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03 Aug 2020, 14:00
| FROM mbaMission Blog: Dartmouth College (Tuck) Essay Analysis, 2020–2021 |
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[url=https://www.mbamission.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/tuck.jpg][img]https://www.mbamission.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/tuck-300x300.jpg[/img][/url] In a [b][url=https://www.tuck.dartmouth.edu/news/articles/tuck-looks-toward-the-class-of-2023-with-few-changes-for-the-admissions-cycle-ahead]blog post[/url][/b] about the upcoming MBA admissions season, Luke Anthony Pena, the director of admissions and financial aid at Dartmouth College’s Tuck School of Business, references the upheaval and uncertainty so many of us have experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic and refers in contrast to the “stability of Tuck’s clear and transparent criteria, essays, and approach to MBA admissions.” Apparently wanting to keep the process of applying to the Tuck program as uncomplicated and understandable as possible, the admissions committee has made only minimal revisions to its application. The essay questions basically remain the same (aside from the slightest adjustment in phrasing for one), meaning that the information candidates are expected to provide via their three 300-word essays is likewise unchanged. The school’s first prompt broadly covers the applicant’s need for an MBA, and specifically a Tuck MBA. Essay 2 deals with the candidate’s individuality, and the third essay is about a time when the applicant helped facilitate another’s success. Tuck clearly seeks individuals who will be ambitious, cooperative, and supportive members of its community. Read on for our more detailed essay analysis. [b]Essay 1: Tuck students can articulate how the distinctive Tuck MBA will advance their aspirations. Why are you pursuing an MBA and why Tuck? (300 words) [/b] By not specifically requesting short- and long-term goals in this essay prompt, Tuck leaves the decision of how to frame your career aspirations up to you. The natural assumption is that if you have reached a point in your professional journey where you believe an MBA is necessary to move forward, you must have a goal in mind that you are working toward—even if that goal is still fairly nebulous or malleable at this point. To address the “why Tuck?” element of this prompt, you will need to indicate which of the school’s resources and/or what aspect(s) of its program as a whole will be most helpful to you in your pursuits, and this requires more than a pandering summarization or a stark list of offerings. This means you must move beyond the Tuck website, viewbook, and related marketing materials and make direct contact with students, alumni, and other school representatives. The pandemic is understandably preventing in-person admissions events and campus visits, but the school will be offering online events and is also working to develop special interactive options that will allow candidates to familiarize themselves with Tuck’s environment and resources. Understanding what and who the school’s program truly entails, as well as how it works, is key in identifying and then articulating your need for a Tuck MBA in particular. By thoroughly doing your research on the school and drawing a clear picture for your admissions reader of how the particular offerings you have identified relate directly to your needs and how you intend to apply them, chances are high that you will submit a truly effective essay. Because this prompt encompasses some of the most elemental components of a traditional personal statement essay, 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]. This document provides in-depth guidance on how to consider and respond to these sorts of questions, along with numerous illustrative examples. Please feel free to [b][url=https://shop.mbamission.com/products/personal-statement-guide]claim your complimentary copy today[/url][/b]. And for a thorough exploration of Tuck’s academic program, unique resources, defining characteristics, crucial statistics, social life, standout professors, and other key features, download your free copy of the [b][url=https://shop.mbamission.com/products/dartmouth-tuck-school-of-business-insider-s-guide]mbaMission Insider’s Guide to the Tuck School of Business[/url][/b]. [b]Essay 2: Tuck students recognize how their individuality adds to the fabric of Tuck. Tell us who you are. (300 words) [/b] In the past, this essay question also asked applicants to explain how they would contribute to the school, but the current version places the primary emphasis on sharing their character and personality. And with the essay’s rather tight word allotment, keeping the scope of the query narrow makes sense. Nevertheless, we feel that the prompt’s first line, which notes that Tuckies “recognize how their individuality adds to the [school’s] fabric,” is a hint that candidates are expected to understand and be able to articulate how they fit with (and could therefore theoretically contribute to) the school’s community—they just do not need to be overly specific and detailed in conveying this information. First, we suggest you grab some paper and make an old-fashioned list of your key characteristics, values, and interests. Do not concern yourself with trying to single out the “right” ones but rather the ones most representative of who you are. A good brainstorming tactic is to imagine meeting someone for the first time at a party or other event and the process of getting acquainted. What kind of information would you want to know about this person, and what facts about yourself would you be most eager to share, as a way of conveying who you are and making a connection? Take some time to delve into your personality in this way. At the same time, keep in mind what the admissions committee will already know about you from the other portions of your application, to avoid wasting an opportunity to share something new, and try to identify stories that provide context and color to your claims, rather than just stating them outright. For example, rather than a declaration like “I tend to be a very altruistic person and enjoy giving back to my community by being a reading tutor,” you might say something more like, “Tuesday nights have become my favorite night of the week, because that is when I tutor local elementary students in reading, and the way their eyes light up when they learn a new word or finish another book never fails to inspire and gratify