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stevkang8
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I would agree with that with respect to Optional essays for any other school. But for Sloan, I believe, the optional essay allows you to provide extra details about you that you might not have included anywhere else.

stevkang8
Last weekend before round 1 deadline! Good luck and pick up your pace everyone!

So with regards to the Sloan, or in general, any MBA admission optional essays, I had my thoughts, but I find that it is explained by this article very well. I will share the link here and an excerpt from it.

" Not everyone needs to write the optional essay, and by opting to not write this essay, you are not at any kind of disadvantage. The optional essay is an opportunity for you to explain problems or issues that the admissions committee will likely notice anyway, and by proactively addressing the topic, you can essentially “get ahead of the scandal.”
........................................... There are many reasons to write the optional essay, but you should absolutely not feel that you need to write it. If you have nothing to explain and have generally performed well, you should not submit an essay that you wrote for a different school just to fill the optional essay space or write a new essay that simply repackages your strengths. If nothing about your candidacy needs further explanation, you are in an advantageous position and should take a step back and appreciate your situation, not fret about it. "

Long story short, if you messed up somehow or you feel your candidacy can be negatively affect by something that is not due to your fault or things you could control (ie. you got straight two F's on your first year economics courses, or you decided to take a year off school when you were 21 to do a gap year), then by all means, explain it with the option essay. On the other hand, if you are a straight A student, with solid work experience for a few years, and did relatively decent on your GMAT, you don't "have to" write one.

The full article's link is posted below.




https://www.mbamission.com/resources-the-optional-essay/
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healthjunkie
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Can we submit our application before our recommenders have posted their materials or are we supposed to wait to submit until their stuff is in?
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healthjunkie
Can we submit our application before our recommenders have posted their materials or are we supposed to wait to submit until their stuff is in?

Yep. When I submitted my application only one recommender had submitted.
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stevkang8
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healthjunkie
Can we submit our application before our recommenders have posted their materials or are we supposed to wait to submit until their stuff is in?

Yep. When I submitted my application only one recommender had submitted.


This is interesting. So my question is... what if you submit it, say tonight, with one recommendation missing. Then a week later, you realized that your recommender for some reason is not able to complete it, then what happens? Does the application still get evaluated as-is? Or does it just get discarded?

This MIGHT be a good opportunity to use the optional essay to explain the possibility of your recommendation stays missing? Just as a preventative action?

Well either way, I think you should follow up and let the person (manager, colleague, professor, professional contacts etc) know that the deadline is coming in 4 more business days. Good luck buddy!
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Final day and a half!!

Please remember, the deadline is on Thursday at 3pm Eastern Time!

If you have submitted your application already, please remember to change the status for your school so we can get a proper data set for this application! All the best and good luck friends!!!
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I submitted mine and neither of my recommenders have submitted yet. But I see both of them daily and have reminded them about the deadline so I'm not too worried about them getting it in. They've had no problems up to this point.
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Application submitted and GMAT club status updated. One more to go before the waiting begins.
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Submitted mine, waiting for my recommenders to upload their stuff (which they said they'd do by EOD).
And now my watch begins (again)...
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Submitted here. Do they usually send interview invitations on a rolling basis or is it a fixed date?
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Hey guys,

So I am almost done with the application. Just wondering whether it will reflect negatively on my candidature if I don't input my linkedin profile link in the prompt.
I have been working in the same job since graduation and never invested any time on the profile. will it be better to rather not show it?

What do you guys think.
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Submitted.
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Submitted!

Any idea when the interview notifications start going out?
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manglam13
Hey guys,

So I am almost done with the application. Just wondering whether it will reflect negatively on my candidature if I don't input my linkedin profile link in the prompt.
I have been working in the same job since graduation and never invested any time on the profile. will it be better to rather not show it?

What do you guys think.

Why don't do you a quick copy paste from the CV you prepared for applications? Shouldn't take that long.

Upload your workplace contacts as well - people will add you in the next day or two and you will look pretty legit by the time adcom checks out your LinkedIn.
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I agree with wordsmith15, updating your LinkedIn actually does not take very long if you have an updated resume handy. And I doubt ad-com will check your LinkedIn profile in the next week or so. It is better to include it than not in my opinion.

As for the interviews invitation, I would imagine them coming in on a rolling basis knowing that the interview period spans for like a month or even longer. And I think some people (the most qualified crop of candidates) will start seeing interview invitation e-mails starting early October. I think expecting them to start sending them out in September is a bit stretching it, but knowing interviews start in October, I don't see them start sending after mid October.

Good luck everyone! And for those who have not submitted their applications...7 more hours! Hurry up!
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Just submitted! On the topic of optional essay - I loved this component, I really found it difficult to truly show my personality in the rest of the application. I did a video (90 seconds) and a short blurb to explain it; mainly about a major, unique hobby that I have.

All the best to applicants!
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Congratulations dailydose. Good to see that the optional essay served its purpose in your case :)
dailydose
Just submitted! On the topic of optional essay - I loved this component, I really found it difficult to truly show my personality in the rest of the application. I did a video (90 seconds) and a short blurb to explain it; mainly about a major, unique hobby that I have.

All the best to applicants!
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Congrats! I did not do an optional essay LOL


82 more minutes!! Please remember to submit your application AND update your status here at GMATClub! All the best everyone!
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