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14 Jul 2020, 12:00
| FROM mbaMission Blog: Will I Get In? And If I Do, Will I Want to Attend After All? |
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Not surprisingly, one of the most common questions we receive from MBA candidates is “Will I get in?” Of course, this is an important question to consider before applying, and we suggest that you honestly assess and understand your candidacy and risk profile within the context of your target school’s typical student body before completing or submitting an application to that school. However, once you have determined that you will in fact apply to a particular school, you should not let this question haunt you or halt your progress. Many applicants spend too much time worrying and not enough time working. Your admissions decision is ultimately out of your control, so just focus on submitting the best application you possibly can. The following scenario may be hard for you to imagine when you are still in the midst of applying to business schools, but every year, we at mbaMission see clients get accepted to an MBA program only to realize it is not a place they actually want to attend after all. Alternatively, we occasionally see applicants who are not accepted to any school and realize they must remain in a job they were more than ready to leave. So, how do some candidates end up in these kinds of situations? In both of these scenarios, the applicants chose and applied to schools without first taking an honest look at their candidacy, goals, and alternatives. We encourage all applicants to very thoroughly consider where their true tipping point lies in terms of attending business school. At what point would not going to school be better than going to X school? Some candidates feel that if they do not go to Harvard Business School, they may as well not go to business school at all. Others believe they must attend a school in the top ten. Still others think, “I really hope to go to a top ten program, but I’ll be happy to attend any top-30 school.” Having a frank discussion with yourself (or perhaps with us) on this topic may help you pinpoint where this cutoff point is for you. Start by researching all the MBA programs at which you believe you would be competitive, and then organize them into three clusters: dream schools, reasonable schools, and safer schools. Next, further investigate the schools you deemed “reasonable” and “safer,” and as you do so, ask yourself, “Would I rather be at this school next year or not be in school at all?” Essentially, we are suggesting that you imagine your worst-case scenario—not getting into any of your dream schools—and decide what you would do in that situation. Then, in addition to applying to your dream programs, apply only to those reasonable and safer schools for which you felt going would be preferable to not attending any MBA program at all. This way, you can avoid finding yourself in either of the situations we described at the beginning of this post and instead will be well positioned to embrace the choices you ultimately have. |
14 Jul 2020, 12:00
| FROM mbaMission Blog: New York University (Stern) Essay Analysis, 2020–2021 |
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[url=https://www.mbamission.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/stern-logo.png][img]https://www.mbamission.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/stern-logo-300x71.png[/img][/url] Once again, the New York University (NYU) Stern School of Business has made no changes to its application essay prompts. The program’s first required essay covers applicants’ professional aspirations and Stern’s role in their attainment. For the second required essay, candidates must tackle the school’s challenging but very revelatory “Pick Six” submission, which might be less intimidating for today’s applicants than it was when it was first introduced in 2017, given the ubiquitousness of social media today. Together, Stern’s essay questions should allow you to present a good balance of your professional and personal sides for the admissions committee, though the optional essay is also on the table if you feel strongly that a vital part of your candidacy has not been covered by one or the other. Our full essay analysis follows… [b]Essay 1: Professional Aspirations[/b] [b](500 word maximum, double-spaced, 12-point font)[/b] [list] [*][b]What are your short and long-term career goals?[/b][/*] [*][b]How will the MBA help you achieve them?[/b][/*] [/list] With this rather no-nonsense query about your motivation to earn an MBA and expectations as to where you will go with it after graduation, NYU Stern simply wants you to spell out what you have in mind as you approach this phase of your life and career. The school does not ask specifically about past experiences or what about its program in particular makes it the best one for you, though brief mentions of either would be acceptable if they are central to your main points. The three core components of this essay prompt are typical elements of a traditional personal statement, so we encourage you to download your free copy of the [b][url=https://info.mbamission.com/MBA-Personal-Statement-Guide]mbaMission Personal Statement Guide[/url][/b]. This complimentary publication explains ways of approaching these topics effectively and offers several annotated sample essays as examples. And for a thorough exploration of NYU Stern’s academic program, unique offerings, social life, and other key characteristics, download a copy of the [b][url=https://shop.mbamission.com/products/nyu-s-leonard-n-stern-school-of-business-insider-s-guide]mbaMission Insider’s Guide to New York University’s Leonard N. Stern School of Business[/url][/b], which is also available for free. [b]Essay 2: Personal Expression (a.k.a. “Pick Six”)[/b] [b]Describe yourself to the Admissions Committee and to your future classmates using six images and corresponding captions. Your uploaded PDF should contain all of the following elements:[/b] [list] [*][b]A brief introduction or overview of your “Pick Six” (no more than 3 sentences).[/b][/*] [*][b]Six images that help illustrate who you are.[/b][/*] [*][b]A one-sentence caption for each of the six images that helps explain why they were selected and are significant to you.[/b][/*] [/list] [b]Note: Your visuals may include photos, infographics, drawings, or any other images that best describe you. Your document must be uploaded as a single PDF. The essay cannot be sent in physical form or be linked to a website.[/b] We imagine that the initial reaction most candidates have to pretty much any prompt that does not request a traditional essay is momentary panic (though, to be fair, that is likely many applicants’ reaction to traditional essays as well), but let us reassure you a bit before we delve more deeply into how best to approach this one. One could argue that in many ways, this essay prompt is merely asking you to do something we assume you are already doing every day and have possibly been doing for years—curate an impression of yourself for others by sharing certain images and other media that resonate with you. Is that not what people regularly do via Twitter, Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram, and any number of other social media venues by posting photos, memes, infographics, cartoons, and the like, typically along with a related comment? When you think of the task NYU Stern has presented you with this framework in mind, do you feel a little more confident about mastering it? We hope so. In this case, rather than passing along just anything you think is funny or interesting or documenting your latest adventure or meal, you are communicating directly with a very singular audience, within a certain context, and with a very specific goal in mind. So start by carefully considering what you want the admissions committee to know about you—with the goal of sharing as many different aspects of your life and personality as possible—and what it will already be able to learn through your other essays and the rest of your application (resume, recommendations/EQ endorsement, transcript, etc.). You want the admissions “reader” to take away something new from each image they see. Your images do not need to be sequential, nor do they need to always include you. Consider photos of meaningful locations and people (or animals, even) in your life as well as inanimate objects, such as a musical instrument, a pair of running shoes, a home-cooked meal, or a blooming flower. As long as the subject of the image is reflective of who you are as an individual—and remember that you will have the accompanying sentence for each image to clarify this connection, as needed—then you will be on the right track. Keep in mind also that not all of your images need to be actual photos, either. They can include drawings, paintings, charts, tables, emojis, and so on. And finally, although getting accepted to your target business school and earning an MBA are serious goals and undertakings, this does not mean that all your images for this essay submission need to be serious in nature, especially if your personality is naturally more lighthearted and humorous. Costumes and comical arrangements, if used judiciously, can be valid options if, again, the resulting final image is truly reflective of your character and/or life. Your one-sentence captions are clearly an opportunity to enhance the meaning of each image you are submitting. In some cases, you might use the caption to provide a direct explanation of who or what is depicted in the image, chart, artistic expression, etc. You could also use the sentences to create a narrative link between multiple images, perhaps as a way of profoundly illustrating a particularly meaningful aspect of your life or personality. Another option would be to use the caption sentence to explain your state of mind in relation to the image or to express an associated viewpoint, value, or philosophy. As you write your short explanations, keep in mind that these statements must adhere to the school’s one-sentence rule, and be sure to not simply reiterate whatever is already obvious in/from the photo but to use the additional content to enhance the admissions reader’s understanding of you. This prompt from NYU Stern offers a lot of leeway, but take care not to get carried away with overly elaborate or complicated images. This is not an art contest or a battle of wits but an opportunity to express and portray yourself to the admissions committee. Each time you consider an image to include, come back to the central question of Does this truly capture who I am? If so, then proceed, but if not, stop and reconsider your options. An increasingly complex series of images that lacks the proper heart and meaning will not elicit the response you want! [b]Essay 3: Additional Information (optional)[/b] [b](250 word maximum, double-spaced, 12-point font)[/b] [b]Please provide any additional information that you would like to bring to the attention of the Admissions Committee. This may include current or past gaps in employment, further explanation of your undergraduate record or self-reported academic transcript(s), plans to retake the GMAT, GRE, Executive Assessment, IELTS or TOEFL, or any other relevant information.[/b] NYU Stern’s optional essay prompt is broader than most in that it does not demand that you discuss only problem areas in your candidacy, though the examples it offers within the prompt seem to imply a preference for these topics. Ultimately, this is your opportunity to address any lingering questions that an admissions officer might have about your profile—if you feel you need to. We caution you against simply trying to fill this space because you fear that not doing so would somehow count against you. And of course, however tempted you might be, this is not the place to reuse a strong essay you wrote for another school or to offer a few anecdotes you were unable to use in your other submissions. But if you are inclined to use this essay to emphasize or explain something that if omitted would render your application incomplete, write a very brief piece on this key aspect of your profile. For more guidance, download our free [b][url=https://shop.mbamission.com/products/mbamission-optional-essays-guide]mbaMission Optional Essays Guide[/url][/b], in which we offer detailed advice on when and how to take advantage of the optional essay, with multiple examples, to help you mitigate any problem areas in your application. [b]The Next Step—Mastering Your NYU Stern Interview[/b][b]:[/b] Many MBA candidates find admissions interviews stressful and intimidating, but mastering this important element of the application process is definitely possible—the key is informed preparation. To help you reach this high level of preparation, we offer our free [b][url=https://shop.mbamission.com/collections/interview-guides]Interview Guides[/url][/b]. Claim your complimentary copy of the[b] [/b][b][url=https://shop.mbamission.com/products/stern-school-of-business-interview-guide]NYU Stern Interview Guide[/url][/b][b] [/b]today! |
15 Jul 2020, 11:00
| FROM mbaMission Blog: University of Chicago (Booth) Essay Analysis, 2020–2021 |
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[url=https://www.mbamission.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/155902_10153939359275402_1622823825_n.jpg][img]https://www.mbamission.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/155902_10153939359275402_1622823825_n-300x300.jpg[/img][/url] For the 2020–2021 MBA application season, the University of Chicago Booth School of Business has introduced a new prompt that shines a spotlight on candidates’ lives outside the workplace and serves as a nice complement to its strictly professionally focused first essay. In addition, the admissions committee has made an interesting tweak to its note about the word count for both required essays. The stipulated minimums are still 250, but “no maximum” has now been added to this directive. Last year, the [b][url=https://www.chicagobooth.edu/blog/ftadmissions/2019/the-2019-2020-full-time-mba-application]admissions committee said[/url][/b] its prompts had produced essays that “disclosed amazing insights into our applicants’ professional aspirations as well as personal interests.” Our assumption, then, is that more than a few recent candidates might have misinterpreted the guidance on word limits—or did not trust that the admissions committee was truly open to longer submissions—and kept their essays on the briefer side, thereby potentially withholding some of these “amazing insights” the school had been so excited about learning. The new, if subtle, reassurance that longer essays are indeed acceptable indicates that Chicago Booth wants to hear as much of your story (that fits the question, of course) as you feel compelled to share. Our more in-depth essay advice follows. [b]Essay 1: How will the Booth MBA help you achieve your immediate and long-term post-MBA career goals? (Minimum 250 words, no maximum)[/b] If this essay prompt seems rather simplistic and straightforward, that is because it is. Chicago Booth is requesting very fundamental—yet incredibly important—information and really just wants you to provide it so the school can understand your motivation for pursuing an MBA from its program and where you expect to go in your career afterward. Be as specific as possible in your description of where you see yourself after graduation and several years down the line, from the industry and role to any additional details about which you currently feel confident (perhaps specific companies or responsibilities that appeal to you in particular). Explain what has brought you to this point in your professional life, not only your career progression to date but also what has inspired you to earn an advanced degree as a vital tool in moving forward. And ideally, take the extra step of noting which of the program’s resources you believe will be most helpful to you in your pursuits. To be effective, this needs to be more than a passing mention, so do your research on the school and draw a clear picture for your admissions reader as to how and why the particular offerings you have identified relate directly to your needs and how you intend to apply them. This essay includes many of the most elemental components of a traditional personal statement essay. We therefore encourage you to download your free copy of the [b][url=https://shop.mbamission.com/products/personal-statement-guide]mbaMission Personal Statement Guide[/url][/b], in which we provide much more in-depth guidance on how to consider and respond to these sorts of questions, along with numerous illustrative examples. Please feel free to download your complimentary copy today. [b]Essay 2: An MBA is as much about personal growth as it is about professional development. In addition to sharing your experience and goals in terms of career, we’d like to learn more about you outside of the office. Use this opportunity to tell us something about who you are… (Minimum 250 words, no maximum.)