me.” Giving your claims sufficient context and a bit of “life” in this way allows the admissions committee to more fully understand and appreciate them. This essay prompt actually allows you a great deal of freedom to choose and share the information you believe is most important for the admissions committee to know about you. In addition to focusing on the elements of your personality that you feel are most distinct and revelatory of who you are as an individual, give some thought to which of your characteristics mesh best with the Dartmouth Tuck experience. (We strongly encourage you to click through and read the [b][url=https://www.tuck.dartmouth.edu/admissions/criteria]school’s admissions criteria[/url][/b] in detail, if you have not already done so.) Avoid simply trying to fit in as much information as possible about yourself in hopes of stumbling on the “right” answers and instead clearly present and illustrate your most fitting qualities. Authenticity and enthusiasm are the keys to your success with this essay. [b]Essay 3: Tuck students invest generously in one another’s success even when it is not convenient or easy. Tell us about a time when you helped someone else succeed. (300 words) [/b] In an earlier version of this prompt from a few seasons ago, the school began by describing Tuck students as “nice.” Although this reference has been removed, we are of course confident that this has not changed, and in its place, the admissions committee includes a qualifier that its students remain committed to helping others even when doing so is difficult in some way. This essay prompt aligns perfectly with Tuck’s long-held belief in teamwork and community spirit. By illustrating with this essay that you have a natural interest in helping others reach their goals and have successfully done so, you will demonstrate for the admissions committee that you possess the qualities it is seeking in its next class of students. In addition, stepping up proactively to assist someone in an endeavor that is important to them shows an instinct for leadership, which is valued by all MBA programs. Because this is a fairly straightforward essay prompt, we recommend responding in an equally straightforward manner. Beyond simply sharing a story of having supported, assisted, and/or encouraged another on their path to success, you will need to share the motivation(s) and thought processes that led you to want to do so in the first place. With only 300 words with which to respond, you will need to clearly but succinctly convey the situation as you originally found it, your inspiration to contribute, the actions you then took, the outcome, and, ideally, what you learned from the experience (though this last element should be somewhat brief). The qualifier “even when it is not convenient or easy” suggests to us that stories in which the path to the desired outcome was not entirely direct or smooth may resonate slightly better with the admissions committee. Also, in a June 2018 Tuck news article, Peña commented, “Tuck is a distinctly collaborative community so being able to challenge others tactfully and thoughtfully is important” (emphasis ours). With this in mind, if you are deciding between two or more instances you could discuss for this essay, consider going with one in which your help was perhaps not requested or immediately accepted—one in which you needed to diplomatically negotiate your offer of input and assistance. Note that Tuck does not specify from which realm of your life—professional, personal, or community related—the story you choose to share here must come. This means you can plumb the entirety of your experiences for the one you believe best fulfills what the school wants to see and about which you feel most strongly. Also consider that although the prompt says “someone else,” this could potentially apply to a pair or small group, if presented effectively. Perhaps, for example, you helped a duo of small business owners with a marketing issue or supported a small musical group or athletic team in some capacity. In any case, absolutely avoid bragging about your role or suggesting that the party you aided could never have succeeded without you. The school is looking for evidence that you not only have a natural inclination to invest in and bolster others but you also have the capacity and skills to do so effectively and are mature enough to grow from the experience yourself. Do not try to include several different experiences (perhaps for fear of offering the “wrong” one) and instead focus just on one that you describe in detail. Let the narrative unfold naturally, making sure that the basics are all clearly presented. What the school wants to know is that the incident you are showcasing was truly significant for you and had a meaningful impact, so let that be your guide. [b]Optional Essay: Please provide any additional insight or information that you have not addressed elsewhere (e.g., atypical choice of evaluators, factors affecting academic performance, unexplained job gaps or changes). Complete this question only if you feel your candidacy is not fully represented by this application. (300 words)[/b] You may be tempted to take advantage of this optional essay as an opportunity to share an additional compelling story or to highlight a part of your profile that you fear might be overlooked or undervalued, but we strongly encourage you to resist this temptation. Submit an optional essay here only if your candidacy truly needs it. Consider what the school says about this essay in a Tuck 360 blog post: “If you give us an extra five paragraphs to read and it’s not necessary, we will question your judgment or your ability to express yourself succinctly elsewhere.” You really cannot get much clearer than that! So again, only if your profile has a noticeable gap of some kind or an issue that would might raise a red flag or elicit questions on the part of an admissions officer—such as a poor grade or overall GPA, a low GMAT/GRE score, a gap in your work experience, an arrest, etc.—should you take this opportunity to provide additional information. 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 as well as on how to do so effectively (with multiple sample essays) to help you mitigate any problem areas in your profile. [b]Reapplicant Essay: (To be completed by all reapplicants) How have you strengthened your candidacy since you last applied? Please reflect on how you have grown personally and professionally. (300 words) [/b] 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. Tuck 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 Tuck 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. [b]The Next Step—Mastering Your Dartmouth Tuck 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 [url=https://shop.mbamission.com/collections/interview-guides][b]free Interview Guides[/b][/url]! Download your free copy of the [url=https://shop.mbamission.com/products/uva-darden-interview-guide][b]Dartmouth Tuck Interview Guide[/b][/url] today. The post [url=https://www.mbamission.com/blog/2020/08/03/dartmouth-college-tuck-essay-analysis-2020-2021/]Dartmouth College (Tuck) Essay Analysis, 2020–2021[/url] appeared first on [url=https://www.mbamission.com/blog]mbaMission - MBA Admissions Consulting[/url]. |
