Calling all Kellogg Applicants (2016 Intake) Class of 2018!!

It really depends. You could. Are you really proud of that accomplishment? Did you learn a lot from it? Is it really significant to you? In that case, the essay would offer an opportunity to REALLY dive into the accomplishment's significance to you.

I mentioned different accomplishments for the essay and the short answer. My reasoning was that I wanted to make sure to tell the Admissions committee as much as possible about myself (Kellogg's application IMO gives applicants the most room to talk about themselves from undergrad to professional life). My short answer was more geared towards my professional life. My essay was about a somewhat-extracurricular accomplishment that was very related to my personal life.

FROM Kellogg MBA Blog: Kellogg pathway among ‘most innovative b-school ideas’

As the calendar turned to 2016, Poets & Quants took a look back at what the website considered “The most innovative business school ideas of 2015.” The first item on the list: Kellogg’s growth and scaling curriculum. From Poets & Quants: Arguably the ultimate general management challenge, achieving growth has certainly been a part of every business school’s core and elective MBA curriculum. But this year Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management carved out an unusual and highly innovative niche in the growth and scaling space from both a curricular and thought leadership perspective. The school has rolled out seven different courses on the topic since the spring of 2014 and also is considering a capstone course or experience to what it calls a “pathway,” or set of cohesive courses that help students develop a specific set of skills. Developing the initiative has turned the more typical way courses are developed at a business school on its head. For years, academics in narrow disciplines largely constructed theories of business education in the abstract, hoping that their outcomes would eventually line up with market needs. In crafting a curriculum around growth, Kellogg went to the market first, asked business leaders what challenges they faced, and came up with a series of courses to teach the required skills. The brainchild for carving out the growth specialty is a Kellogg strategy professor, Ben Jones, who also serves as faculty director of the school’s innovation and entrepreneurship initiative. Jones explains that the idea for it came out of engaging different leaders and alumni. “We heard a lot about the kinds of leaders people in the community are looking for and generally it was people who can take a business and grow it to the next level,” he says. Read the full Poets & Quants article. About the growth and scaling pathway Profitably growing and scaling businesses is a central challenge for business leaders. It reaches across all business functions and components, including strategy, operations, finance, marketing and organizations. The pathway emphasizes functional depth and experiential learning on these dynamic topics in management with applications to small- and middle-market enterprises. Learn more about the growth and scaling pathway. Filed under: Academics Tagged: experiential learning, Growth, growth and scaling, Innovation, pathway, Poets & Quants, scaling

Think of these essays as interview question. The essays are designed to probe for qualities that schools look for. Ideally, you would have several different stories to illustrate your qualities. If you really don't have other significant story, make sure you are telling the same story from a different angle. An angle that would demonstrate an aspect about you the prior one didn't already illustrate. DO NOT tell the same story twice.

Submitted for R2! Good luck to all!

Hello All,

I am a R2 Kellogg aspirant from India.

I needed advice on the Kellogg video essays. The second video essay is "What path are you interested in pursuing, how will you get there, and why is this program right for you?", as mentioned on admissions website. In my growth essay submitted with the application, I have mentioned about my ST and LT goals and how Kellogg will help me reach there. Now when I read this video essay, there is significant overlap.

What should be the strategy to minimize the overlap and was mentioning ST and LT goals in growth essay a mistake?

Thanks!

I think hungry4knowledge has already covered what I wanted to mention as well. As this is a separate question in the application, you should use this as an additional opportunity to add something to your profile and not repeat the same information. I mentioned different things for leadership essay and most proud of accomplishment. if you want to stick to what you wrote in the leadership essay, can you rephrase/quantify the significance of your accomplishment so that it does not come off as the same thing as what you wrote in your essay?

Kellogg is very interested in a candidate's fit with the school. So, maybe you can spend some time discussing personality fit (based on specific aspects you know about Kellogg and its culture) as well as specific programs within Kellogg that you are interested in.

Is Video to be submitted along with other material or it can be submitted later as well?

In R1, we were given a week more (till Sept 29 when application deadline was 22nd Sept) to submit the video essay. I would assume that it will be the same. This information isnt visible until you submit your application. Video essay practice and actual links will then be added to your profile once you submit your application.