[/b] As we have seen, Chicago Booth’s first essay question focuses specifically on candidates’ professional paths and aspirations, and the school’s previous second essay question left the door open for applicants to again discuss some aspect of their career. With this new prompt, however, the admissions committee is very explicitly directing candidates to discuss their personas and lives, separate from the workplace. Booth is essentially asking for whatever information or insight you believe it needs to understand you more fully as an individual and to be able to evaluate you thoroughly and fairly. The admissions committee will already have a lot of information about you that it can and will use to get to know you better, including your resume, extracurricular activities, recommendations, short-answer question responses, academic transcripts, and GMAT/GRE score. You should therefore approach this essay by first thinking about what these portions of your application convey about who you are. Whatever you discuss should complement that information and help provide the school with a more well-rounded impression of you. Do not use this essay to pander to the school or make a general pitch for your candidacy or why you need an MBA. The focus needs to be on you and on giving the admissions committee a new window into your profile. Consider elements of your personality that you feel are particularly revelatory of who you are as an individual (e.g., values, hobbies, skills) as well as significant instances from your past that illustrate something about you or influenced the person you are today (e.g., accomplishments, excursions, milestones). The ideas about which you feel most enthusiastic are likely your best options and should also be the easiest to write about. You might also consider giving some thought to which elements of your persona or background mesh best with the Chicago Booth experience. (Dig deeper into what life at the school is really like by reading student blogs, perusing discussion boards, catching up on press releases from the school, watching videos on [b][url=https://www.youtube.com/user/ChicagoBoothMBA]Booth’s YouTube channel[/url][/b], and downloading a free copy of the mbaMission [b][url=https://shop.mbamission.com/products/university-of-chicago-booth-school-of-business-insider-s-guide]Insider’s Guide to the Booth School of Business[/url][/b].) If you are struggling to decide among several topic options, selecting one that aligns with Chicago Booth’s character or with specific offerings could help to illustrate your fit with the program. In the end, as with all application essays, no matter the school, what you want to convey most is authenticity. Do not get caught up in trying to say what you think the admissions committee wants to hear or writing in a way that hides your natural communication style. And avoid just indiscriminately relating as much information as possible about yourself in hopes of stumbling on the “right” answers. Writing with sincerity and letting your true self shine through will make your essay its most compelling and memorable. [b]Optional Question: Is there any unclear information in your application that needs further explanation? (Maximum 300 words)[/b] Chicago Booth’s optional essay prompt is a little quirky in that the admissions committee uses the word “unclear,” which to us sounds like a more direct way of saying, “Don’t share additional information just to ‘sell’ your candidacy, but use this space only to address a problem area.” So let us be especially clear: however tempted you may be, do not use this space to simply share a strong essay you wrote for another school or offer a few anecdotes you were unable to share in your required essays. This is your opportunity to address—if you need to—any lingering questions that an admissions officer might have about your candidacy, such as a low GMAT or GRE score, a poor grade or overall GPA, or a gap in your work experience. For more guidance, we encourage you to download your free copy of our [b][url=https://shop.mbamission.com/products/mbamission-optional-essays-guide]mbaMission Optional Essays Guide[/url][/b], in which we offer detailed advice on when and how to take advantage of the optional essay, with multiple examples, to help you mitigate any problem areas in your application. [b]Reapplicant Question: Upon reflection, how has your perspective regarding your future, Chicago Booth, and/or getting an MBA changed since the time of your last application? (Maximum 300 words)[/b] [b]Response Guidelines: We trust that you will use your best judgment in determining how long your submission should be, but we recommend that you think strategically about how to best allocate the space.[/b] With this essay question, Chicago Booth is testing your resolve and your reasoning. We surmise that the school wants to be certain you are not just stubbornly following a path and trying to “finish what you started,” so to speak, but that you have truly reassessed your needs in the aftermath of your unfortunate rejection. We recommend that you discuss your subsequent growth and development as they pertain to additional personal and professional discovery, which validates your need for an MBA. In the interim, some of your interests or goals may have changed—that is not a bad thing, and the admissions committee will not automatically assume that you are “wishy-washy,” unless you give them good reason to do so. Just be sure that any of your goals that have changed still logically connect to your overall story and desire for an MBA. Your aspirations—new or original—need to represent a compelling progression of the growth you have achieved in the past year. [b]The Next Step—Mastering Your Chicago Booth Interview: [/b]Many MBA candidates find admissions interviews stressful and intimidating, but mastering this important element of the application process is definitely possible—the key is informed preparation. And, on your way to this high level of preparation, we offer our [b][url=https://shop.mbamission.com/collections/interview-guides]free Interview Guides[/url][/b] to spur you along! Download your free copy of the [url=https://shop.mbamission.com/products/chicago-booth-school-of-business-interview-guide][b]Chicago Booth School of Business Interview Guide[/b][/url] today. |
16 Jul 2020, 08:00
| FROM mbaMission Blog: Getting Ready to Start Your MBA Program |
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This post was written by our resident Career Coach, [b][url=https://www.mbamission.com/who-we-are/team/elissa-harris/]Elissa Harris[/url][/b]. To sign up for a free 30-minute career consultation with Elissa, please [b][url=https://www.mbamission.com/consult/career-coaching/]click here[/url][/b]. With years of experience coaching students on how to maximize their success during the first year of their MBA program, we, at mbaMission, previously consolidated our advice into [b][url=https://www.mbamission.com/blog/2019/07/10/five-things-to-do-during-your-pre-mba-summer-to-prepare-for-your-internship/]five easy-to-follow action items[/url][/b]. We believe those steps along with our list of [b][url=https://www.mbamission.com/blog/2020/05/28/four-key-qualities-of-a-successful-job-seeker/]qualities of an effective job seeker[/url][/b] remain best practices for MBA students—even in the current environment of uncertainty caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and new government regulations. That said, we do recognize some things have changed, so we offer these additional tips for success: [list] [*][b]Show true leadership.[/b] Given the complexity involved in delivering the full MBA experience while keeping students and faculty safe, you will likely experience some unexpected or less-than-ideal circumstances in your MBA journey. Demonstrating resiliency, flexibility, and kindness in the face of this adversity will bring you personal and professional growth. [list] [*] [list] [*]Get involved! Join student clubs/committees, engage with your school’s career management office and professors, plan/attend speaker series, and learn from classmates with different life experiences. [/*] [*]Be part of the solution. Offer ideas and suggestions; do not just raise problems or concerns to the administration. [/*] [*]Expose yourself to new and diverse ideas and concepts. One resource is [b][url=https://laurahuang.net/the-well-balanced-meal-mba-reading-list/]The “Well-Balanced Meal” MBA Reading List[/url][/b] from Laura Huang, a professor at Harvard Business School, which shares “voices and perspectives that go beyond just [those of] white males.” [b][/b][/*] [/list] [/*] [/list] [/*] [*][b]Understand changing employer needs.[/b] As the world is being transformed by the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, new business models are emerging and customers’ needs are changing. [list] [*] [list] [*] [list] [*]Research how your target industry and the MBAs in it have been impacted. Understand the challenges the industry now faces and how its talent needs and recruiting strategies may have changed. [/*] [*]Think about your personal experiences from the last four months and identify specific examples of how you have risen to the challenge and delivered results despite ambiguity. [/*] [*]Create a roadmap for achieving your career goals. Include specific deadlines, accountability partners, and campus resources. [/*] [*]Sign up for all career management workshops—especially those specific to your industry areas of focus and to recruiting in a virtual world. [/*] [/list] [/*] [/list] [/*] [/list] [/*] [/list] [list] [*][b]Prepare for virtual engagement. [/b]Depending on your MBA program, you are likely to have some (or even a lot of) virtual learning and engagement with classmates, professors, administrators, and recruiters. Find ways to build your executive presence and show your personality (in appropriate ways) during small and large group virtual interactions. [list] [*] [list] [*]Leverage recent work-from-home best practices from your former employer and learn the norms from your MBA program. [/*] [*]Experiment with a variety of video platforms, and then set up your workspace for optimal visual presentation. [/*] [*]Be active on communication channels such as Slack and other student- and administration-sponsored platforms. [/*] [/list] [/*] [/list] [/*] [/list] Finally, remember you have a lot of control over your MBA experience—whether you are attending in person or not—so commit to making the most of it! |
16 Jul 2020, 11:00
| FROM mbaMission Blog: Attention Re-applicants – Free Ding Reviews! |
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Did we say “free”? Why yes, we did. During our consultations, we occasionally speak with confused and disappointed applicants and we decided that we want to do something to help them improve their chances for the coming year. There is no catch. We are offering free “ding reviews” to 10 re-applicants who contact us. If you are interested in this free service, simply email a PDF of your complete—yet unfortunately unsuccessful—application (include letters of recommendation if you have them) to info@mbamission.com. We will get back to you to let you know if you are selected. What you will get: Within a week of being notified that you have been for the ding review, you will receive a detailed written analysis of your application produced by one of mbaMission’s senior consultants, followed by a 30-minute phone call with that consultant to answer any questions you have about the review or about your strategy for your reapplication. |
17 Jul 2020, 08:00
| FROM mbaMission Blog: Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley, Essay Analysis, 2020–2021 |
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[url=https://www.mbamission.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Berkeley-haas-wordmark_square-gold-white-on-blue_1.png][img]https://www.mbamission.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Berkeley-haas-wordmark_square-gold-white-on-blue_1-300x300.png[/img][/url] The Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley, has made some slight adjustments to just one of its application essay questions this year, but the core of the query remains essentially the same—candidates are asked to explain how the school will help them become a successful leader. For its first required essay, Berkeley Haas wants applicants to dig deep on a personal level and discuss something about which they are passionate. The admissions committee then takes an interesting approach to the optional essay, offering both a short, multipart questionnaire (which is less complicated than it might seem at first glance) and a straightforward prompt that invites applicants, if needed, to address any unclear or problem areas in their profile. Together, the essays should allow you to offer insight into who you are as an individual and who you hope to be as a future business leader, to complement the information presented in your resume, recommendations, and basic stats. Our more detailed analysis follows… [b]Required Essay #1: What makes you feel alive when you are doing it, and why? (300 words maximum)[/b] Perhaps you are familiar with the psychological concept of “flow,” which is a mental state people enter when they are completely immersed in and focused on something they enjoy and are enthusiastic about—it is also described as being “in the zone.” With this question, Berkeley Haas is basically asking you to discuss what puts you in the zone. If you are truly excited about something—and, we would assume, therefore engage in it on a regular basis—writing about it should not prove too challenging. Like all other application questions, this one has no “right” answer, so do not try to guess what you think the school wants to hear. Authenticity is key to your success here. Note that the prompt includes the words “when you are doing it,” so although you may feel strongly about certain causes or values, such as animal rights or environmental matters, for this essay, you will need to discuss an activity rather than an ideology. The school does not stipulate that your topic needs to come from a specific area of your life (e.g., professional life, community service, personal life). We appreciate that you are likely passionate about your career, but this is not automatically your best choice for a topic here, especially given that the school’s second required essay offers a better opportunity to discuss your professional side. What Berkeley Haas wants to learn from this essay is what gets your heart pumping and mind revving. Enthusiasm and intensity can be very inspiring and energizing and can lead to big ideas and actions. Sharing what incites such feelings in you gives the admissions committee an idea of where you might someday make an impression on the world, how you might leave your mark—especially once you are equipped with all you will gain and learn during your MBA experience. That said, do not worry if the thing you feel so fervently about might initially seem commonplace to someone else. For example, perhaps you feel passionate about basketball. Because this is an interest anyone could share and enjoy, you might have concerns that it could sound pedestrian or unremarkable—and for many, this is a completely unremarkable pastime and one they should not write about. If, however, you can show that you have engaged with basketball in a way that takes the activity well beyond being a commonplace hobby and that it is something you connect with on a deep level and in various ways (perhaps having played for many years, you now coach youth teams from underprivileged neighborhoods in your community), then it most definitely