05 Aug 2020, 13:00
| FROM mbaMission Blog: How to Lead with and Contextualize Your Goals in MBA Application Essays |
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When business school candidates read an essay prompt, they often interpret it quite literally. For example, when a school asks applicants a multipart question such as “What will you contribute to our school’s community, and how will being part of it help you extend your professional vision?,” many applicants assume they must answer the subquestions in the exact order in which they are asked. However, this is not true. Such questions are actually quite flexible, and sometimes, you can better engage your reader by pursuing your own structure. We have found that for overrepresented candidates with unique professional goals, one strategy that can be quite helpful is leading with goals instead of professional history. After all, “typical” experience is not as captivating as unusual (but realistic!) ambitions. So, the technologist who plans to open a boutique hotel or the investment banker who aspires to start a competitive windsurfing circuit can use these bold goals to stand out from the start. We must emphasize, however, that such candidates need to have and portray a compelling connection to their goals, and we do not suggest that overrepresented candidates strive to imagine or create “wild” goals just to catch an admissions committee’s attention. However, if you have a profound connection to an uncommon aspiration, then responding to a school’s questions in a different order and ensuring that your goals are front and center could make a difference. Another trend we have noticed is that when tailoring their essays to specific schools, many candidates do not go far enough to demonstrate a clear and understandable connection between themselves and their target programs. Offering school-specific information is good, but you must go beyond merely mentioning the particular resource(s) that appeal to you—you must add context for your claims. What is the difference between a mere mention and providing context? Mention: “With a focus on entrepreneurship, I will participate in Columbia’s Entrepreneurial Sounding Board process. Further, I am attracted to classes such as ‘Small Business Finance,’ ‘Real Estate Marketing,’ and ‘Introduction to Mergers.’ I also plan to join the…” Context: “With clear plans to launch my start-up immediately after graduating from Columbia Business School, I look forward to testing my ideas through the Entrepreneurial Sounding Board; I find this opportunity to meet with faculty and gain critical feedback and mentoring invaluable as I strive to refine my business plan and learn more about how to source investments…” In the first example, the candidate shows an awareness of the Entrepreneurial Sounding Board but does not provide the context necessary for the reader to fully understand how they will use this resource; therefore, the mention is entirely superficial. As a result, it is unconvincing, impersonal, and easily forgettable. The applicant has seemingly not taken the time to reflect on this resource and how they would use it to progress toward their stated goals. The candidate then goes on to list the classes they plan to take and essentially succeeds in little more than cataloging resources rather than offering a reasoned consideration of how the school’s offerings are necessary. The second example better explains exactly how the candidate will use the resource mentioned; the applicant has clearly done the necessary research on the school and truly grasps how Columbia Business School will satisfy their academic and professional needs. Because the latter example is more informed and serious minded, the admissions reader can be certain that the candidate has a set path and a clear plan to achieve specific goals. The post How to Lead with and Contextualize Your Goals in MBA Application Essays appeared first on mbaMission - MBA Admissions Consulting. |
05 Aug 2020, 17:00
| FROM mbaMission Blog: Notre Dame Mendoza Essay Analysis 2020–2021 |
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[url=https://www.mbamission.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Notre-Dame-Mendoza.jpg][img]https://www.mbamission.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Notre-Dame-Mendoza.jpg[/img][/url] The application essay requirements for the Mendoza College of Business at the University of Notre Dame are fairly straightforward and classic—or at least the written ones are. First, candidates must provide a brief statement of purpose covering their immediate career goal and how the school can help them achieve it. Then, they are asked to choose one of two prompts for an essay of up to two pages. Both include a short preamble about an aspect of the school’s history, indicating Mendoza’s pride in its origins and its belief in learning and taking inspiration from its past leaders. One of the essays focuses on applicants’ view of business as a “positive force,” and the other on a setback or obstacle. Applicants must then craft a four-slide presentation that offers more information about themselves as individuals while also demonstrating their communication skills. Read on for our in-depth analysis of Mendoza’s prompts for this season. [b]Statement of Purpose (100 words or less): Please share your short term professional goals. What role does a Notre Dame MBA play in helping you achieve these goals?