FROM Kellogg MBA Blog: Behind-the-scenes with San Francisco startups

Over Thanksgiving break this year, I helped lead a group of 15 Kellogg MBA students to visit eight startup companies in San Francisco: Zenefits, NerdWallet, StitchFix, Dropbox, HotelTonight, DoubleDutch, ToutApp and Instacart. The trip was a way for us to learn about the well-known Silicon Valley startup culture, network with employers and squeeze in sightseeing of a city many students had never visited. Raised in the Bay Area and having worked in San Francisco for the previous six years, I thought I knew what to expect from the meetings we set up. I expected — and did hear — terms like: 10x thinking, challenge conventional wisdom, no competition, industry disruption and Ride Together Die Together (seriously). But there were also themes that surprised me. Here are a few: Value of an MBA Before going to business school, I read countless articles about whether to get an MBA before joining a startup. Many said the best route is to dive right into a startup and “learn by doing.” Thus, I was surprised to hear that almost all the startups we visited were actively hiring MBAs. In fact, many of the executives we met with also came from the consulting industry. We were told the demand for MBA talent stems from the need for “consumer IQ,” as well as an operational mindset, and the ability to think strategically, analyze data and motivate team members. Relentless focus on the customer Every company we met with was aggressively focused on the customer, which reminds me of the first thing I learned in my core marketing class: If you don’t know the answer, ask the customer. DoubleDutch co-founder and CEO Lawrence Coburn discussed his difficult, yet keen decision early on to do one thing really well and focus on that. It would be impossible and expensive to serve multiple markets well. Likewise, he advised that future founders document values early. This was refreshing to hear at a time when the tech industry has received bad PR regarding privacy, data collection and gender discrimination. The focus on values resonates with today’s consumers who are more concerned than ever with corporate social responsibility. For example, HotelTonight doesn’t collect any data it doesn’t need. And NerdWallet CEO Tim Chen recalled sacrificing short-term profits from Google Ads for long-term growth and brand equity. Big company experience is good I thought startups would value other startup experience, but it turns out they value big company experience just as much. At StitchFix, a personalized styling platform for women, the executives previously worked at companies like Gap, Old Navy, Macy’s and Sephora. ToutApp recently hired Frank Swain, the former VP of Sales at AppDynamics and Splunk, as Chief Revenue Officer to take the company to the next level. The rationale was that you get formal training at big companies, while at startups you get on the job training with the need for resourcefulness and a sense of urgency. Here is some other advice we received: On company fit: The founder dictates the culture Choose your boss carefully Be less worried about role, and more about the company because you will likely move around internally On interviewing: Know three things to describe yourself, including your values Use the company’s product before you interview Be hungry On founding: Choose a problem you have yourself, then start a company Winners need to find monopolies, so don’t look for a market with competitors You don’t have a business until you have paying customers If no traction, cut it out quickly The alumni we met with reinforced the value of Kellogg’s experiential learning opportunities to build our resume while at business school. Private Equity Lab provides hands-on experience with private equity firms, while Venture Lab offers exposure to venture capital firms and their portfolio companies. In “NUvention” courses, students can explore entrepreneurial business concepts in areas such as social impact, medical innovations, energy, web, analytics and nanotechnology. Kellogg even has designated co-working space at 1871 in downtown Chicago where you can work alongside other founders. Learn more about experiential learning opportunities at Kellogg. ToutApp wrote a blog piece about our visit. Read their post. Luke Murphy is a first-year MBA candidate at. He previously was Director of Business Development at Nasdaq in San Francisco, helping private companies set processes to grow efficiently and transition to the public markets. Luke received his B.A. in history from the University of Southern California. Filed under: Academics, Career, Student Life Tagged: career treks, entrepreneurship, experiential learning, Innovation, networking, Startups, technology

