my math percentile is less that 80%?

Without knowing the rest of your profile, the 710 should put you on pretty decent footing. I think the answer depends on how far along you are in your R1 application and how confident you are that you can improve your quant score.

You have 7 weeks until the R1 deadline, so if you can manage to prep for 2-3 weeks, nail the GMAT and still have time to complete your essays, etc., then go for it. I would personally just focus on the app at this point.

Is anyone else here interested in their international mba? If so, does anyone have any info on their language requirements, for instance, they require knowledge of another language and the ability to demonstrate it. I'm wondering what level of proficiency is necessary and further, if it is any language, or specific languages?

Hello All,

I am joining the Round 1 cohort. I applied R2 last year, invited to an interview.

GMAT 730 v42 (95%), q 48 (82%), up from 680 last year. International applicant, but went to school and have worked in the states. 5 years in consulting at a boutique firm, but a lot of different projects. Would like to switch to finance post MBA.

As a re applicant let me ask a question about essay 1. I know it has a section for re- applicants. Since this section addresses how your thinking has changed in 1 year, should you still do a major re-write of the first 3 sections. Any advice/suggestions?

I also have a question about essay 3/presentation. What are the approaches/strategies people are using to "update" their presentation. Since it should be like a window into your personality, how much does that change in 1 year?!

Thanks

Wow, things seem fairly quiet this year.

I was thinking the same exact thing. At first I was wondering if interest in Booth had waned a bit, but it looks like there are 90+ GMATClubbers listed on the "Applying to Booth" roster.

Maybe a lot of folks are saving Booth R2 (I am). Not much to say if you haven't started the app yet.

I think most round 1 folks are probably just busy in their applications. Saw this posted by Booth:

What is Your Application Strategy?
An article that ran last Thursday in the WSJ highlighted some interesting things that MBA admissions offices are doing to better assess fit and overall authenticity from their applicants. It’s a good read and worth checking out, and not just because I’m quoted (shameless plug), but because it highlights an important fact - schools care more about how strategic you are in utilizing the tools provided than how well you can fill in an application.

Before you begin putting together the pieces of your application, it’s important for you to understand your story and determine the messages that you want to communicate to the Admissions Committee. What do you want the Admissions Committee to know about you?

We get a lot of questions about our “Presentation/PPT” essay question and how critical it is to the decision process. Let me be clear about two things:

1) It carries the same weight as anything else in the application
2) It is an exercise in how you think and how you strategize

The “Presentation/PPT” was designed to give you an opportunity to clarify your message, and to tell a more complete story about what makes you a good fit for Booth. We recognize that the application has both fixed and limited real estate and, with that in mind, there must be aspects of what makes you a good candidate for Booth that have yet to be communicated in your application. This space is there for that purpose. So for those of you who have put the time into thinking about your story as it relates to Booth, and then begun to plot out how to reveal that story through your application, you should have a pretty good starting point as to what to include in your “Presentation/PPT”.

The moral of this story and the WSJ article is that schools use these tools not for gimmick but for purpose. Understanding what the purpose is before you answer the questions goes a long way in identifying the most effective approach.

Also, if you’re in DC, Philadelphia, NYC or Boston, I hope to meet you at our admissions receptions in these cities next week.

Kurt