[/b] Mendoza’s requested statement of purpose focuses strictly on applicants’ initial post-MBA job. Business schools know only too well that students regularly change their long-term professional plans after being exposed through the MBA experience to new people, information, and options and after learning new skills and ways of looking at the world and themselves. Given that reality, asking about candidates’ long-term goals can in some ways be a waste of time, if an admissions committee is not simply doing so to see evidence that the applicant has put serious thought into their plan for attending business school. With the first part of this prompt, the school wants to know that you have thoroughly considered this next step in your career and are pursuing an MBA for very clear, specific reasons. Although the school does not ask you to lay out your background and explain how you reached this choice, providing some basic context for your goal is a good idea (just be succinct!) to ensure the admissions committee understands that your plans are reasonable and fitting for you. Without using these exact words, the school is also asking for an explanation of “Why Mendoza?” The admissions committee wants evidence that you have researched its MBA program thoroughly enough to have pinpointed resources and offerings that directly align with your interests and needs. This is the part of our essay analysis in which we once again repeat our advice about getting to know a school beyond its website and published materials. Identify clubs, events, courses, initiatives, and other opportunities that speak to who you are as an individual and to who you want to be going forward in your career. Ideally, Mendoza offers one or more particular resources or experiences that you believe are vital to you in achieving your short-term goal and are not available elsewhere. In your response, explain how you will engage with these elements of the MBA program and what you expect to gain from them. This prompt encompasses a few core elements of a traditional personal statement essay, 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] for more in-depth advice. This complimentary publication offers detailed guidance on approaching and framing these subjects, along with multiple illustrative examples. [b]One essay (maximum of two pages, 12 point font, double spaced) – Choose ONE of the essay topics below[/b] [b]Essay Option #1: Cardinal O’Hara established the Mendoza College of Business at Notre Dame in 1921, firmly committed to the idea that “the primary function of commerce is service to mankind”. As the world economy continues to grow and change, how do you see business acting as a positive force in the world?[/b] At first glance, this prompt may seem a little odd—as though the school is more interested in your opinion about this aspect of business than it is about you as a potential student. But the admissions committee obviously wants to learn more about you, and with this essay question, Mendoza is simply taking an unusual route to a familiar destination. What “being a positive force in the world” entails and what “service to mankind” looks like will vary in definition from person to person. Each applicant’s views have been influenced by their specific values, background, education, career, and so on. So, your opinions will tell the school quite a bit about your individual character and mind-set. First, spend some time thinking in depth about how you would answer this question. Consider companies and business leaders that come to mind as both positive and negative examples of influencing or altering the world. What do the positive examples have in common, in your view? And what makes the negative ones negative? What have the entities you admire been able to positively influence, and why does this matter? What issues, or kinds of issues, do you think business can work to improve? And which ones do you feel business should work to improve? Do this initial brainstorming in a kind of vacuum, with no outside influences, to try to pinpoint your most authentic and deeply held beliefs. This exercise will of course help build a foundation for your essay, but it should just be the beginning of your preparation. Next, closely read and familiarize yourself with [b][url=https://mendoza.nd.edu/about/our-mission/]Mendoza’s stated mission[/url][/b], in which the school says it prepares its students “to become ethically minded problem solvers” and believes “business can help transform the world for the better.” Clearly, this essay is meant to help the admissions committee identify those candidates who exhibit this kind of potential and share this precept. You of course do not want to just parrot the school’s tenets back to it in your own words or abandon your own initial views in favor of what you think the school wants, but identifying and highlighting areas where your beliefs and those of the school overlap could certainly strengthen the impact of your essay. For your response, be sure that once you have presented your views and supporting explanation, you demonstrate a connection between them and your own professional aspirations. One would naturally conclude that if you truly hold the beliefs you are stating in your essay and are aspiring to attend Mendoza to earn your MBA and advance your career, you must be interested in making your own positive impact on the world through your work. And Mendoza wants to know that you intend to embody its mission in your professional life after you have graduated from its program. [b]Essay Option #2: The University of Notre Dame was founded in 1842, by Father Edward Sorin, C.S.C, with a mission to become “one of the most powerful means for doing good in this country”. In 1879, Father Sorin’s vision for Notre Dame appeared to be at a sudden, abrupt end. A massive fire destroyed the building that housed virtually the entire University. Instead of giving up, Father Sorin interpreted the fire as a sign that he had dreamed too small, and decided to rebuild, bigger and better than ever. That Main Building still stands today, topped by the gleaming Golden Dome, not only as an iconic campus building, but as an ongoing symbol of perseverance and vision.[/b] [b]Tell us the story of a time in your own life or career when you had to overcome an obstacle, start over, or rebuild.