Calling all NYU Fall '09 applicants!

From my visit there, they told me it was closer to 50%. Either way, a good number of applicants write essays.

For all the 2008 applications who applied last year, how did you break the Why Stern portion between Essay 1 and Essay 2?

Essay 1-
(a) What choices have you made that led you to your current position?
(b) Why pursue an MBA at this point in your life?
(c) What is your career goal upon graduation from NYU Stern? What is your long-term career goal?

Essay 2-
The NYU Stern community is one of our strongest assets. Please answer the following questions about our community:

(a) What is your personal experience with the Stern community? What actions have you taken to learn more about us?
(b) How would you contribute to our community as a student?
(c) How will you benefit personally and professionally from the Stern community?

So my question is where do you talk about the following?
- Classes that you plan to take
- Alumni's you have spoken to
- Clubs
- Other Stern community specific activities.

I am thinking of including my classes and a few sentences of Why Stern in Essay 1 but not talk about the clubs and other activities there. In Essay 2 is where I talk about my research, the clubs and initiatives I will take part in.

Would be interested to know what past applicants did.

P.S - These are last year's essays so before you jump on me, no, I don't know what the essay this year will be - I am just assuming them to be the same.

I interpreted it like this...

Essay 1
choices = career progress
why pursue MBA = why now? why do you need an MBA?
goals = short-term & long-term

Essay 2
stern experience = info sessions, class visits, talk with students, etc
contribute to community = what do you want to get involved in...hopefully unique NYU
benefit personally/professinally = why stern? (give 'um love here)

Exactly.

Essay 2 is simply, "Why Stern?"

I think some people get their interview off the back of it. It makes a lot of sense to me that it would - it gives a good tie to the character of a lot of people there I think. I think it is a big opportunity for fun, and a lot of my friends did really quite crazy essay 3's.

I will know a lot more as I get in next year, but I think it is important, especially given the other essays are now 250 words. Plus, you see how wrapped up Chicago are in the powerpoint and what it gave them.

Hey 3underscore,

What's with the lack of gmatclub love from Stern? You gotta go straighten out those admissions people

How's the internship going?

I may apply to Stern, but I'm not sure how strong MC recruiting is at the school (McK, BCG, Bain, Monitor). I'll talk to the prez of consulting club when I visit in the fall. Can't beat the location but why go if I can't get the job I want coming out of school?

I think I may get killed by current students at Stern for saying this, but I don't consider Stern a choice for big 3 consulting companies. As much as it hates being called a finance powerhouse, that is what it is - and it sure is one of the very best in that!

Not to say that Stern does NOT have consulting, yes it does, but the hiring by big3 is substantially lower than its peers.

Chew on this - I just checked 2007's employment report and Stern has a 12% placement in consulting, compared to the "peer" schools such as Ross (31%) and Cornell (17%). I would be willing to say even Duke has a higher placement in consulting. As for banking placement Stern sits nicely at 50% - higher than even Wharton's!

I have also spoken to a past student who was interested in big3 consulting and attended Stern and he mentioned that if you are a career-switcher it is all the more harder to get into big3 at Stern..he ended up at a Capgemini, a good consulting company but I wouldn't classify it as core strategy consulting. It is "considerably" easier for a career-switcher into banking than into big3 consulting at Stern IMHO.

I can see 3underscore gunning for me now

EDIT - Also I think Columbia takes some of the shine off Stern when it comes to consulting recruiting in NYC. Just like I think how Stern takes some of it when it comes to finance..

I don't know. Consultancy wasn't my thing at all. I have two friends at BCG this summer (both EU based before school), but that is happily selecting from people I know without knowing in detail. The whole finance thing? It is a hard balance, though the school has shifted a lot since it was actually on Wall Street, and continues to look that way. How much of candidate perspective changes with their aim, less sure.

I am interested to meet this year's class. Admissions were very excited about them. I suggest being wary of the class size in my class (2009) as the school had a higher yield than expected. It is nearer 410 target I think.

Summer has been good kidderek. I need to drop you a mail. edit - yeah, I need to drop you a message. A lot I wouldn't want to be too open.

Went to an NYU info session today. Either Stern has the happiest MBA students ever or its students are really drinking the Kool Aid. The application deadline is 4 months away, but I'm already getting excited about what all I'm going to say in essay 2. Am thoroughly impressed with the school so far.

solaris1-

do you mind sharing your experiences at the info session? did they talk anything about the essays? their expectations from this year's admission process?

also - would you suggest visiting the school in summer? i was told fall is a better time as the campus is in full glory, but summer fits the bill, i will do it

They said the essays may be changed slightly, but not completely revamped. As a lot of people here have said already, NYU appears to stress "fit" more than scores, GPA etc. (I think that's just code for "yield conscious" ) but they had some stories about folks with 780's being rejected without interviews, and then getting worked up about it.

I live in New York so it's no big deal for me to visit, but yes, I'd recommend visiting in the Fall when classes and the full-time folks are around. Right now it was only the "Summer Start" students who were around. I did get the opportunity to talk to two recent '08 grads who were serving as Graduate Ambassadors until the end of summer.

I personally plan to go again in September.

I think like in fall when they open up the application, you can register to do class visits. I attended their info session in April.

I went for a class visit last year. But in terms of information, you're not going to get much new info. You might get some ideas about essay #3, but there isn't any more information than what you can find on the websites. Where the visit shines is when you interact with the students. You get a glimpse into their lives and you'll find that Stern students are accessible, friendly, and accomplished.

The class visit was blahh. There was one guy who couldn't understand the concept of basic game theory. A couple students fell asleep during class. They were in full stride, and I think they mostly knew that class time is BS time.

When did you visit Stern? I went to Columbia in April (2 weeks before classes were over) and saw two ends of the spectrum.

1) The first class I sat in on was Advanced Corporate Finance (does it surprise you that I would sit in on a class like that ). I thought the topic was pretty fascinating and the professor was good. He was covering bankruptcy and reorganization. The students were rather disinterested, though. One guy in the back of the class was on his laptop the whole time. A couple of students were reading FT or WSJ. One student was super rude and kept walking in and out of the class every 10-15 minutes. Basically, these students were checked out. They had two weeks to go until graduation and the class simply didn't matter to them at that point.

2) The second class I sat in on was a "core class" (Creating Effective Organizations) and I was expecting it to be boring. However, it was far from it. It was basically a class led discussion on a case they had read on Jack Welch. It was exciting, it was dynamic, and students weren’t afraid to argue their points. To add to this, the professor had been a consultant in the mid-80's working directly with Jack Welch! The 75 minutes went by in a flash and I was sad when it ended.

I guess the point that I'm trying to make is that it depends on when you go, what class you sit in on, etc., etc. I am still in love with CBS despite the fact that the first class was not very engaging, to say the least. Furthermore, the facilities aren't all that great (even USC rocks some sweet digs compared to CBS). It's a good idea to talk to as many people as possible, sit in on as many classes as you can, and connect with alumni. If a school such as Stern is attractive because of its location and reputation in finance, by all means APPLY! If you are fortunate to get in to multiple schools, that is the time to decide between School X and School Y. Attend the admitted stusent weekends and then make up your mind.

103-t52274?sk=t&sd=a&hilit=nyu+2008&start=40

That's my writeup.

At Stern, they only allow one class visit.

Ah, thanks for the link!