FROM Kellogg MBA Blog: Behind the scenes with San Francisco startups

Over Thanksgiving break this year, I helped lead a group of 15 Kellogg MBA students to visit eight startup companies in San Francisco: Zenefits, NerdWallet, StitchFix, Dropbox, HotelTonight, DoubleDutch, ToutApp and Instacart. The trip was a way for us to learn about the well-known Silicon Valley startup culture, network with employers and squeeze in sightseeing of a city many students had never visited. Raised in the Bay Area and having worked in San Francisco for the previous six years, I thought I knew what to expect from the meetings we set up. I expected — and did hear — terms like: 10x thinking, challenge conventional wisdom, no competition, industry disruption and Ride Together Die Together (seriously). But there were also themes that surprised me. Here are a few: Value of an MBA Before going to business school, I read countless articles about whether to get an MBA before joining a startup. Many said the best route is to dive right into a startup and “learn by doing.” Thus, I was surprised to hear that almost all the startups we visited were actively hiring MBAs. In fact, many of the executives we met with also came from the consulting industry. We were told the demand for MBA talent stems from the need for “consumer IQ,” as well as an operational mindset, and the ability to think strategically, analyze data and motivate team members. Relentless focus on the customer Every company we met with was aggressively focused on the customer, which reminds me of the first thing I learned in my core marketing class: If you don’t know the answer, ask the customer. DoubleDutch co-founder and CEO Lawrence Coburn discussed his difficult, yet keen decision early on to do one thing really well and focus on that. It would be impossible and expensive to serve multiple markets well. Likewise, he advised that future founders document values early. This was refreshing to hear at a time when the tech industry has received bad PR regarding privacy, data collection and gender discrimination. The focus on values resonates with today’s consumers who are more concerned than ever with corporate social responsibility. For example, HotelTonight doesn’t collect any data it doesn’t need. And NerdWallet CEO Tim Chen recalled sacrificing short-term profits from Google Ads for long-term growth and brand equity. Big company experience is good I thought startups would value other startup experience, but it turns out they value big company experience just as much. At StitchFix, a personalized styling platform for women, the executives previously worked at companies like Gap, Old Navy, Macy’s and Sephora. ToutApp recently hired Frank Swain, the former VP of Sales at AppDynamics and Splunk, as Chief Revenue Officer to take the company to the next level. The rationale was that you get formal training at big companies, while at startups you get on the job training with the need for resourcefulness and a sense of urgency. Here is some other advice we received: On company fit: The founder dictates the culture Choose your boss carefully Be less worried about role, and more about the company because you will likely move around internally On interviewing: Know three things to describe yourself, including your values Use the company’s product before you interview Be hungry On founding: Choose a problem you have yourself, then start a company Winners need to find monopolies, so don’t look for a market with competitors You don’t have a business until you have paying customers If no traction, cut it out quickly The alumni we met with reinforced the value of Kellogg’s experiential learning opportunities to build our resume while at business school. Private Equity Lab provides hands-on experience with private equity firms, while Venture Lab offers exposure to venture capital firms and their portfolio companies. In “NUvention” courses, students can explore entrepreneurial business concepts in areas such as social impact, medical innovations, energy, web, analytics and nanotechnology. Kellogg even has designated co-working space at 1871 in downtown Chicago where you can work alongside other founders. Learn more about experiential learning opportunities at Kellogg. ToutApp wrote a blog piece about our visit. Read their post. Luke Murphy is a first-year MBA candidate at Kellogg. He previously was Director of Business Development at Nasdaq in San Francisco, helping private companies set processes to grow efficiently and transition to the public markets. Luke received his B.A. in history from the University of Southern California. Filed under: Academics, Career, Student Life Tagged: career treks, entrepreneurship, experiential learning, Innovation, networking, Startups, technology

I have a quick question -

My application for R2 is complete and ready to submit. But one of my recommender is yet to submit the recommendation. She would be doing it tomorrow. Can I submit my application before the reco is submitted, or should I wait and submit it later?

I am pretty sure you can submit and pay for the application as long as you sent out the two rec requests. Your status page should show a checklist with payment and application checked off but the rec(s) missing.

Hello All,

I just realized that I have a couple of grammatical silly mistakes in my essay which I missed out even after proof reading 10-20 times. Such an idiot I am.

To give an example - I was supposed to write "This was due TO sudden change...." but I meed the "TO" in my final edits. Also at one place I wrote stakeholder as stake-holder (irritating habit hyphenating everything).

Do you guys have an idea of how bad the impact could be of these errors.

Thanks!

Do not think too much about these things now. You did your best to submit your application. These are minor typos that can pop up in anyone's essays. If your profile resonates with the admissions committee then I am sure these things wont even matter.

All the best.

Hello!! I am beyond ready to submit my Kellogg application, the only thing that bothers me is that I don´t have mi AWA score yet, as I took my last GMAT on December 28...so I need your opinions, do you think I should use the additional essay to explain this detail? Kellogg would get mi official score report on this days anyway.

Thank you and good luck to everyone!!

Just put a 0 and update them later. Good luck