[/b] Setbacks are important learning opportunities. With this prompt, the admissions committee wants to know what you take away from situations in which things do not advance or turn out as you had planned or hoped. Do you place blame elsewhere and try to make excuses? Or do you view these sorts of experiences with an analytical eye, using what they can teach you to achieve better results with similar ventures going forward? For this essay, the admissions committee does not simply want you to relate a story of an unsuccessful or challenging endeavor but also wants to learn about how you react to such situations and what you learn from them. Mendoza clearly knows that many of life’s greatest successes require one to “try, try again,” as the expression goes, and that is the attitude necessary to gain and accomplish the most, not just in business school but also in the world after graduation. This essay is your opportunity to reassure the admissions committee that you have the kind of resilience and dedication that will position you to realize your goals. Note that Mendoza 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 as well to find one you believe was truly significant and influential. Within the school’s preamble to the main query, we see a not terribly subtle hint that Mendoza feels failures and setbacks should be viewed in a positive light—as inspiration to keep trying and even to aim higher than before. So if you have a story of an incident that did not initially result in success but that spurred you on to try again or keep going until you triumphed and reached your goal, this would likely be a strong option for this essay. Your goal is to convey that you are not easily deterred by setbacks but that you instead use them as learning tools or stepping stones on the path to your desired outcome. The failure or obstacle you discuss in this submission could be one you experienced as an individual or as part of a team, and the scale or scope of the situation is not as important as how affecting and influential it was for you personally. You must present a complete narrative that shows momentum toward a positive outcome, describes the inflection point at which the situation turned, and explains how the original plan was interrupted or ultimately failed, while revealing your particular role in the setback—again, without attempting to shift the blame onto others. Avoid starting your essay with a bland statement like “I had to start over when [fill in the blank]” or “One of my biggest failures was when [fill in the blank].” Instead, leap directly into the action of your story and immediately convey what was at stake in the situation. Next, briefly explain the obstacle or setback you encountered, and then dedicate the rest of the essay to demonstrating your reaction to the situation and what you took away from it. Then, explain how what you learned inspired you to pursue either another goal or the same one again and proved crucial in your attainment of it. [b]Slide Presentation[/b] [b]Effective communication is a central skill for managers and visual presentations are an important method of communication. Demonstrate your ability to clearly and concisely communicate by telling us about yourself, using a short slide presentation. [/b] [b]Please consider the following guidelines when creating your presentation:[/b] [list] [*][b]Please submit four slides.[/b][/*] [*][b]You may create your slides in any software that works for you, but you must save and upload as a .pdf.[/b][/*] [*][b]Do not use audio or video files.[/b][/*] [*][b]You are free to share anything about yourself that you think would be of value to the Admissions Committee. You can have some fun and be a bit more lighthearted in this portion of your application. Your tone should reflect your personality.[/b][/*] [*][b]Please be assured that the Admissions Committee will read your essay, your resume, and your transcripts in detail. Your slides are an opportunity to go beyond your academic and work history and show the Committee who you are as a person.[/b][/*] [/list] 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 might be 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. This “essay” 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. In this case, 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. You want the admissions committee to take away something new from each slide. Note that the prompt does not say your slides have to be made up entirely of text. They could perhaps also include pictures, drawings, paintings, charts, tables, emojis, and so on. And even though getting accepted to business school and earning an MBA are serious undertakings, this does not mean that all the information in your slides needs to be serious in nature, especially if your personality is naturally more casual and cavalier. As the prompt itself states, “You can have some fun and be a bit more lighthearted in this portion of your application. Your tone should reflect your personality.” Comical elements, if used judiciously, can even be valid options if the resulting slide is truly reflective of your character and/or life. That said, avoid being “gimmicky.” Your goal is not to seem “cute” or even more creative than the next applicant but really just to tell more of your personal story, albeit in a rather brief way, and thereby provide a more dynamic image of yourself for the admissions committee. We suggest you start by grabbing some paper and making an old-fashioned list of your key experiences, achievements, interests, and personality traits. Then, consider what information the admissions committee already has about you from your other essay(s) and elements of your application, and strive to showcase items from your list that best complement that information to create a well-rounded picture of you. We also caution you against trying to squeeze too much information into your presentation or making it too “busy” or elaborate. After all, the admissions committee clearly notes that one of the goals of this submission is to “demonstrate your ability to clearly and concisely communicate,” as you will be expected to do in your career after graduation and also in the Mendoza classroom. You will need to show that you can judiciously identify relevant additive information and convey it in an uncomplicated, easily understood manner. [b]Optional – Personal Statement / Additional Information[/b] [b]If there is information that you would like to share with the Admissions Committee that does not appear elsewhere in your application, you may choose to submit a personal statement. This statement can provide additional context for any part of the application that you feel requires more explanation. [/b] [b]Please limit your optional statement to one page.[/b] Mendoza’s optional essay prompt does not specifically demand that you use it only to address problem areas in your candidacy, though it does seem to imply this preference. 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. You should certainly not submit an optional essay simply 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 submit 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 mbaMission [b][url=https://shop.mbamission.com/products/mbamission-optional-essays-guide]Optional Essays Guide[/url][/b], in which we offer detailed advice on when and how best to take advantage of the optional essay, with multiple examples. The post [url=https://www.mbamission.com/blog/2020/08/05/notre-dame-mendoza-essay-analysis-2020-2021/]Notre Dame Mendoza Essay Analysis 2020–2021[/url] appeared first on [url=https://www.mbamission.com/blog]mbaMission - MBA Admissions Consulting[/url]. |
