How extensive is the non-essay part of the application?

Question

Hello,

I have a question for those who have already applied in the past. I understand the time required to think about and write the essays but how extensive if the non-essay part of the application? Is it just about filling out work history, academic achievements and extra curricular activities or is there more to it?

Thanks,
Farez

kwam · Answer

MIT and Chicago GSB were pretty straight forward, Columbia required a more time, Stanford was almost as time cosuming as another essay, they ask some questions that are very similar to essays.

dox · Answer

I'll echo what Kwam said. For some schools it was very straightforward but for others (HBS/Stanford) there were a lot of very short answer questions about work history, ECs, etc. The challenge with these was fitting your answers into the character limit while at the same time not regurgitating verbatim what is on your resume. The application itself can be quite time consuming - perhaps on par with writing a single essay.

falibay · Answer

I see. Thanks !

IHateTheGMAT · Answer

Are you saying Columbia required a bit more time or alot more time? Did you guys just reframe your resume to fill in the data forms or did you try to make the data forms significantly different than your resume?

kwam · Answer

Sorry it was supposed to be "Columbia required a little bit more time", that's the reason of the article...

I tried not to reframe, but is some circumstances it was impossible.

FairPlay · Answer

The non-essay part of my application asked questions like "What are your hobbies?", "What else occupies your spare time?" or "What publications do you read on a regular basis?"

My advice is not to discount this portion of the application (i.e. fill it in without much thought 20 minutes before submission deadline)  especially  if you come from an over-represented demographic. These questions are practically gimmies for you to play the "diversity" card.

Hobbies? Instead of writing "spending time with my family", try "taking my little nieces and nephews to museums and the zoo--I firmly believe learning happens outside the classroom as well."

Spare time? Instead of writing "I watch a lot of documentaries", try "I'm really fascinated by Ancient Roman Culture, so I never miss a TV documentary on it. I also traveled to Italy last summer."

Publications? I think everyone lists the obvious ones like WSJ, The Economist, so throw in some others like Mountain Climbing Monthly, Gourmet Quarterly, or

You guys get the idea.

riverripper · Answer

You can generally find .pdf versions of applications on school's websites...those wont change much if at all year to year. Those are definitely something you can get out of the way. Same with forming your packet that you should give to your recommenders.

isa · Answer

So it seems that it's better to elaborate on what you enjoy rather than write a laundry list (e.g. the Ancient Roman History example) - my first instinct would be to make a list so this is definitely good to know

How extensive is the non-essay part of the application?

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