{"id":7669,"date":"2011-06-24T12:51:12","date_gmt":"2011-06-24T20:51:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/?p=7669"},"modified":"2011-10-06T16:52:15","modified_gmt":"2011-10-06T23:52:15","slug":"stanford-essays-and-deadlines-for-2011-2012","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/stanford-essays-and-deadlines-for-2011-2012\/","title":{"rendered":"Stanford Essays and Deadlines for 2011-2012"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Note that, as it has done for the past several years, Stanford\u2019s admissions committee provides <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gsb.stanford.edu\/mba\/admission\/essays.html\" target=\"_blank\">some high-level advice <\/a>right  on its own website. While we think this advice is generally good, we do  think that most applicants can benefit from a more in-depth look at  these essays. But, of course, any advice that comes straight from the  horse\u2019s mouth deserves your attention!<\/p>\n<p>Here are Stanford\u2019s application deadlines and essays, followed by our comments:<\/p>\n<p><strong>Stanford Graduate School of Business Application Deadlines<\/strong><br \/>\nRound 1: October 12, 2011<br \/>\nRound 2: January 11, 2012<br \/>\nRound 3: April 4, 2012<\/p>\n<p><em>Stanford actually pushed back its Round 1 and Round 2 deadlines by a  few days each, while its Round 3 deadline is two days earlier than it  was last year. Note that applying in Round 1 means that you will\u00a0 be  notified by December 14, giving you plenty of time to pull together  additional Round 2 applications in January.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>Stanford Graduate School of Business Application Essays<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>What matters most to you, and why? (750 words recommended, out of 1,800 total)<em>This question has been around for years. Believe it or not, it  used to have no word limit. Now, the 750-word limit forces  applicants to be a little more economical with their words. With this  essay, take Stanford\u2019s advice to heart: \u201cThe best examples of Essay 1  reflect the process of self-examination that you have undertaken to  write them.\u201d This question requires a great deal of introspection, after  which you should create an essay that truly answers the question asked,  whether or not you feel that it is directly applicable to your  candidacy. Obviously, the more relevant your essay is to the goal of  getting into business school, the better, but where many Stanford  applicants go wrong is by writing about grand ideas and using  impressive-sounding words, rather than a real glimpse into who they are  as a person. <\/em><\/li>\n<li>What do you want to do\u2014REALLY\u2014and why Stanford? (450 words recommended)<em>This question is an evolution on one that has been on Stanford\u2019s  application for a while. The part in ALL CAPS is especially new and  noteworthy, and is a very obvious hint that the admissions committee has  not felt like it\u2019s been getting REAL answers from its applicants in recent years. As we always  say, when a school changes or eliminates an essay question, it\u2019s a clear  sign that the question hasn\u2019t been doing its job, which is to help the  admissions committee get to know applicants better and to separate the  great ones from the merely good ones. <\/em><em>Perhaps the more interesting change is that Stanford has dropped the \u201ccareer aspirations\u201d part from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.veritasprep.com\/blog\/2010\/06\/stanford-mba-admissions-essays-for-2010\/\" target=\"_blank\">last year\u2019s question<\/a>.  By making it a little more open-ended, Stanford is inviting you to  dream big. They\u2019re less interested in whether you want to do buy-side  vs. sell-side research in the banking sector\u2026 They are\u00a0 more interested in  what you want to do with your life. Naturally, the job you take in the  near term matters, but here is your chance to reveal some big dreams. If  the first question is supposed to be a super-introspective look at you  past, consider this the same exercise with your future. Don\u2019t forget the  \u201cWhy Stanford?\u201d part, too. Why is Stanford specifically the  school that will help you achieve your dreams?<\/em><\/li>\n<li>Answer two of the four questions below. Tell us not only  what you did but also how you did it. What was the outcome? How did  people respond? Only describe experiences that have occurred during the  last three years. (300 words recommended for each)Option A: Tell us about a time when you built or developed a team whose performance exceeded expectations.\n<p>Option B: Tell us about a time when you made a lasting impact on your organization.<\/p>\n<p>Option C: Tell us about a time when you generated support from others for an idea or initiative.<\/p>\n<p>Option D: Tell us about a time when you went beyond what was defined or established.<\/p>\n<p><em>Aside from a slight tweak to the wording in Option C, these essays  all carry over from last year. What that tells us is that the Stanford admissions  office likes what it got from applicants last year. For Option A, note  the emphasis on \u201cwhose performance exceeded expectations\u201d\u2026 Results  matter, and you need to show them here. This is a classic  Situation-Action-Result (\u201cSAR\u201d) question. Again, we love the \u201cimpact\u201d  idea in Option B\u2026  Stanford is looking for young professionals that  leave a trail of success and have a meaningful impact everywhere they  go. If you have a good example to use, we strongly urge you to answer  Option B.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em> <\/em><em>Over the years Option C has evolved from a question about overcoming an  obstacle or failure to a question that gets at one version of leadership  \u2014 motivating others to support your ideas. Stanford considers this type  of persuasiveness a key ingredient in the future leaders that it wants  to produce. Option D is another results-oriented question that also gets  at a core component of leadership: the ambition and ability to do more  than what is listed in your job description. We think the way this  question is phrased may actually lead some to misinterpret it and tell  an underwhelming story, but a great response will show that you tackled a  problem or pursued an opportunity (in the workplace or in your  community) that would have otherwise gone ignored. Again, this is a  terrific sign of a budding leader\u2026 This is what Stanford wants to see!<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Every year we help many applicants get into Stanford.  To  start putting together your own Stanford application strategy,  download  our Essential Guide to Stanford GSB, one of 15 guides  to the world\u2019s top business schools that Veritas Prep offers.\u00a0 Click <a href=\"https:\/\/www.veritasprep.com\/free-annual-reports\/\">here <\/a>to download three guides for free!<\/p>\n<p>Ready to sign up for a GMAT course ? Enroll through GMAT Club and  save        up  to $180 (use discount  code GMATC10)! Take a look at our  course        options  in some of our most  popular cities: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.veritasprep.com\/new-york-gmat-prep-courses\/\">New York<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.veritasprep.com\/chicago-gmat-prep-courses\/\">Chicago <\/a>and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.veritasprep.com\/los-angeles-gmat-prep-courses\/\">Los Angeles<\/a> and make sure to check the Veritas Prep <a href=\"https:\/\/www.veritasprep.com\/blog\/\">blog<\/a> for daily articles.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Note that, as it has done for the past several years, Stanford\u2019s admissions committee provides some high-level advice right on its own website. While we think this advice is generally&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":101,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,113,243],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7669","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mba","category-applications","category-blog","entry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7669","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/101"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7669"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7669\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7671,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7669\/revisions\/7671"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7669"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7669"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7669"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}