06 Aug 2020, 16:00
| FROM mbaMission Blog: Professor Profiles: Saras D. Sarasvathy, the University of Virginia Darden 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 focus on Saras D. Sarasvathy from the University of Virginia (UVA) Darden School of Business. Saras D. Sarasvathy is the Paul M. Hammaker Professor in Business Administration at UVA Darden, and she also teaches doctoral-level courses at schools in Africa, Asia, Europe, and Latin America. Sarasvathy wrote her dissertation at Carnegie Mellon on entrepreneurial expertise and has parlayed that into a specialization in the area of “effectuation,” which examines the creation and growth of new organizations and markets. Her book Effectuation: Elements of Entrepreneurial Expertise (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2009) examines the way entrepreneurs think. In addition to serving on the editorial boards of various management journals, she writes a monthly column for the Economic Times. In 2015, UVA awarded Sarasvathy the Mead-Colley Honored Faculty Award for her active engagement with students. In 2007, Fortune Small Business magazine named Sarasvathy one of 18 top professors in the field of entrepreneurship. Students we interviewed feel that Sarasvathy, who has been teaching at Darden since 2004, is one of the up-and-coming scholars of entrepreneurship in the world. One alumnus described her to mbaMission as “very encouraging, supportive. She allows people to share ideas rather than looking for the right answer.” Another told us that he found himself in her “Starting New Ventures” class by mistake; he had lingered too long in the classroom after his previous class had ended and was still there when Sarasvathy’s class began. He was so impressed by her teaching that he added her course to his schedule, even though he was already overloaded. He found even at that first lesson that she “challenged conventional beliefs,” and he was “impressed at her insights and the way that she articulated basic assumptions to bring out the less obvious, deeper levels.” For some interesting perspectives on entrepreneurship and business, see Sarasvathy’s presentations on BigThink at https://bigthink.com/community/sarassarasvathy. For more information about UVA Darden and 16 other top-ranked business schools, check out our free mbaMission Insider’s Guides. The post Professor Profiles: Saras D. Sarasvathy, the University of Virginia Darden School of Business appeared first on mbaMission - MBA Admissions Consulting. |
07 Aug 2020, 09:00
| FROM mbaMission Blog: The Importance of Self-Assessment in the COVID-19 Job Market |
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This post was written by our resident Career Coach, [url=https://www.mbamission.com/who-we-are/team/elissa-harris/]Elissa Harris[/url]. To sign up for a free 30-minute career consultation with Elissa, please [url=https://www.mbamission.com/consult/career-coaching/]click here[/url]. While you may think conducting a self-assessment and identifying elements of your dream job could be a waste of time in our current economy, we at mbaMission would challenge you to shift your perspective. Now, more than ever, you must know yourself and your goals. This will enable you to make decisions (and even trade-offs) on the best career path for you to pursue given the current market realities as well as articulate your value to a prospective employer. As the job market gets more competitive—with fewer job opportunities becoming available, more talented candidates pursuing employment, and more companies making hiring decisions based on virtual interactions—effectively communicating who you are and the value you bring to an employer is of paramount importance. Among other important questions, you will need to answer the following seemingly basic questions while networking and interviewing: [list] [*]Can you tell me about yourself? [/*] [*]Why do you want to work at Company X?[/*] [*]Why are you interested in Role A? [/*] [/list] However, generic answers will not suffice; they will not differentiate you from the other candidates, nor will they lead to job offers. You need to convincingly articulate why you want the job and how you will contribute. To do this, consider the following questions. (Refer to the exercises shared in our [url=https://www.mbamission.com/blog/2017/01/31/mba-career-news-defining-your-career-goals/]“[b]Defining Your Career Goals[/b][/url]” and [b][url=https://www.mbamission.com/blog/2017/08/22/book-recommendation-for-self-assessment-how-to-design-your-life/][b]“[/b]How to Design Your Life[/url][/b]” blog posts for additional perspectives and suggested ways to help you answer the questions below.) [b]Your Interests (Reflection)[/b] [list] [*]How do you want to spend your day? What skills do you want to use on a daily basis? What types of problems do you want to focus on solving? [/*] [*]In what type of environment do you want to work? For what type of organization do you want to work (big, small, mission based, industry, etc.)?[/*] [*]What are the most important elements for your next job? What do you want to achieve in the short and long term? What are your priorities (skill development, decision-making authority, industry experience, compensation, etc.)? [/*] [/list] [b]Your Target Industry/Company/Role (Research and Reflection)[/b] [list] [*]What are the trends and common challenges in your target industry? What is your perspective on how different companies can compete in the marketplace? How is your target company positioned for success? [/*] [*]What is the foundation of your interest in the industry/company? What have you done to enhance your knowledge? [/*] [*]What skills and areas of knowledge are required for the role? What personal attributes or traits appear to be most important to fit in with the culture of your target company?[/*] [/list] [b]Your Previous Experiences (Reflection)[/b] [list] [*]What skills and areas of knowledge have you developed that would enable you to immediately contribute to your target role? How have your previous experiences demonstrated your competency for the requirements and responsibilities of your target job? [/*] [*]How have you demonstrated employee attributes/qualities that match with your target company? [/*] [*]What specific examples illustrate the similarities between your previous work environment and your target company and its culture? Where are the gaps, and how have you been working to fill them? [/*] [/list] Use your answers to the questions above to craft a concise and easy-to-follow story that shows a meaningful connection between you and your target job. The post [url=https://www.mbamission.com/blog/2020/08/07/the-importance-of-self-assessment-in-the-covid-19-job-market/]The Importance of Self-Assessment in the COVID-19 Job Market [/url] appeared first on [url=https://www.mbamission.com/blog]mbaMission - MBA Admissions Consulting[/url]. |