becomes an acceptable discussion topic. In such a case, basketball could be used to reveal intensity, dedication, commitment to yourself and others, growth, longevity, and/or resilience. Of course, we are offering basketball here just for illustration purposes. We imagine you likely feel the flow when engaging in a completely different activity or even in disparate activities that are unified by a single behavior, such as when you are creating something or perhaps motivating others. The options are very much endless. Once you have identified the passion you wish to discuss, avoid simply telling the admissions committee about it and instead illustrate how it manifests in your life. For example, rather than starting your essay by stating, “I have been watching and playing basketball since I was a child,” you need to create a more vivid impression of your dedication and involvement, such as “From playing with my brothers after school to varsity ball in college to now coaching a youth league in my community, I can hardly remember a time when basketball wasn’t an integral part of my life.” Or consider a more narrative approach, such as, “Dripping with sweat, I thrust my right arm up and knocked the basketball away, just as the buzzer sounded.” Once you have set the scene and presented the object of your fervor, you must then explain why you connect with it so strongly or so well. Perhaps it gives you a sense of peace or purpose, or it makes you feel connected with others in a meaningful way, or it allows you to challenge yourself mentally or physically. A successful essay response will not only paint a clear picture of your passion but also highlight the elements of your personality that make it significant to you. [b]Required Essay #2: The definition of successful leadership has evolved over the last decade and will continue to change. What do you need to develop to become a successful leader? (300 words max)[/b] The Berkeley Haas admissions committee has severely cut back the preamble to this essay question and now presents the central query in a much more bare-bones way. We are merely making an assumption here, but perhaps too many applicants fixed on the descriptors, albeit loose, that the former preamble included (notably, “speaking up and listening” and “courageously us[ing] … power to address barriers and drive change for positive impact”) and felt compelled to parrot them back to the admissions committee, rather than providing their own, true opinions on what defines an effective leader. The open-endedness of the current prompt removes the opportunity for such subconscious mirroring. So, without doing so directly, the school is in part asking candidates, “How do you define a successful leader?” By presenting the traits and skills you feel you must gain or hone to become one yourself, you are simultaneously telling the school that these are the traits and skills you believe make or distinguish a successful leader. Although the school does not explicitly ask that you discuss leadership within the context of your career for this essay, we do believe that focusing on your professional experience is best here. After all, you are not applying to business school to get better at your extracurricular pursuits! And with only 300 words for the entire essay, you will need to keep your message succinct and direct. This is certainly not the place to try to impress the admissions committee with a detailed story about a past leadership success. Instead, strive to briefly convey the leadership abilities and mind-set you already possess, to set the stage for your discussion of the elements you hope to acquire in the MBA program and how the school can help you do so. Interestingly, the admissions committee has removed its previous request for “specific examples” of why the school is the right place for you to advance your leadership experience and knowledge. Most applicants likely anticipate benefiting and learning from a variety of aspects of the Berkeley Haas experience and that not all of these can be easily linked to a particular resource or opportunity. The new wording of the prompt provides some leeway to discuss those more ephemeral elements as well as more concrete ones. Either way, for you to know (and therefore be able to explain) that Berkeley Haas can provide the development you require, you must be knowledgeable about what the program offers. So, doing some focused research to identify the resources, events, and other factors that align with your needs and interests would be helpful in preparing to write this essay. To a degree, this query covers some of the elements of a traditional personal statement (why do you need an MBA, and why our school?), so we encourage you to download a free copy of the [b][url=https://shop.mbamission.com/products/personal-statement-guide]mbaMission Personal Statement Guide[/url][/b], which outlines ways of approaching these topics effectively and offers several annotated example essays. You might also wish to claim a free copy of the mbaMission [b][url=https://shop.mbamission.com/products/uc-berkeley-haas-school-of-business-insider-s-guide]Insider’s Guide to the Berkeley Haas School of Business[/url][/b] for an in-depth exploration of the program. [b]Optional Information #1: We invite you to help us better understand the context of your opportunities and achievements.[/b] [list] [*][b] What is the highest level of education completed by your parent(s) or guardian(s)? [/b][/*] [/list] [list] [*] [list] [*][b]Did not complete high school[/b][/*] [*][b]High school diploma or equivalency (GED), associate’s degree (junior college), or vocational degree/license[/b][/*] [*][b]Bachelor’s degree (BA, BS)[/b][/*] [*][b]Master’s degree (MA, MS)[/b][/*] [*][b]Doctorate or professional degree (MD, JD, DDS)[/b][/*] [/list] [/*] [/list] [*][b] What is the most recent occupation of your parent(s) or guardian(s)?[/b][/*] [/list] [list] [*] [list] [*][b]Unemployed[/b][/*] [*][b]Homemaker[/b][/*] [*][b]Laborer[/b][/*] [*][b]Skilled worker[/b][/*] [*][b]Professional[/b][/*] [/list] [/*] [/list] [*][b] If you were raised in one of the following household types, please indicate.[/b] [list] [*][b]Raised by a single parent[/b][/*] [*][b]Raised by an extended family member (grandparent, aunt/uncle, niece/nephew, cousin)[/b][/*] [*][b]Raised in a multi-generational home[/b][/*] [*][b][b]Raised in foster care[/b][/b] [/*] [/list] [/*] [*][b][b] What was the primary language spoken in your childhood home?[/b][/b] [/*] [*][b]If you have you ever been responsible for providing significant and continuing financial or supervisory support for someone else, please indicate.[/b][/*] [/list] [list] [*] [list] [*][b]Child[/b][/*] [*][b]Spouse[/b][/*] [*][b]Sibling[/b][/*] [*][b]Parent[/b][/*] [*][b]Extended family member (grandparent, aunt/uncle, niece/nephew, cousin)[/b][/*] [*][b]Other[/b][/*] [/list] [/*] [/list] [*][b] Please elaborate on any of your above responses. Alternatively, you may use this opportunity to expand on other hardships or unusual life circumstances that may help us understand the context of your opportunities, achievements, and impact. (300 words maximum)[/b][/*] [/list] [b]Optional Information #2: This section should only be used to convey relevant information not addressed elsewhere in your application. This may include explanation of employment gaps, academic aberrations, supplemental coursework, etc. You are encouraged to use bullet points where appropriate.[/b] Although Berkeley Haas’s first optional essay prompt is somewhat elaborate, it is not necessarily all that complicated, and we imagine it will offer some applicants an easy way of highlighting particular elements of their background without having to try to fit them into a different essay. The school clearly wants direct information and basic explanation(s) from this option, so simply answer the questions and succinctly provide any necessary clarifications using the allocated word count. The second optional essay prompt asks applicants to focus specifically on information they deem most “relevant,” and the lack of a word limit means candidates can fully explain whatever they feel the admissions committee truly must know to be able to evaluate them fully and fairly, though the note about using bullet points implies that succinctness would be appreciated. This is not, however, a blank-slate invitation to dump every bit of remaining information about yourself that you feel the school is lacking. Also, avoid the temptation to simply reuse a strong essay you wrote for another program here or to offer a few anecdotes you were unable to incorporate into your other Berkeley Haas essays. Be judicious in your use of this opportunity, and submit an optional essay only if you truly believe a key element of your story or profile is needed for the school to have a complete and accurate understanding of you as a candidate. Consider downloading your free copy of our [b][url=https://shop.mbamission.com/products/mbamission-optional-essays-guide]mbaMission Optional Essays Guide[/url][/b], in which we offer detailed advice on when and how to take advantage of the optional essay (including multiple sample essays) to help you mitigate any problem areas in your profile. [b]The Next Step—Mastering Your Berkeley Haas Interview: [/b]Many MBA candidates find admissions interviews stressful and intimidating, but mastering this important element of the application process is definitely possible—the key is informed preparation. And to help you develop this high level of preparation, we offer our [b][url=https://shop.mbamission.com/collections/interview-guides]free Interview Guides[/url][/b]! Download your free copy of the [b][url=https://shop.mbamission.com/products/haas-school-of-business-interview-guide]Berkeley Haas School of Business Interview Guide[/url][/b] today. |
18 Jul 2020, 07:00
| FROM mbaMission Blog: Cornell University Johnson Essay Analysis, 2020–2021 |
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[url=https://www.mbamission.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Johnson-logo-rgb.jpg][img]https://www.mbamission.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Johnson-logo-rgb-300x64.jpg[/img][/url] At a time when candidates probably appreciate some stability, the Johnson Graduate School of Management at Cornell University has made no real changes to its MBA application essay prompts. The school tightened up the parameters within which its candidates can share their story with the admissions committee last year by cutting back the word allowances for its essays and shortening the video option from five minutes to three. We assume the approach worked well, given that no further adjustments have been made this time around. Cornell Johnson seems interested in getting right to the heart of the issues it considers most valuable in its evaluations. So if you are ready to deliver the information the program is seeking, read on for our full analysis. [b]Goals Statement: A statement of your goals will begin a conversation that will last throughout [the] admissions process and guide your steps during the MBA program and experience. To the best of your understanding today, please share your short and long term goals by completing the following sentences and answering the enclosed short answer question (350 words maximum):[/b] [b]Immediately post-MBA, my goal is to work as a(n) [Role] at [Company] within [Industry].[/b] [b]Targeted Job Role:[/b] [b]Target Job Company:[/b] [b]Industry:[/b] [b]In 5–10 years post-MBA, my goal is to work as a(n) [Role] at [Company] within [Industry].[/b] [b]Targeted Job Role:[/b] [b]Target Job Company:[/b] [b]Industry:[/b] [b]How has your experience prepared and encouraged you to pursue these goals? [/b] With this incredibly direct approach to gathering information about candidates’ professional goals, Cornell Johnson is clearly conveying a desire for information only. The school states in the preamble to this statement prompt, “If invited to interview, you will have the opportunity to elaborate further,” signaling to us that the admissions committee really wants just the facts here. So, respect both the format and the school and be as direct and clear as possible, saving any embellishment or additional explanation for another time. The inclusion of the mini essay prompt indicates, however, that the admissions committee wants to have some context for your stated aspirations. And the expansion of the word count for this submission last year from 250 to 350 suggests that the school may not have been getting quite enough context from earlier applicants, so do your best to be thorough and to clearly connect the dots between where you have been and where you are striving to go. An effective response will provide evidence that you (1) have done your research as to what is required to attain your goals, (2) understand where you are on that trajectory (what skills and experience you already possess that are key to success in your desired roles and field), and, to some degree, (3) why/how attaining an MBA from Cornell Johnson will move you further in the right direction. Although this prompt is not a request for a full-length personal essay, we offer a number of tips and examples in our free [b][url=https://shop.mbamission.com/products/personal-statement-guide]mbaMission Personal Statement Guide[/url][/b] that could be helpful in crafting your responses. We encourage you to download your complimentary copy today. [b]Essay 1 – Impact Essay: This essay is designed to explore the intersection of engagement and community culture. Our students and alumni share a desire to positively impact the organizations and communities they serve. To help you explore your potential for impact, we encourage you to [url=https://www.johnson.cornell.edu/programs/full-time-mba/admissions/community-search-tool/]engage with our students[/url], alumni, faculty, and professional staff before submitting your application. You may choose to connect with them via email or phone or in person during one of our on-campus or off-campus events. As you seek their input and insight, please be respectful of their time and prepare a few discussion points or questions in advance.[/b] [b]At Cornell, our students and alumni share a desire to positively impact the organizations and communities they serve. How do you intend to make an impact during the next several years of your education/career? (350 words maximum) [/b] Note that with this essay prompt, the school is not asking about times when you have made an impact in the past but rather about your expected impact going forward, which would theoretically include your time as part of the Cornell Johnson community. The rather less-than-subtle hint in the intro about “engag[ing] with our students, alumni, faculty, and professional staff” conveys that the admissions committee expects you to actively reach out to and communicate with individuals at or associated with Cornell Johnson to learn more about it before you begin writing this essay. If you have not already been making these kinds of connections, now (immediately) is the time to get busy. The suggestion also implies that the admissions committee expects your efforts to yield some useful insight, so saying that you have merely contacted a few people will not suffice. You will have to show that the insider information you subsequently received has further solidified your choice to pursue an MBA at Cornell Johnson by discussing the ways and areas in which you now feel you can contribute to it and how you expect the experience will position you to attain your professional goals after graduation. Although we believe this submission should undoubtedly be written with the expectation of ultimately becoming a Cornell Johnson MBA student (and later graduate), you may want to very briefly touch on what you would do to continue advancing and making an impact should you not be accepted to the program. Showing—succinctly!