Current Student
Joined: 26 Nov 2008
Posts: 76
Schools:Chicago Booth, Class of 2011
Re: Calling Chicago (Booth) Applicants for 2009
[#permalink]
Updated on: 20 Dec 2008, 00:49
Try to make it speak about you and you only, while illustrating facets of yourself that haven't been described or hinted at elsewhere in your application. Many try to be overly creative - I think that generally fails. Many try to reiterate why Booth, or whatever - I don't think that is necessary, as it's been covered pretty thoroughly elsewhere. In the end, you have to ask yourself, what is it that B Schools actively seek in applicants. In my opinion, they are strongly seeking diversity, so I really targeted things that make me unique, and what differentiates me from my peer group (scientists).
Here's my flow - as an FYI, I was accepted and got a cushy fellowship.
Slide 1: Cover - Welcome to James XXX - with the canned phrase "where award winning art, business, science, leadership and heart racing adventure converge". This was paired with pictures of each - kayaking, world travels, my award winning art porfolio, and some science pics.
Slide 2: Talk about my award portfolio - and illustrate with pictures. talk about my business awards at Haas (Haas logo + logo of awards), State level award winning art porfolio (with pictures of the art), and science awards - NSF Fellowship, NIH Fellowship at Harvard and UC Berkeley, etc.
Slide 3 - talk about an entrepreneurial club I started with 24 members with pictures of the facilities I arranged in downtown SF, describe the wine society I founded -with pictures from wine tastings, and describe the inline skating club I've been part of for the past 4 years.
Slide 4 - Simply describe my passion for adventure and the unknown and how branching out to Booth pairs with scuba diving, mountain climbing, kayaking, snowboarding, and exploring the national parks.
It the end, it wasn't remotely creative, but it showed off pretty much every part of me that was not described in detail elsewhere in the app - it made me seem interesting, diverse, and notably different than my peer group. Hey, at least that's what I think it did. Whether or not admissions agreed - who cares, it got the job done.
Best of Luck!
Originally posted by
fluidian on 20 Dec 2008, 00:26.
Last edited by
fluidian on 20 Dec 2008, 00:49, edited 1 time in total.