10 Aug 2020, 16:00
| FROM mbaMission Blog: Full-Time MBA Programs at Rotman School of Management and Simon Business School |
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The University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management was ranked third among Canadian MBA programs by the Financial Times in 2020. In addition to its finance-related strengths, Rotman offers a rather unique approach to core business pedagogy. Relying on what it terms “integrative thinking,” Rotman’s teaching model challenges the compartmentalization of traditional functional areas. Students complete a series of core courses in their first year that emphasize generalized business skills and the ability to think across functional disciplines. The Rotman Self-Developmental Lab, which offers feedback on the students’ communication style and behavioral performance via group workshops and personalized sessions with psychologists and management consultants, is also part of the first year of studies. The mission of the program, according to the school’s site, is to “develop and nurture [the students’] self-awareness and the interpersonal skills that are key to becoming an effective collaborative problem-solver.” In their second year, Rotman MBA students are given the option to choose from 16 different major areas, including Global Management, Sustainability, Innovation and Entrepreneurship, and Funds Management, while supplementing their focus with a broader array of more than 90 elective courses. Meanwhile, only 170 miles away but across the border, the full-time MBA program at the Simon Business School at the University of Rochester offers a broadly finance-oriented general management curriculum featuring particular strengths in analytics and accounting. Simon’s program is built on a foundation of 12 core courses, including “Managerial Economics,” “Capital Budgeting and Corporate Objectives,” and “Marketing Management.” Students complete their core with an assigned study team before exploring more specialized professional interests. The school’s elective courses represent a variety of industries and functions, such as entrepreneurship, consulting, and real estate. Students may choose from ten career specializations, which are divided into three tracks: Finance, which includes such topics as Banking, Corporate Finance, and Asset Management; Consulting, which includes Pricing, Strategy, Technology, and Operations; and Marketing, which includes Product Management and Brand Management. Students also have ten available minors, which are divided into cross-functional and functional and include Analytics, Global Business, and Leadership. In addition, the Simon MBA EDGE Program provides students with opportunities for personal development in such areas as problem solving, communication, and leadership through involvement in activities including clubs, advisory boards, and other groups on campus, as well as case competitions and projects with area companies. The program, which the school’s website says was “developed to focus on key competencies [that] today’s employers demand in graduate business students,” aims to complement knowledge learned in the classroom and increase students’ value to potential employers. Simon’s Ain Center for Entrepreneurship and Center for Pricing offer curricular and research support to supplement the specific career concentrations. Simon is also home to more than 20 professional and social student-run organizations aimed at coordinating networking events and professional development resources to assist students in advancing their careers. The post Full-Time MBA Programs at Rotman School of Management and Simon Business School appeared first on mbaMission - MBA Admissions Consulting. |
10 Aug 2020, 16:00
| FROM mbaMission Blog: MBA Admissions Myths Destroyed: I Must Interview with the Admissions Committee |
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After submitting your MBA application, you endure weeks of nervous anticipation before ideally being invited to interview. You then start to prepare for the interview, ready to prove yourself to the admissions committee. You take your tour, sit in on a class, and head to the Admissions Office only to find—gasp!—a second-year MBA student waiting to interview you! You think, “This school must not take me seriously as a candidate. I must be some kind of second-tier applicant that it does not really care about!” If you find yourself in this situation, take a deep breath and reconsider. What is the admissions committee’s job? Quite simply, the committee strives to find the best candidates for its program. So, whether you interview with a member of the committee, an alumnus/alumna, or a student, your interview will be considered equally. Why would an admissions committee put a huge group of candidates at a disadvantage? What would be the point of interviewing an applicant if the admissions committee did not consider its school’s alumni reliable interviewers? Why would the committee solicit the help of students if it sincerely believed those individuals were not capable of rendering an appropriate judgment? All this is to say that if you find yourself on campus and being interviewed by someone other than an admissions committee member, do not worry. This is not a reflection of the school’s impression of you or an indicator of how likely you are to ultimately be admitted. Maintain your focus, and remember that your story and your ability to connect with your interviewer are what truly matter in your interview. The post MBA Admissions Myths Destroyed: I Must Interview with the Admissions Committee appeared first on mbaMission - MBA Admissions Consulting. |