—that you have a Plan B in mind could demonstrate to the admissions committee that you have thoroughly considered all your options and are committed to following through on your path despite such a setback. Dedication and thoughtful ambition are characteristics often valued by MBA admissions committees. [b]Essay 2 – Back of Resume Essay: This essay gives you the opportunity to present yourself as an individual. We encourage you to think about your proudest accomplishments, interests and passions, and personal highlights that will help us to get to know you as a person and potential community member. We value creativity and authenticity and encourage you to approach this essay with your unique style. [/b] [b]Alternative submission formats may include a slide presentation, links to pre-existing media (personal website, digital portfolio, YouTube, etc.), as well as visually enhanced written submissions. Maximum file size is 5 MB. If you choose to submit a written essay, please limit your submission to 350 words or fewer. Multimedia submissions should be under three minutes.[/b] [b]The front page of your resume has given us a sense of your professional experience and accomplishments as well as your academic summary and extracurricular involvement. If the back page reflects “the rest of your story,” please help us get to know you better by sharing ONE example of a life experience, achievement, or passion that will give us a sense of who you are as a potential community member. [/b] This essay prompt is merely a creative way of asking you to reveal who you are as an individual, apart from what all the basic elements of your application already convey about your job, your education, and your activities and interests outside of work. Identifying the approach that will best help you tell your personal story is an important first step, so do not automatically restrict yourself and think too narrowly. The intro to the prompt explicitly states, “We value creativity and authenticity,” so keep this in mind as you mine your background and current life for the most fitting content and then decide how to present it. Take care to not get gimmicky. Your goal is not to seem “cute” or even more creative than the next applicant but really just to tell your personal story, albeit in a brief way, and thereby provide a more dynamic image of yourself. We suggest you start by grabbing some paper and making an old-fashioned list of your key “experiences, achievements, … [and] passions.” Then, consider what information the admissions committee already has about you from your other essay(s) and elements of your application, and strive to choose the item from your list that best complements that information to create a well-rounded picture of you. With an allowance of only 350 words or three minutes, you will need to be succinct, so be sure not to spend too much time or space on unnecessary buildup or repetition. You want your story to have life and sufficient context so the admissions committee can fully understand and appreciate it, but you also want to give yourself enough room to share details that will imbue your message with color and individuality. Cornell Johnson states that you may use an alternate (multimedia) format for this submission. We offer no recommendation with respect to whether a written essay, a PowerPoint presentation, a video, or any other approach is “best” in this case. Opportunities are certainly available in both traditional and creative approaches, depending on where your strengths lie, so do not feel that you must use some form of multimedia. Again, start by brainstorming to determine what you want to say as an applicant—what you feel the admissions committee really needs to learn about you—and then decide which format most appropriately matches your personality and message. Your ultimate goal here is to effectively convey information that showcases your personality and an important moment in or aspect of your life, not to win an Oscar. [b]Optional Essay (required for reapplicants): You may use this essay to call attention to items needing clarification and to add additional details to any aspects of your application that do not accurately reflect your potential for success at Johnson (350 words maximum). [/b] [b]If you are reapplying for admission, please use this essay to indicate how you have strengthened your application since the last time you applied for admission. Please also review our Application Guide for additional information about reapplying. (350 words maximum)[/b] If you are a Cornell Johnson reapplicant, this essay should be pretty straightforward. Whether you have improved your academic record, received a promotion, begun a new and exciting project, increased your community involvement, or taken on some sort of personal challenge, the key to success with this essay is conveying a very deliberate path of achievement. The school wants to know that you have been actively striving to improve yourself and your profile, and that you have seized opportunities during the previous year to do so, because a Cornell Johnson MBA is vital to you. The responses to this essay question will vary greatly from one candidate to the next, because each person’s needs and experiences differ. We are more than happy to provide one-on-one assistance with this highly personal essay to ensure that your efforts over the past year are presented in the best light possible. If you are not a reapplicant, this is your opportunity—if needed—to address any lingering questions that an admissions officer might have about your candidacy, such as a poor grade or overall GPA, a low GMAT or GRE score, or a gap in your work experience. We encourage you to download a free copy of our [b][url=https://shop.mbamission.com/products/mbamission-optional-essays-guide]mbaMission Optional Essays Guide[/url][/b], in which we offer detailed advice on deciding whether to take advantage of the optional essay and how best to do so, along with multiple illustrative examples. Be mindful and respectful of the admissions committee’s time and remember that each additional file you submit requires more resources on behalf of the admissions office, so whatever you write must be truly worthwhile and clearly reveal that you made good use of this opportunity to provide further insight into your candidacy. For a thorough exploration of Johnson’s academic offerings, defining characteristics, crucial statistics, social life, community/environment, and other key facets of the program, please download your free copy of the [b][url=https://shop.mbamission.com/products/samuel-curtis-johnson-graduate-school-of-management]mbaMission Insider’s Guide to Samuel Curtis Johnson School of Management[/url][/b]. |
19 Jul 2020, 08:00
| FROM mbaMission Blog: Texas McCombs Essay Analysis, 2020–2021 |
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[url=https://www.mbamission.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/U-Texas-McCombs.png][img]https://www.mbamission.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/U-Texas-McCombs-300x143.png[/img][/url] The McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas at Austin has tweaked the wording of one its MBA application essay questions this season in what we believe is a subtle nod to the uncertainty caused by the (seemingly endless) coronavirus pandemic. Otherwise, the queries remain unchanged and still focus on eliciting the same fundamental information from candidates. The school’s required self-introduction essay (or video, for those who prefer that option) has been in play since at least 2013, and for its second essay, applicants are asked to imagine the end point of their MBA studies and to reflect on what they have gained and learned at McCombs within the context of their goals. Anyone with a potential problem area or unclear element in their profile can also submit an optional essay to address the issue(s). As a whole, the Texas McCombs essays give applicants ample opportunity to provide meaningful insight into their characters and strengths. Read on for our entire analysis of the program’s essay prompts for 2020–2021. [b]Essay 1: We will learn a lot about your professional background through your resume and letter of recommendation, but we want to get to know you further. Please introduce yourself. Select only one communication method for your response. [/b] [list] [*][b]Write an essay (250 words) [/b][/*] [*][b]Share a video introduction (one minute in length)[/b][/*] [/list] The Texas McCombs admissions committee offers a little clarifying text before its straightforward request for an introduction, guiding applicants to steer away from aspects of their story that will already be covered in their resume and recommendations. Otherwise, candidates have an arguably blank slate from which to begin here. We imagine that the less guidance a program provides with its essay questions, the more panic is generated in the hearts of hopeful applicants, but let us reassure you that you do not need to be intimidated. Some patience, self-reflection, brainstorming, and authenticity—with a dash of creativity—and you should be on the road to a standout submission. First, determine the format that is more compatible with your personality. If you are the quiet, thoughtful type, an essay may be the better choice; if you are typically the life of the party or a better speaker than writer, you should probably select the video option. Next, start identifying the kind of information you might share by thinking about what you would like to know about a new person you are meeting and would find interesting, helpful, or intriguing. For example, would you consider someone’s age or undergraduate institution particularly important or compelling? Probably not, so you should skip mentioning such facts in your own introduction. (Remember, too, that your actual audience will be a member of the admissions committee, who will already know such basic information about you from the rest of your application.) You would likely be more curious about what someone does in their spare time, what interesting or exceptional skills they have, whether they are approachable/funny/hyperorganized/a risk taker/etc., whether they have extensive experience in a certain area or a more wide-ranging background, and so on. So think about the aspects of your personality and profile that you believe truly define you as an individual—not just what you do and have done, but who you are—and fully explore your background, hobbies, talents, experiences, values, goals, and quirks. Brainstorm an extensive list and then eliminate any items that seem too common (e.g., a BA in finance) or basic (e.g., your hometown) until you have a collection of truly distinctive qualities you can weave into your response. Your goal is to provide a well-rounded picture of yourself that draws from multiple areas and shows that you possess characteristics and/or knowledge that would make you a positive addition to McCombs’ diverse community. Remember to bring energy and enthusiasm to your submission. You are not filling out a job application—you are trying to connect with others, so charisma is welcome, and a less rigid and traditionally “professional” demeanor is okay. Forego any fancy essay-writing or dramatic tactics (e.g., starting with a quotation, launching into an anecdote), and just be as natural and authentic as possible. Do not pitch your candidacy, detail your career goals, or express your admiration for the program. As they say, you only have one chance to make a first impression, so dedicate the time and effort necessary to ensure that your introduction is engaging, substantive, and true to who you are. If you choose to submit a video, think beyond what you will say and also consider the clothing you will wear, the setting or background, your tone of voice, your language style, whether you will include music, and other similar details. Brainstorm ways of nonverbally communicating some of your strongest attributes and key aspects of your life to help permeate your submission with as much information as possible. For example, if you are an avid biker, consider filming your video while you are actively riding. If you are a dedicated musician, perhaps incorporate your instrument into your message by playing it while you speak (if you are especially confident, you might even sing about yourself!). Think about what makes you who you are today, decide what you most want to share about yourself, and then let your creativity flow. On a practical note, be sure to speak clearly in your video. You naturally do not want any part of your message to be lost or misunderstood, and the admissions committee may view your communication skills and style as indicators of how you might interact with your classmates and/or speak in the classroom. Spend some time practicing in front of a mirror or a friend, but do not overrehearse. And definitely do not try to read from an off-camera script or notes (trust us—they will be able to tell!). You want to come across as genuine and natural. [b]Essay 2: Picture yourself at the completion of your MBA journey. Describe how you spent your time as a Texas McCombs MBA student to achieve your personal and professional goals. (500 words)[/b] The most noteworthy change to this query from last year is that the school is now asking candidates to picture themselves “at the end of [their] MBA journey” rather than “at graduation.” Given the havoc the COVID-19 pandemic has caused so far and will continue to wreak for an unknown length of time, McCombs likely does not want to assume or predict a return to graduation as normal. Nevertheless, we would not expect this slight change to have any real effect on the content of applicants’ essays. With this prompt, the McCombs admissions committee is asking you to imagine where you want to go after you have completed your MBA studies (in both your career and your life more generally) and explain how you used your time at the school to prepare yourself to get there. So, without using the actual words “why McCombs?” and “how do you expect to engage with our community?,” the school is nevertheless asking you for precisely this information. The admissions committee essentially wants to know what has compelled you to choose McCombs in particular for your MBA and how you will take advantage of specific resources and experiences it offers. The assumption is that something you have learned about McCombs leads you to believe that its MBA program will provide the experience, knowledge, skills, exposure, and/or other element you need to reach your goals. Likewise, something makes you feel you would fit well with the McCombs environment and be comfortable there. So what has given you that impression? All the top MBA programs want reassurance that the candidates they admit have not applied simply because of the school’s reputation or ranking but rather because they are truly excited to be a part of the community and to benefit from that specific learning experience. McCombs is not simply seeking warm bodies with which to fill its classrooms; it is striving to add to a long history of effective global business leaders and a network of alumni dedicated to the school and each other. Demonstrating your authentic interest in the program by offering concrete examples and drawing clear connections between who you want to be and what the school offers is key to crafting a compelling essay response. If you have targeted McCombs because you feel it is the right program for you, you likely already have an idea of why that is true and how you would function as part of its community. If you do not yet have a handle on these points, you definitely need to start (now!) researching the school thoroughly, including interacting directly with students and/or alumni. Identify at least one (ideally more) resource, offering, or quality that McCombs has that is unique or that it excels in that directly relates to what you need to attain your post-MBA goals. And do not just offer a list—you must explain how the identified element(s) will fulfill particular needs for you. Keep in mind that business school is not only about course work and recruiting, and McCombs specifically asks about achieving your personal goals as well as your career aspirations. While you are a student, you can (and should!) also have fun, make friends, and be a contributing member of the community outside the classroom. So take care not to discuss only academic and professional development elements of the McCombs program. Explore the school’s social events and offerings—including affinity, social, and sports clubs, for starters—to identify other aspects of the experience that you anticipate will also play an important role in your MBA journey. Although we would not encourage you to force this angle and mention something just to tick a box, so to speak, addressing these options can be an effective way of revealing more of your values and personality to the admissions committee and thereby presenting a more well-rounded impression of yourself. [b]Optional Statement: Please provide any additional information you believe is important or address any areas of concern that you believe will be beneficial to MBA Admissions in considering your application (e.g., gaps in work experience, choice of recommender, academic performance, or extenuating personal circumstances). (250 words)[/b] We tend to believe that the best use of the optional essay is to explain confusing or problematic issues in your candidacy, and this prompt offers an opportunity to do just that. So, if you need to, this is your chance to address any questions an admissions officer might have about your profile. Consider downloading a free copy of our [b][url=https://shop.mbamission.com/products/mbamission-optional-essays-guide]mbaMission Optional Essays Guide[/url][/b], in which we offer detailed advice on deciding whether to submit an optional essay and on how best to approach writing such a submission, with multiple examples. However, because McCombs does not stipulate that you can only discuss a problem area in this essay, you have some leeway to share anything you think may be pivotal or particularly compelling. We caution you against trying to fill this space simply because you fear that not doing so would somehow count against you. Remember, by submitting an additional essay, you are asking the admissions committee to do extra work on your behalf, so you need to make sure that time is warranted. If you are using the essay to emphasize something that if omitted would render your application incomplete, take this opportunity to write a very brief narrative that reveals this key new aspect of your candidacy. |
