Sloan 2012 - Calling MBA All Applicants

MBA22,

Happy to help you out here. You can choose either. Just make sure that if you choose a personal story, the rest of your essays are professional. This IS BUSINESS school, after all. But, yes, adding a personal story is something we always recommend. It shows the adcom that you're more than just a PROFILE. You're a PERSON. And that's the sort of stuff that will get their attention and get YOU to stand out.

Hope that helps. You should also check out our take on all of MIT's essays: https://www.precisionessay.com/2011/10/2 ... -analysis/

That should help you as you keep on truckin'

Precision Essay and jko -- thanks for the response..

What does everyone think about giving examples from the same event/organization in two different questions? I know it would be considered rather narrow in terms of experience, but I'd like to know if there are anybody thinks otherwise?

Personally, I don't think it would matter if the examples are from the same organization. What about people who have worked at only one organization for the past 3 years- their experiences are going to be from there! What matters is the breadth of experiences.
My 2 cents.

It probably depends on the examples, and how dissimilar they are.

Using two examples of 'dealing with a difficult client' in separate essays is going to be rough, same organization or not.

Anybody got an answer for this?

Hi All,
MIT sloan has an optional essay: "You may use this section to address whatever else you want the Admissions Committee to know."

Is it Ok to talk about my significant leadership experiences ( i was leading a team of 100 members) in the last 1 year and the kind of steps that I took to foster collaboration in the team? The experiences are general in nature and there are many such experiences I want to talk about (I can do it in 250 words).

I couldn't do the above in the other 3 essays (excluding the cover letter) as the 3 essays are asking for specific anecdotes in which I have to highlight what i thought, felt, said and did. That's why I am thinking the optional essay might be a good place to dedicate my experiences as a leader of the team.

Is this the right question to highlight my leadership experiences?

Ideally, you'd want to highlight your major leadership experiences in the mandatory essays and the cover letter. If, as you have mentioned, you have something that pushes your case, but have not been able to mention it elsewhere in the app, then definitely mention it in the optional essay.
While many people advise applicants to use the optional essay to explain any weakness or gaps in the application, I believe that unless you a GLARING weakness/gap and have a really, really, good explanation for it, don't bother addressing it in the optional essay.

I'll be on campus tomorrow for the Ambassador's Program in the afteroon.. anyone else participating tomorrow?

Guys,

In writing the cover letter - I feel like I'm writing a biography! Any tips for/from people who are/have faced a similar problem?

Plus, how exactly should I end it? Generally, cover letters end with "I will get in touch with you for...". Im not exactly gonna get in touch with them, instead they will. Quite confused about that.

I hope everyone's essays are going really well

Guys - is it advisable to use the same format for all your essays? E.g. having the same structure for your introduction or conclusion.

Anyone with some tips for this? Would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

In the "MBA Applicants Only" section.

Thanks - I guess it only pops up after you choose the program in the Applicant Info section.

I had a similar problem. These are the replies I got from the support team

Reply 1:
The online application is currently being updated and the institution has made the site unavailable at this time. You may check the page periodically for a status.

Reply 2:
Please follow the steps below to clear your cache:
* Log out of the application using the logout function instead of closing the browser
* Close all browser windows
* Open a new browser window
* Go to the Tools menu, then select Internet Options
* Select the General tab
* Select the Delete button (underneath the “Browsing History” heading)
* Delete Temporary Internet files
* Delete Cookies
* Select Close
* Select OK
* Close all programs
* Click the "start button" in the bottom left corner
* Click "shut down"
* Select "restart" from the drop-down menu
**Important note** Please ensure you shut down your computer instead of simply "logging off."

If you can, mix it up. If they're from the same organization or company at least try to make them different projects--those from consulting have the advantage here. There are a handful of applicants who were 1 year postgrad or straight-out-of-undergrad, but they all worked part-time professionally and during their summers so they had different experiences to pull from for their essays. When you keep referencing the same project, it may raise concerns that you do not have enough experience yet. Remember, all of your examples do not have to come from your full-time job. If you have a startup, volunteer placement, community sports team, etc. that you're involved in, pull examples from there. Also, keep in mind that in interviews, adcomm asks for additional examples not included in your essays. For Sloan, I chose experiences that matched the core Sloan values and initiatives best. For other schools, I diversified more, kept my startup as a subject but switched up the others to formal employment examples. I was both a non-traditional and young applicant.

Essay Q's Last Year:

Essay 1: Please describe a time when you went beyond what was defined, expected, established, or popular.

[Emphasized going beyond what was expected and established and focused on the past five years (primarily in undergrad)--freelanced professionally, several internships, consistently beat quotas at work despite a decreasing budget, launched a startup, awards, etc. As opposed to focusing on one particular project, I made the essay more high level so the theme was more about raising the status quo.]

• Essay 2: Please describe a time when you convinced an individual or group to accept one of your ideas.

[Described convincing administration, faculty and student leaders to restructure a disaster relief strategy. Was careful to point out how the change not only made the relief efforts more effective, but also helped raise the profile of the university on a national scale. B-Schools want to believe that the students they admit would make comparable contributions to the program.]

• Essay 3: Please describe a time when you took responsibility for achieving an objective.

[Described the launch of my startup and the awards it received. Also, emphasized collaboration and the tech innovation behind the company.]

Hope this helps!

How "late" can the letters of recommendation be submitted? Is it the hard deadline, 1-2 days after the deadline, or is the Sloan adcom more lenient?