21 Jul 2020, 08:00
| FROM mbaMission Blog: Convey a Confident Tone, and Avoid Fawning in Your MBA Application Essays |
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In your MBA application essays, you must ensure that the tone you use allows the admissions committee to readily recognize your certainty and self-confidence. Being clear and direct about who you are and how you envision your future is vital. Consider these example statements: Weak: “I now have adequate work experience and hope to pursue an MBA.” Strong: “Through my work experience, I have gained both breadth and depth, providing me with a solid, practical foundation for pursuing my MBA.” —— Weak: “I now want to pursue an MBA.” Strong: “I am certain that now is the ideal time for me to pursue my MBA.” —— Weak: “I have good quantitative skills and will succeed academically.” Strong: “I have already mastered the quantitative skills necessary to thrive in my MBA studies.” —— Weak: “With my MBA, I hope to establish myself as a leader.” Strong: “I am certain that with my MBA, I will propel myself to the next levels of leadership.” The key in all these examples is the use of language that clearly projects self-confidence. Instead of “hope,” use “will”; rather than saying you have “good” skills, show “mastery.” Although you should avoid sounding arrogant, of course, by being assertive and direct, you will inspire confidence in your reader and make a more positive impression. Your target MBA programs certainly want to know that you identify with them. However, this does not need to be a running theme throughout your essays or application. Unless a business school explicitly requests this kind of information—for example, by asking what you are most passionate about and how that passion will positively affect the school—we generally recommend that candidates only discuss their connection with their target MBA program via their personal statements (“What are your short- and long-term goals, and how will [our school] allow you to achieve them?”). For example, in response to a school’s question about leadership or putting knowledge into action, you would not need to discuss how the school will help you further develop your leadership skills or how you will continue to be an active learner when you are a member of the next incoming class, even though these topics reflect core values that each school embraces. Although we cannot assert this as an absolute, we find that in most cases, such statements come across as insincere or fawning—the very opposite of the effect you want. |
22 Jul 2020, 10:00
| FROM mbaMission Blog: Emory University’s Goizueta Business School Essay Analysis 2020–2021 |
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[url=https://www.mbamission.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/emory.jpg][img]https://www.mbamission.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/emory.jpg[/img][/url] Without completely changing things up, Emory University’s Goizueta Business School has definitely made a few meaningful tweaks to its application essays this year. The school’s first essay question remains the same, asking applicants to discuss their short-term career goals and why the choices are fitting ones. For the second essay, candidates must again share a past leadership experience, but the school has removed the phrase “in a professional setting” from the prompt. We actually commented last season that on the whole, Goizueta’s essays were focused rather heavily on applicants’ professional sides, but this adjustment has now broadened the scope of potential topics beyond the workplace and opened the door for more balance. That particular change should not create any anxiety for applicants, but we imagine the admissions committee’s new take on the video essay might. Goizueta used to both provide the question options for the video in advance and allow candidates to select the one they preferred. Now, however, applicants will be presented with an unknown question and are therefore expected to respond extemporaneously. If needed, candidates can use the Additional Information option to provide clarification or explanation about elements of their candidacy, but with only 100 words maximum, they will need to do so very succinctly. Read on for our complete analysis of the program’s updated essay questions. [b]POST-MBA CAREER GOALS: Define your short-term post-MBA career goals. How are your professional strengths, past experience, and personal attributes aligned with these goals? (300 word limit)[/b] Like most business schools, Goizueta wants to learn the reasons behind its applicants’ decision to pursue an MBA, but unlike many programs these days, it still asks candidates to actually write an essay on the topic. Very simply, the admissions committee wants to know that you have given serious thought to your professional trajectory and have identified where you want to go, how equipped you already are to get there, and how an MBA will help you move forward. The specific goal you present is less important here than showing that you understand what is involved in progressing toward your objectives and recognize the qualities and abilities you currently possess that will help position you for success. Because this essay covers several key elements of a personal statement, we encourage you to download a free copy of the [b][url=https://shop.mbamission.com/products/personal-statement-guide]mbaMission Personal Statement Guide[/url][/b], which discusses in depth how to approach and write these types of submissions (with numerous annotated examples). [b]LEADERSHIP IN BUSINESS: The business school is named for Roberto C. Goizueta, former Chairman and CEO of The Coca-Cola Company, who led the organization for 16 years, extending its global reach, quadrupling consumption, building brand responsibility, and creating unprecedented shareholder wealth. Roberto Goizueta’s core values guide us in educating Principled Leaders for Global Enterprise. Provide an example of your leadership and explain what you learned about yourself through the experience. (300 word limit)[/b] Goizueta Business School clearly appreciates the leadership abilities and professional success of the former trustee after which it is named. The leadup to the actual essay prompt mentions the business leader’s core values and lists some of his most impressive accomplishments at Coca-Cola’s helm. However, the prompt itself makes no reference to values and does not request that applicants discuss a comparable achievement. The implication, we believe, is simply that the school has high expectations for the members of its community and seeks individuals who aspire to make a real impact on the world around them. They are guided by their values and seek to create positive outcomes for others as well as themselves. The admissions committee is not expecting you to be able to claim an accomplishment on the level of Roberto Goizueta’s, but you should strive to identify a story that illustrates both your leadership style and your long-term potential. Because you have only 300 words for this essay, we recommend responding in a straightforward manner. Launch directly into the story of your leadership experience, detailing the specific actions you took in directing others to achieve your result. Although we often note that not all great leadership stories end in success, in this case, you should discuss a situation that had a positive resolution. The key here is to show you shared a valuable experience with colleagues, extracted the most from your team members, and attained a desired outcome. We recommend using a narrative approach for your story, but be sure to include the thought process and motivation(s) behind your actions. This way, the admissions committee will take away both a clear picture of what you accomplished and the aspects of your character that inspired you and helped enable your success. Lastly, do not forget or neglect to explain what you learned from the experience—the admissions committee specifically requests that you do so! Omitting this element from your essay could be viewed as an indication that you are not good at delivering what is asked and/or at engaging in constructive self-reflection, and you definitely want to avoid this. You also want to avoid sharing that you learned a specific skill or business truth, because the prompt specifically says, “learned about yourself” (italics ours). To craft a compelling response, you will need to give serious thought to how the situation made you aware of a facet of your character that you had not previously perceived. [b]VIDEO ESSAY: Within the application, you will be provided with a question to answer. You will have 30 seconds to gather your thoughts and prepare your answer. You will then have up to 60 seconds to respond to the question. You will be permitted 3 attempts to record your video essay, however each opportunity could present a different question. [/b] First, try not to panic. Most MBA programs that include a video component in their applications do so to get a better idea of who their candidates are beyond the statistics in their files and the written words in their essays. They are not looking for the next prime-time anchor or expecting an Oscar-worthy performance—they just want to get a sense of your spoken communication style, personality, and perhaps demeanor. Because the school is no longer offering applicants a choice of questions to which to respond or letting them know ahead of time what their question will be, the admissions committee is likely also using the video as a way of gauging how you deal with the unexpected, think on your feet, and convey relevant answers in a time-conscious way. This is, after all, similar to what you will be doing in the Goizueta classroom as an MBA student. Although Goizueta is not providing any specific questions in advance, a slight possibility exists that the school could use one (or more) of the three options offered last year: [list] [*]Of Goizueta Business School’s core values (Courage, Integrity, Accountability, Rigor, Diversity, Team, Community), which one resonates the most with you and why?[/*] [*]What is the best advice you have received and how have you used it in your life or career?[/*] [*]Outside of family and work, what is something that you are passionate about and why?[/*] [/list] If nothing else, these are good practice queries. [Note: As we learn more about what the actual questions are, we will update this analysis with additional information.] You could also ask a friend or family member to help you prepare by asking you questions (consider Googling “MBA interview questions” and/or downloading a free copy of the [b][url=https://shop.mbamission.com/products/mbamission-interview-guide]mbaMission Interview Guide[/url][/b] for some options) and providing feedback. This will give you a feel for what delivering an oral response within the school’s 60-second timeframe feels like (ideally without talking at lightning speed!). As you practice, strive to minimize your use of filler words and phrases (e.g., “um,” “uh,” “like,” “you know”) so that you are less likely to depend on or default to them when the time comes for your actual video submission. But again, do not panic. If you make a small mistake or bungle your words, just pause, smile, and get back on track. If you make a more significant blunder—perhaps you run out of time before you have finished answering the question or totally draw a blank and fail to provide any real answer at all—take comfort in knowing that you can try again. The twist, however, is that you will not necessarily be asked the same question, and you are limited to just three attempts, so you cannot simply keep repeating the process until you perfect your response. Let us reassure you that none of Goizueta’s questions will have a “correct” answer, and you are not going to be judged on how energetic or enthralling you are in delivering your response. You should speak as naturally as possible so that the admissions committee can get a feel for your true character and bearing. And if possible, sharing a story from your life that helps illustrate or support your answer will make your response even more compelling. Otherwise, simply breathe, relax, and give the school a brief glimpse of the unique individual you are. [b]ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: Should you feel there is an important part of your story missing from your application (e.g., unexplained gaps in work experience, choice of recommenders, academic probation issues), please use this section to provide a brief explanation. We ask that you limit your response to 100 words; responses in bullet point format are preferred.[/b] With this prompt, Goizueta obviously wants to give applicants an opportunity to clarify any potentially problematic elements of their profile, but the admissions committee is clearly not interested in long-winded expositions or unnecessary filler. Its note about favoring bullet points is evidence of this. So do not view this option as a chance to squeeze in another accomplishment story or pander to the school in any way, and only take advantage of it if you have complementary information the admissions committee truly needs to hear to be able to fully and fairly evaluate you as a candidate. For more information about deciding when and how to respond to these kinds of prompts, download a free copy of the [b][url=https://shop.mbamission.com/products/mbamission-optional-essays-guide]mbaMission Optional Essays Guide[/url][/b]. [b]Reapplicant Essay 1: Define your short-term post-MBA career goals. How are your professional strengths, past experience and personal attributes aligned with these goals? (300 word limit)[/b] [b]Reapplicant Essay 2: Explain how you have improved your candidacy for Goizueta Business School’s MBA Program since your last application. (250 word limit)[/b] Interestingly, Goizueta asks its returning applicants (defined as those reapplying within two years of their previous application) to respond to the same first essay question that new applicants face. And because this has been the program’s first prompt since 2015, we imagine that most of the school’s reapplicants this season will have written an essay response to it before. If this is not the case for you, we direct you back to the first part of this essay analysis, in which we discuss our advice for the question. But if you are a reapplicant who has addressed this query in recent years, you will need to revisit your original answer. If your goals have not changed, do not simply resubmit what you provided in the past. Instead, give some thought to what more you have learned in the interim about the career you are targeting or about why it is fitting for you, and use these insights to enhance your essay. If you have not gained any additional knowledge on these topics, now is the time to do so—before you make any amendments to your essay. Read industry magazines and websites, for example, or reach out to individuals in your preferred field or role to get their first-hand perspectives. You want to show Goizueta that you are truly committed to your desired path and have continued to progress and learn, despite the temporary setback with respect to your MBA goals. If, instead, you have revised your post-MBA aspiration, you will obviously need to craft an entirely new essay. For the school’s second reapplicant essay, whether you have improved your academic record, received a promotion, begun a new and exciting project, increased your community involvement, or taken on some sort of personal challenge, the key to success with this essay is conveying a very deliberate path of achievement. Goizueta wants to know that you have been actively striving to improve yourself and your profile, and that you have seized opportunities during the previous year to do so, because an MBA from its program is vital to you. The responses to this essay question will vary greatly from one candidate to the next, because each person’s needs and experiences differ. We are more than happy to provide one-on-one assistance with this highly personal essay to ensure that your efforts over the past year are presented in the best light possible. |
23 Jul 2020, 10:00
| FROM mbaMission Blog: INSEAD Essay Analysis, 2020–2021 |
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[url=https://www.mbamission.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/insead-screen.png][img]https://www.mbamission.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/insead-screen-300x114.png[/img][/url] Once again, INSEAD appears to have made no significant changes to its MBA application essay prompts this season. Candidates must respond to four short career-focused queries (a fifth one is optional) and provide three motivation essays (with an optional fourth). Applicants are also tasked with completing a video component for which they answer four questions as four separate video recordings. Given the total number of prompts, tasks, and questions involved, some candidates may find INSEAD’s essay gauntlet a bit intimidating and likely arduous as well. Read on for our full analysis, which we hope will make the process a little easier to manage. [b]Job Description 1: Briefly summarise your current (or most recent) job, including the nature of work, major responsibilities, and where relevant, employees under your supervision, size of budget, clients/products and results achieved. (200 words maximum) [/b] [b]Job Description 2: What would be your next step in terms of position if you were to remain in the same company? (200 words maximum) [/b] [b]Job Description 3: Please give a full description of your career since graduating from university. Describe your career path with the rationale behind your choices. (300 words maximum) [/b] [b]Job Description 4: Discuss your short and long term career aspirations with an MBA from INSEAD. (100 words maximum) [/b] For the school’s job-related mini essays, we encourage you to start by very carefully parsing exactly what data the school requests for each. Together, these four prompts cover many of the elements seen in a traditional personal statement essay, including info about one’s career to date, interest in the school, and professional goals. However, the topics are clearly separated among individual submissions rather than covered in a cohesive single essay, and INSEAD also asks applicants to comment on their expected progression within their current firm were they to remain there rather than entering business school. The first prompt requires that you outline roughly six different aspects of your current or most recent position. Be sure that you address each of the elements the school lists, and do not skip any just because you would rather write more about some than others. You may also want to consider providing a very brief description of your company or industry, if the nature of either might not be readily clear to an admissions reader. For the second question, your response should be fairly straightforward. If your firm has a clearly defined management hierarchy in which one position leads directly to a higher one—and you would be interested in adhering to that system—you simply need to explain this and perhaps offer a short description of the new responsibilities your next position would entail. If your company does not have such an arrangement or you would want to move in a different direction, simply explain what your preferred next role would be and the duties involved. The third prompt is rather self-explanatory with respect to detailing the various stages of your career to date, but do not be remiss in responding to the “rationale” and “choices” aspects of the query. The school wants to know that your progression has not been passive, with your simply accepting the next good thing to come along, but rather that you have made thoughtful decisions with clear motivations and intentions behind them. For the fourth question, you will need to present your professional goals within the context of an INSEAD MBA education. Do your research on the school to identify specific resources it offers that relate directly to the skills and experiences you need to be successful in your career, thereby illustrating how INSEAD would help you achieve your aims. Above all, be sure to show determination and direction—that you are focused firmly on your intended end points and will not be easily deterred. For all your job description responses, avoid using any acronyms or abbreviations that would not be easily recognizable to most people. Using shortcuts (in the form of abbreviations/acronyms) and skipping basic contextual information could make your answers less understandable and therefore less compelling and useful to an admissions reader, so do yourself a favor by depicting your situation as clearly as possible. As we have noted, these questions cover many elements of a traditional personal statement, so we encourage you to download a free copy of our [b][url=https://shop.mbamission.com/products/personal-statement-guide]mbaMission Personal Statement Guide[/url][/b]. In this complimentary publication, we provide a detailed discussion of how to approach such queries and craft effective responses, along with multiple illustrative examples. [b]Optional Job Essay: If you are currently not working or if you plan to leave your current employer more than 2 months before the programme starts, please explain your activities and occupations between leaving your job and the start of the programme. [/b] With this essay, INSEAD hopes to see signs of your interest in ongoing self-improvement, knowledge or experience collection, and/or giving back. Whether you are choosing to leave your job a few months before the beginning of the MBA program or are asked to do so by your employer, simply explain what you expect do and gain in the interim. The admissions committee wants to know that you are the kind of person who takes advantage of opportunities and to understand what kinds of opportunities appeal to you. For example, perhaps you plan to complete a few quantitative courses to be better equipped to hit the ground running in your related MBA classes, or perhaps you want to spend some time with family members or volunteering in your community because you know that your availability to do so will be limited when you are in school, and you want to maintain those important connections. Maybe you want to focus on improving your foreign language ability before coming to INSEAD, given the importance of this skill in the school’s program. Or—if possible, given the restrictions the COVID-19 pandemic has imposed on many people’s lives—you might arrange informational interviews, job-shadowing opportunities, and/or unpaid internships, which could help in various ways with recruiting and job selection. Whatever your goals and plans, clearly convey how you anticipate that your experience(s) will add to or change your character, enhance your skill set, and/or increase your understanding of yourself or others—all of which are valuable in business school. [b]Motivation Essay 1: Give a candid description of yourself (who are you as a person), stressing the personal characteristics you feel to be your strengths and weaknesses and the main factors which have influenced your personal development, giving examples when necessary (maximum 500 words). [/b] Although INSEAD’s request for “main factors which have influenced your development” comes in the latter half of this essay prompt, we feel you should actually provide this context for your formative experiences before discussing the strengths and weaknesses you derived from them, because showing a clear cause-and-effect relationship between the two is important. The school asks that you offer examples “when necessary,” but your essay will be strongest if you present anecdotes to illustrate and support all your statements. Still, your essay should not end up being a hodgepodge of unconnected anecdotes that reveal strengths. Instead, focus on two or three strengths and one or two weaknesses in the mere 500 words allotted. As always, be honest about your strengths (do not try to tell the committee what you think it wants to hear; truthfully describe who you legitimately are) and especially about your weaknesses—this is vital. Transparent or disingenuous statements will not fool or convince anyone and will only reveal you as someone incapable of critical self-evaluation. [b]Motivation Essay 2: Describe the achievement of which you are most proud and explain why. In addition, describe a situation where you failed. How did these experiences impact your relationships with others? Comment on what you learned (maximum 400 words). [/b] For this essay, you will need to offer two anecdotes that reveal different sides of you as an applicant, describing a high moment from your life and a low moment. Because the school also asks you to address how these incidents subsequently influenced your interactions with others and what lessons they taught you, you must identify stories that not only involve a significant incident but also affected you personally in a meaningful and long-lasting way. These elements of your essay are just as important as the accomplishment and the failure you choose to share; your unique thoughts can differentiate you from other applicants, and showing that you recognize how these incidents changed you and your relations with others demonstrates your self-awareness and capacity for growth. Steer clear of trite and clichéd statements about your takeaways, and really reflect on these situations to uncover your deeper reactions and impressions. For example, everyone gains some level of resiliency from a failure, so you must offer something less common and more compelling and personal. Be aware that the best failure essays are often those that show reasoned optimism and tremendous momentum toward a goal—a goal that is ultimately derailed. In most cases, you will need to show that you were emotionally invested in your project/experience, which will enable the reader to connect with your story and vicariously experience your disappointment. If you were not invested at all, presenting the experience as a failure or learning experience will be less credible. [b]Motivation Essay 3: Describe all types of extra-professional activities in which you have been or are still involved for a significant amount of time (clubs, sports, music, arts, etc). How are you enriched by these activities? (maximum 300 words) [/b] Although stereotypes about the top MBA programs abound—this school wants consultants, that school is for marketing professionals, this other one is for techies and entrepreneurs—the truth is that they all want a diverse incoming class, full of people with various strengths and experiences that they can share with one another for the good of all. Discussing how you choose to spend your free time—explaining why your chosen activities are important to you and what you derive from them—provides the admissions committee with a window into your personality outside the workplace and classroom and an idea of what you could contribute to the student body and INSEAD as a whole. [b]Optional Motivation Essay: Is there anything else that was not covered in your application that you would like to share with the Admissions Committee? (maximum 300 words) [/b] We tend to believe that the best use of the optional essay is to explain confusing or problematic issues in your candidacy, and this prompt offers an opportunity to do just that. So, if you need to, this is your chance to address any questions an admissions officer might have about your profile—a poor grade or overall GPA, a low GMAT or GRE score, a gap in your work experience, etc. We suggest downloading your free copy of the [b][url=https://shop.mbamission.com/products/mbamission-optional-essays-guide]mbaMission Optional Essays Guide[/url][/b], in which we offer detailed advice on deciding whether to take advantage of the optional essay and how best to do so (with multiple sample essays), if needed. INSEAD does not stipulate that you can only discuss a problem area in this essay, however, so you have some leeway to share anything you think may be pivotal or particularly compelling. We caution you against trying to fill this space simply because you fear that not doing so would somehow count against you. Remember, by submitting an additional essay, you are asking the admissions committee to do extra work on your behalf, so you need to make sure that time is warranted. If you are using the essay to emphasize something that if omitted would render your application incomplete, take this opportunity to write a very brief narrative that reveals this key new aspect of your candidacy. [b]Video [/b] After submitting your INSEAD application, you will need to complete a video interview consisting of four questions. You will be given 45 seconds in which to consider your answer to each one and then 60 seconds in which to deliver it. Thankfully, INSEAD allows you to record and rerecord your responses as many times as you need to feel comfortable with your submissions, and you are not required to do all four in one sitting. You technically have until 48 hours after the deadline for the round in which you apply to complete this element of the process, but we strongly recommend doing so sooner rather than later while your mind is still in application mode and to ensure you do not somehow forget this task or have to rush through it at the end of the allotted time period. Because all INSEAD admissions interviews are conducted by the school’s alumni, this is a way for members of the admissions committee to virtually “meet” candidates and supplement the information provided in the written portions of the application. This video component gives the committee direct and dynamic insight into applicants’ character and personality, as well as another angle on their language abilities. About the videos, INSEAD says on its site, “The MBA Admissions Committee is interested in obtaining an authentic view of you as a person, to see how you think on your feet and how you convey your ideas.” So when the time comes for you to record your responses, do your best to relax, answer genuinely, and let your true self shine through! For a thorough exploration of INSEAD’s academic offerings, defining characteristics, crucial statistics, social life, community/environment, and other key facets of the program, please download your free copy of [b][url=https://shop.mbamission.com/products/mbamissions-insead-insiders-guide]mbaMission’s INSEAD Insider’s Guide[/url][/b]. [b]The Next Step—Mastering Your INSEAD Interview: [/b]Many MBA candidates find admissions interviews stressful and intimidating, but mastering this important element of the application process is definitely possible—the key is informed preparation. We therefore offer our free [url=https://shop.mbamission.com/collections/interview-guides][b]Interview Guides[/b][/url] to spur you along! Download your free copy of the [url=https://shop.mbamission.com/products/insead-interview-guide][b]INSEAD Interview Guide[/b][/url] today. |
24 Jul 2020, 13:00
| FROM mbaMission Blog: Professor Profiles: Cameron Anderson, Haas School of Business |
 Many MBA applicants feel that they are purchasing a brand when they choose a business school. However, the educational experience you will have is what is crucial to your future, and no one will affect your education more than your professors. Today, we profile Cameron Anderson from the Haas School of Business at the University of California (UC), Berkeley. Cameron Anderson, who received his PhD from UC Berkeley in 2001, came to Haas from New York University’s Stern School of Business in 2005. He has received the Earl F. Cheit Award for Excellence in Teaching at Haas seven times and was also named a Bakar Faculty Fellow in 2010. Anderson is currently the Lorraine Tyson Mitchell Chair in Leadership and Communication II as well as the Management of Organizations Group Chair. A second year described Anderson’s “Power and Politics in Organizations” course to mbaMission as “easily one of the most sought-after classes at Haas.” Another second-year student we interviewed said the class “teaches students how to gain power and influence people without formal authority” and added that Anderson “teaches applicable skills based on academic research and case studies of great leaders from history. He uses assignments to force students to uncover their own tools of influence and develop strategies for acquiring power in our immediate careers after Haas. I think his class is popular because it’s academic, directly applicable, and introspective all at once.” For more information on the defining characteristics of the MBA program at UC Berkeley Haas or one of 16 other top business schools, check out our free mbaMission Insider’s Guides. |
25 Jul 2020, 08:00
| FROM mbaMission Blog: Heading South for an MBA: The University of Texas McCombs School of Business and Emory University’s Goizueta Business School |
 The University of Texas McCombs School of Business In 2013, the McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas, Austin, introduced several highlights to its MBA program that would allow students to benefit from expanded opportunities for work experience (including with nonprofits), entrepreneurship, and leadership programming. For example, the school expanded its pilot program for brand management experience with Dr Pepper Snapple Group’s Yoo-hoo brand. In what is now called the Marketing Labs program, students are divided into teams of two to learn marketing skills by working hands-on for such major firms as AT&T and Dell. All first-year MBA students are eligible to apply to the program, which runs through the course of one academic year. During the 2019–2020 academic year, such companies as AT&T, Dell, ExxonMobil, and Frito-Lay are featured as partners in the program.  Emory University’s Goizueta Business School Another addition, the Texas Venture Labs Investment Competition, awards MBA scholarships to the winners of a start-up pitch competition, in which both admitted and prospective students can compete. The competition awards nearly $60,000 in prizes annually. In the area of nonprofit work, McCombs hosts a chapter of the Net Impact program, which affords students the chance to work on socially and environmentally responsible projects aimed at solving major societal problems. In 2014, the McCombs chapter was chosen as the Net Impact Graduate Chapter of the Year. Another Southern institution, Emory University’s Goizueta Business School—named after late Coca-Cola CEO Roberto C. Goizueta—is deeply rooted in a legacy of global business leadership. Goizueta’s MBA program offers one- and two-year formats, strives to maintain an intimate learning environment, and offers its students the benefits of being located in a significant global commercial hub. One of the program’s notable advantages has been its success in attracting recruiters. The school’s recruiting strengths seem to be reflected in its latest employment report as well—95% of the Class of 2018 received job offers within three months of graduation and accepted positions with such major companies as Accenture, Barclays, Deloitte, Delta Air Lines, Google, Johnson & Johnson, J.P. Morgan, Microsoft Corporation, and UPS. |
26 Jul 2020, 09:00
| FROM mbaMission Blog: The Role of Exercise in Your GMAT Preparation |
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With regard to the GMAT, raw intellectual horsepower helps, but it is not everything. Manhattan Prep’s Stacey Koprince teaches you how to perform at your best on test day by using some common sense. Back in 2013, the New York Times’ Well blog featured a fascinating post. Exercise has a whole host of good benefits, including benefits associated with memory. Two studies delved even deeper into how this works. How does exercise help memory? In the blog post, New York Times journalist Gretchen Reynolds details two studies—one conducted on humans and the other conducted on rats. In the human study, elderly women who already had some mild cognitive impairment were split into three groups. One group lifted weights, the second group engaged in moderate aerobic exercise, and the third group did yoga-like activities. The participants were tested at the beginning and end of the six-month exercise period, and the results were striking. First, bear in mind that, in general, we would expect elderly people who are already experiencing mental decline to continue down that path over time. Indeed, after six months, the yoga group (the “control” group) showed a mild decline in several aspects of verbal memory. The weight-training and aerobic groups, by contrast, actually improved their performance on several tests (remember, this was six months later!). The women were better at both making new memories and remembering/retrieving old ones! Another group of researchers conducted a similar study, only this time, rats were getting some cardio in or lifting weights. (The rats ran on wheels for the cardio exercise and, get this, for the weight lifting, the researchers tied little weights to the rats’ tails and had them climb tiny ladders!) At the end of six weeks, the running rats showed increased levels of a brain protein that helps create new brain cells. The tail-weight-trainers had higher levels of a different protein that helps new neurons survive. How can I use this? Get up and MOVE! Reading this study has made me want to exercise more—and not even for the GMAT! I would like to stave off mental decline in my old age. The women in the study were performing fairly mild exercises only twice a week (remember, they were elderly), so we do not suddenly have to become fitness fiends. We do not know, of course, exactly how the study results might translate to younger people, but the general trend is clear: exercise can help us make and retain memories. That is crucially important when studying for the GMAT—every last bit will help! Get a little bit of both weight training and cardio in every week. You do not have to become a gym rat (pun intended). Engaging in some moderate activity every few days is probably enough. Look for ways to incorporate mild exercise into your daily routine. For example, when I go to the grocery store, I carry a basket around on my arm rather than push a cart (unless I really have to buy a lot). I will fill that basket right up to the brim—often, I end up having to use both hands to continue carrying the thing. I figure that every time I do that, it has to be worth at least 10 to 15 minutes of pumping iron! Studying for the GMAT is tiring, so use this news as an excuse to take a brain break. Get up and walk around the block for 15 minutes, or turn on some music and dance or run the vacuum cleaner (vigorously!). Then sit back down and enjoy the brain fruits of your physical labors. |
28 Jul 2020, 08:00
| FROM mbaMission Blog: University of Cambridge Judge Business School Essay Analysis, 2020–2021 |
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[url=https://www.mbamission.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/judge.png][img]https://www.mbamission.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/judge-300x113.png[/img][/url] This season, a number of top business schools have cut back their application essay requirements, either removing queries or decreasing word allowances, and quite a few have been simply maintaining their questions and word limits from last year. The University of Cambridge Judge Business School is doing neither. Although the program published its new deadlines back in June, the admissions committee waited a little longer to release the essay prompts and have made some notable changes. Its first essay, about candidates’ career goals and related preparation, remains the same, but the second and third essays have been tweaked, with the second now focusing on a “difficult decision” rather than a failure, and the third requiring that applicants discuss how what they learned from a past team project would influence how they would approach that same project today. Finally, Cambridge Judge has actually added a fourth essay—one in which candidates must give advice to their younger selves, which is likely intended to provide the admissions committee with more information about applicants’ character and behavior outside the workplace. Read on for our full essay analysis, with tips on how to approach each question and create strong essays for your Judge application this year. [b]Essay 1: Please provide a personal statement. It should not exceed 500 words and must address the following questions:[/b] [list] [*][b]What are your short and long term career objectives and what skills/characteristics do you already have that will help you achieve them?[/b][/*] [*][b]What actions will you take before and during the MBA to contribute to your career outcome?[/b][/*] [*][b]If you are unsure of your post-MBA career path, how will the MBA equip you for the future?[/b][/*] [/list] As the school itself states in the prompt, this is a request for a rather traditional personal statement, so our first recommendation is to download a free copy of the [b][url=https://info.mbamission.com/MBA-Personal-Statement-Guide]mbaMission Personal Statement Guide[/url][/b]. This complimentary guide offers detailed advice on how to approach and frame the information requested in these three bullet points, and includes multiple illustrative examples. More specifically with respect to Judge’s multipart question, the school wants to know not only the basic facts of your career aspirations but also how you view your readiness for and active role in achieving them. How equipped are you already, and how much closer to your goals will earning a business degree from Judge move you? What are you already planning to do on your own both before you enroll and while in the program that will ensure you graduate with the skills, experiences, knowledge, and/or connections you need to build a bridge between where you are now and where you want go? Be sure to refer to specific resources and offerings at the school that connect directly to these areas of improvement so that the admissions committee knows you have thoroughly considered and researched your options and determined that Judge is the best fit for your particular needs and interests. The school also wants to see evidence that you are cognizant you must be an active participant in your own success and are ready and willing to contribute, rather than relying on the program and its name or reputation to solely move you forward on your career trajectory. [b]Essay 2: Describe a difficult decision that you had to make. What did you learn from this and how have you changed as a result? (up to 200 words)[/b] Challenges are important learning opportunities. With this prompt, the admissions committee wants to know what you take away from situations in which things are not as clear cut as you would like or you need to make a sacrifice of some kind. How do you reason through problems and reach conclusions, especially when doing so is complicated? Judge does not specify that the story you share in this essay must be a professional one, so explore all your personal, family, and community life experiences for options. Also, the scale or scope of the situation in an objective sense is not as important as how affecting and influential it was for you personally. You may want to consider your options for this essay and the third essay simultaneously, because if you select a career-related incident to discuss in this one, for balance, you might want to draw on a personal story for the other, and vice versa. However, this kind of distribution works best if it is not forced—the first criterion should always be whether the narrative is the most fitting one for the essay’s prompt; if two options seem equally fitting, then you may be able to create a kind of consonance. For this essay, you will need to share an anecdote in which something was at stake—the reader must feel and understand that your decision involved some level of risk. If you faced no possibility of negative ramifications, reaching your decision could not have been very challenging, as the school’s question specifically stipulates. The reader must understand that you had an indisputable problem on your hands and had to weigh your options carefully. In your essay, take the reader through your decision-making process, briefly noting the different possible outcomes or consequences of your various choices. Keep in mind that your decision does not need to have been proven right, and you could even show that all the options available to you at the time were less than ideal and explain how you optimized the imperfect outcomes. By now asking about a demanding decision rather than a failure, though, this essay question allows candidates to discuss a situation in which they may have struggled but that did not necessarily end in defeat or disappointment. Finally, share what you learned from the experience and how it has altered who you are and/or how you now view or interact with the world. What you took away from the experience should be something that has fundamentally changed your character in some way. Judge wants to know not only that you have faced and worked through the demanding process of reaching a particular resolution but also how that situation has contributed to the person you are today. [b]Essay 3: Describe a time where you worked with a team on a project. What did you learn from the experience and how might you approach it differently today? (up to 200 words)[/b] As a student at an international business school—one with more than 40 nationalities represented in a class of approximately 200 people—you will naturally be enmeshed in a widely diverse environment and will encounter people who think differently from you, operate according to different values, and react differently to the same stimuli. And you will need to work in tandem with and alongside these individuals when analyzing case studies, completing group projects, and participating in other activities both inside and outside the classroom. Judge clearly wants to hear about your mind-set and working style in such situations and is seeking evidence that you are capable of listening, reflecting, learning, and growing. If you are not, it might assume that you simply do not have the necessary qualities to become an integral part of its next incoming class, let alone a standout manager later in your career. Like that of Essay 2, this prompt does not stipulate which part of your life you must draw from for content, so hearken back to our advice for the previous essay with respect to selecting between a professional story or a more personal one. To craft an effective essay response, describe via a narrative approach the nature of your collaboration with the rest of your group, showing both what you contributed and what others brought to the dynamic (though much more succinctly). Consider describing a kind of “before and after” situation in which the information, input, or inspiration you received from your teammate(s) influenced your thoughts and actions as you worked toward your shared goal and have subsequently stuck with you. The prompt’s request for an explanation of how you would approach the team project today implies that what you learned from the experience gave you specific skills or insight that would have made that project better in some way (either the outcome or the process) had you possessed those specific skills or that insight in advance of it. So, once you have determined what those two elements are—what you gained and how it would have affected the execution or result of the project in a positive way—simply spell this out for the admissions committee in your essay. A submission that demonstrates your collaboration style, your ability to contribute to group projects, and your capacity to learn from and analyze such experiences is almost certain to make an admissions reader take notice. [b]Essay 4: If you could give one piece of advice to your 18-year-old self, what would it be? (up to 200 words)[/b] Judge poses four essay questions to its candidates, and three of them have to do with learning from life experiences. The school obviously seeks individuals who absorb lessons by interacting with and participating actively in the world around them, not just by listening to an instructor in a classroom. For this essay, you need to consider all the things you have learned roughly since completing high school, whether in a classroom, on the job, or in your personal life. Then pinpoint specific learnings that occurred during that time period that you feel are most important or have been the most influential and then delve into discovering why these particular learnings are so meaningful to you. As for Essay 3, the school wants you to analyze how “redoing” something would be different with the knowledge you learned via that something—for Essay 3, that something is a team project; for this essay, it is your life since you were 18. How would knowing then what you know now have changed your subsequent life or career in some way? What decisions might you have made differently? Which people might you have tried to become closer to or distance yourself from? Which experiences would you have sought out earlier or made a point of avoiding? Which behaviors would you have engaged in more often or chosen to discontinue? Exploring these kinds of questions should help you identify possible topics for this essay. Then, focus on conveying how the information, insight, and/or skills you have acquired over the years has changed how you now view or operate in the world. Business schools outside the United States are increasingly popular among MBA hopefuls, and we at mbaMission are proud to offer our latest publications: [b][url=https://shop.mbamission.com/collections/international-program-guides]International Program Guides [/url][/b]for international b-schools. In these snapshots we discuss core curriculums, elective courses, locations, school facilities, rankings, and more. Click here to download your free copy of the [url=https://shop.mbamission.com/products/cambridge-judge-business-school-program-guide][b]Cambridge Judge Business School Program Guide[/b][/url]. |
29 Jul 2020, 09:00
| FROM mbaMission Blog: How to Approach Overrepresentation and Old Achievements in Your MBA Application Essays |
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Many MBA applicants—such as male investment bankers and Indian software engineers—worry that they are overrepresented in the candidate pool. Applicants cannot change their work histories, of course, but they can change the way they introduce themselves to the admissions committee. Consider the following examples: Example 1: “As an investment banker, I…” Example 2: “Managing a team to code a new software product for ABC Corp., I…” In these brief examples, the candidates blatantly introduce the very overrepresentation they would like to minimize. Many applicants feel they must start their essays by presenting their titles or company names, but this approach can immediately make the reader pause and think, “Here we go again.” Overrepresented business school candidates should therefore consider the opening lines of their essays especially carefully. Rather than stating the obvious, an applicant might instead immerse the reader in a situation or present a special aspect of their position. Example 1 (launching into a story): “At 5:30 p.m., I could rest easy. The deadline for all other offers had passed. At that point, I knew…” Example 2 (stand out): “While managing a multinational team, half in Silicon Valley and half in Pakistan, I…” In the first example here, the banker candidate avoids drab self-introduction and instead plunges the reader into the midst of a mystery that is playing out. In the second example, the software engineer candidate is introduced not as a “coder” but as a multinational manager. Of course, every applicant’s situation is different, but with some effort, your story can be told in a way that avoids the pitfalls of overrepresentation. Another issue that aspiring MBAs should consider is the relevance of the stories they tell in their application essays. Because business school candidates must share examples of a variety of experiences with admissions committees, we encourage applicants to truly reflect on their lives and consider all potential stories, including academic, professional, community, extracurricular, athletic, international, and personal. However, candidates inevitably have questions about which anecdotes are truly appropriate and effective. “Can I use stories from high school and college?” “Can I use a story from four years ago?” “How far in the past is too far in the past?” Although no definitive rule exists, with the exception of questions that specifically ask about personal history or family background, schools generally want to learn about the mature you—the individual you are today. So we ask you, “How long have you been the you that you are today?” When considering experiences that occurred long ago, ask yourself, “Would this impress an MBA admissions committee today?” If you ran a few successful bake sales six years ago when you were in college, this clearly would not stand the test of time and impress a stranger today. However, if, while you were still a student, you started a small business that grew and was ultimately sold to a local firm when you graduated, you would have a story to tell that would likely impress an admissions reader. Inevitably, judgment is always involved in these decisions. Nonetheless, we offer this simple example as a starting point to help you decide which stories to share. |
30 Jul 2020, 09:00
| FROM mbaMission Blog: MBA Admissions Myths Destroyed: Yikes, a Typo—I Am Done! |
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You have worked painstakingly on your application. You have checked and rechecked your work. You finally press the Submit button only to realize—to your horror—that you are missing a comma, and you inadvertently used “too” instead of “to.” The admissions committee is obviously going to just throw your application out, right? Wrong! Making a typo and pervasive sloppiness are two very different things. If you have multiple typos and grammatical errors throughout your essays and application, you send a negative message about your level of professionalism and desire to represent yourself—and thus the target school—in a positive way. But if you have a minor mistake or two in your text, you have an unfortunate situation on your hands, but not a devastating one. Admissions representatives understand that you are only human, and if you are a strong candidate, the entirety of your professional, community, personal, and academic endeavors will outweigh these blips. Do not dwell on the mistakes. Do not send new essays. Just accept your own fallibility and move on. |
31 Jul 2020, 08:00
| FROM mbaMission Blog: Dean Profiles: William Boulding, Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business |
 Business school deans are more than administrative figureheads. Their character and leadership often reflect an MBA program’s unique culture and sense of community. Today, we focus on William Boulding at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business. In the fall of 2011, William Boulding became dean of Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business. Boulding began teaching at Fuqua in 1984 and served as the business program’s deputy dean before being appointed to a shortened two-year term as dean (a full term is five years) upon the previous dean’s departure. In early 2013, an international search committee recommended that Boulding continue his deanship for an additional five years. Then, in February 2018, Boulding was appointed for a second five-year term. He has received several distinctions for his teaching in the areas of management, marketing, and strategy, including the school’s 1989 Outstanding Teacher Award and the 1997 NationsBank Faculty Award. A member of the search committee stated in a 2013 article in Duke’s student newspaper, The Chronicle, that Boulding’s vision for the school would “address globalization with more innovation and modernization in the classrooms, while also focusing on stabilizing the school’s budget.” Another search committee member noted in the article that Boulding “has the whole package, plus he knows Fuqua and Duke intimately.” In the school’s announcement of Boulding’s appointment for a second full term, Provost Sally Kornbluth commented: “Bill is a valued colleague and well-respected scholar and administrator. … His leadership, dedication to Fuqua and commitment to higher education and service have been the foundation of his success as dean.” In a 2012 Forbes interview, Boulding described the type of students who attend Fuqua by highlighting the collaborative principles encompassed by Team Fuqua, saying, “Increasingly, so called ‘leaders’ seem to fight for narrow self-interest around issues and ideas. At the same time, more than ever before, answers to problems, solutions to challenges, innovation, and the creation of value comes through collaboration and co-creation.… Our students have a burning ambition to make a difference in the lives of others.” Boulding also explained in a 2013 Bloomberg Businessweek interview the high rate of success for Fuqua graduates in finding jobs: “The reason they’re [companies are] hiring Fuqua students comes back to what we produce and who we attract, and that’s people who understand how to co-create and take advantage of a team’s potential. It’s people who are personally humble, tremendously ambitious, and have no sense of entitlement.” For more information about Duke Fuqua and 16 other top-ranked business schools, check out the free mbaMission Insider’s Guides. |
01 Aug 2020, 08:00
| FROM mbaMission Blog: Intimate Class Sizes in the South at Scheller College of Business and Mays Business School |
 Georgia Tech’s Scheller College of Business The Scheller College of Business at Georgia Tech may rival MIT Sloan and Carnegie Mellon’s Tepper School of Business with respect to its focus on the direct application of Internet technology to global business problems. The school’s rather small (approximately 60–80 each year) and innovation-focused program was nevertheless ranked 24th among full-time MBA programs in the United States by Bloomberg Businessweek in 2019. Situated in the heart of Technology Square in Midtown Atlanta, Scheller offers students numerous networking and innovation resources within the city’s high-tech business community, including the Advanced Technology Development Center business incubator. In addition, the Enterprise Innovation Institute, or EI2, bills itself as “the nation’s largest and most comprehensive university-based program of business and industry assistance, technology commercialization, and economic development” on its website and provides students with resources for career options at the intersection of business and technology. As an indicator of the school’s overall strengths in information technology and operations management, manufacturing/engineering was the most common pre-MBA industry among the Class of 2021, and technology was the second most popular.  Mays Business School Meanwhile, at the Texas A&M University Mays Business School, students follow a full-time, 49-credit MBA curriculum that can be completed in just 16 months (over an 18-month period of August to December) or customized for an extended period of time. Although the core curriculum is very rigid, with foundational management courses spanning the entirety of the program, Mays also offers the option of pursuing certificates and career specializations beyond the 16-month core. What really stands out about the Mays program, however, is its dedication to maintaining a strong sense of community. Similar to Scheller, the relatively small class size—the 2019 incoming class, for example, featured 61 students—facilitates an intimate classroom setting and personalized attention from faculty and staff at Mays. The post Intimate Class Sizes in the South at Scheller College of Business and Mays Business School appeared first on mbaMission - MBA Admissions Consulting. |
02 Aug 2020, 08:00
| FROM mbaMission Blog: The Role of Confusion in Your GMAT Prep |
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With regard to the GMAT, raw intellectual horsepower helps, but it is not everything. Manhattan Prep’s Stacey Koprince teaches you how to perform at your best on test day by using some common sense. That seems like it should be a typo. Maybe I meant Confucius, the Chinese teacher and philosopher? No, I really do mean confusion. Journalist Annie Murphy Paul contributed a post to NPR’s Mind/Shift blog: Why Confusion Can Be a Good Thing. Why Is Confusion Good? Murphy Paul supports her thesis with an important point: When we do not know the “right” way to do something, we open up our minds to many potential paths—and sometimes an alternate potential path is better than the “official” path. When a test like the GMAT is concerned, the discomfort inherent in figuring out that best path allows us to determine why a certain approach is preferable. That knowledge, in turn, helps us to know when we can reuse a certain line of thinking or solution process on a different (but similar) question in the future. How Can I Use Confusion to Help My Prep? Murphy Paul offers three suggestions (the following quotes are from the article; the rest is just me): (1) “Expose yourself to confusing material.” On the GMAT, you have no choice: you are going to be exposing yourself to confusing material every day. So I will tweak Murphy Paul’s suggestion slightly: embrace the confusion. Rather than feeling annoyed or frustrated when that feeling of confusion creeps in, tell yourself: okay, I am on track here. I am going to figure this out—and, when I do, I am going to remember it, because my current confusion is actually going to help me remember better once I do know what I am doing! (2) “Withhold the answers from yourself.” Sometimes looking at the answer immediately is appropriate. If you are doing drill sets and you want to make sure that you learn from one problem before trying the next, then check the solution immediately. Other times, though, you are not doing yourself a favor by jumping right to the answer. In particular, when you know that you do not know… then do not look at the answer right away! Struggle with it for a while first. Look stuff up in your strategy guides/books. Ask a friend or search a forum. Spend as much time as you want, then pick an answer—even if it is just a guess—and have a rationale for why you eliminated the answers that you eliminated. If possible, also have a rationale for why you chose the answer that you did. Got that? Okay, now go look at the answer. But wait! Do not read the solution yet—just look at the answer first. Maybe you will want to go look at the problem again because
This approach lets us know what we know and, more importantly, what we do not know going into our study of that lesson or chapter, and that can actually help us to learn more effectively. I suggest starting a new chapter with a few of the problems listed as practice or drills at the end of the chapter. If those go well, then try a lower-numbered Official Guide problem. Keep going until you hit a couple of substantial roadblocks. Then dive into the chapter with a serious curiosity to figure out how to get around those roadblocks! The post The Role of Confusion in Your GMAT Prep appeared first on mbaMission - MBA Admissions Consulting. |
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