11 Aug 2020, 14:00
| FROM mbaMission Blog: Why Personalized Recommendations Matter but Some Details May Not |
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If your supervisor is writing your business school recommendation and you are having trouble ensuring that they are putting the proper thought and effort into it, you are not alone. Because of this asymmetry of power, junior employees can only do so much to compel their supervisor to commit the necessary time and write thoughtfully. So, before you designate your supervisor as a recommender, you must first determine how committed this person really is to helping you with your business school candidacy. In particular, your recommender needs to understand that using a single template to create identical letters for multiple business schools is not okay. Each letter must be personalized, and each MBA program’s questions must be answered using specific examples. If your recommender intends to simply write a single letter and force it to “fit” a school’s questions or to attach a standard letter to the end of the school’s recommendation form (for example, including it in the question “Is there anything else you think the committee should know about the candidate?”), then they could be doing you a disservice. By neglecting to put the proper time and effort into your letter, your recommender is sending a very clear message to the admissions committee: “I don’t really care about this candidate.” If you cannot convince your recommender to write a personalized letter or to respond to your target school’s individual questions using specific examples, look elsewhere. A well-written personalized letter from an interested party is always far better than a poorly written letter from your supervisor. In addition, although details are important in recommendation letters, remember that sometimes small points in MBA applications are really just that—small points. We are often asked, “Should this be a comma or a semicolon?” and want to respond, “Please trust us that the admissions committee will not say, ‘Oh, I would have accepted this applicant if they had used a comma here, but they chose a semicolon, so DING!’” That said, we are certainly not telling you to ignore the small things. Details matter—the overall impression your application makes will depend in part on your attention to typos, font consistency, and grammar, for example—but we encourage you to make smart and reasonable decisions and move on. You can be confident that your judgment on such topics will likely be sufficient. The post Why Personalized Recommendations Matter but Some Details May Not appeared first on mbaMission - MBA Admissions Consulting. |
13 Aug 2020, 09:00
| FROM mbaMission Blog: Understanding Number Properties on the GMAT |
 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. Is the GMAT topic of number properties driving you crazy? This concept covers things that we often call “basic”—topics that we learned in middle school (or earlier), such as divisibility, factors and multiples, odds and evens, positives and negatives, and so on. I assure you, though, that number properties questions on the GMAT are anything but basic. I strongly urge you to develop a solid grounding in this topic, particularly because the test writers are so good at disguising what these problems are really testing. You will need some kind of book or e-book that covers this topic thoroughly, but I have some resources to help you get started. Start with this article, “Disguising—and Decoding—Quant Problems.” We talk about how the test writers disguise material that you probably do already know, and how we can learn to “decode” the problem or strip away the camouflage. If you feel good about the concepts discussed in that article, and you are at a higher math level, try out this challenging problem next. In the article “Patterns in Divisibility Problems,” we examine two GMATPrep problems that share some interesting characteristics. In this article, we discuss some interesting topics related to prime numbers. Many questions address basic characteristics of numbers, such as whether they are positive or negative, odd or even, integer or fraction/decimal. These can be disguised in various ways; two of the most common are inequalities and absolute values (which we normally associate more with algebra). Here are two that use inequalities as a disguise for number properties concepts, one in this article and another from this article, as well as a third one that plays around with absolute value. All three of these are generally hiding issues that deal with positive and negative properties of numbers. And finally here are two more: a number line problem and one dealing with consecutive integers. The former tests positive and negative properties, as well as some others, and the latter covers a less-commonly-tested but still important number properties category. |
17 Aug 2020, 10:00
| FROM mbaMission Blog: Charity Auctions and the Sports “Dorkapalooza” at MIT Sloan |
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MIT Sloan students organize charity auctions typically twice a year. Each “ocean” (the approximately 70-person cohort with which students take their first-semester core classes) selects a charity to support and identifies items to be auctioned, such as lunch with a professor, a home-cooked meal by a student, and more unusual offerings, like having a professor chauffeur you to class in their classic car. First-year oceans compete to see which one can raise the most money, and second-year students organize a similar auction. All together, the auctions raise tens of thousands of dollars each year for such charities as the California Wildfires Fund, Children of Uganda, Pencils of Promise, Bridge Over Troubled Waters, and the Sloan Social Impact Fellowship. MIT Sloan students are active in organizing conferences as well. Did you know that some of the biggest names in sports have met annually since 2007 for an event at the school that former ESPN columnist Bill Simmons once described as “dorkapalooza”? At the student-run Sports Analytics Conference, participants discuss the increasing role of analytics in the sports industry, and students have ample opportunity to network with the elite of the sports world. The 14th annual conference was held over two days in March 2020 in Boston, where more than 3,000 attendees witnessed industry experts, leaders, and professionals participate in nearly 70 panel discussions. Among the event’s speakers were the commissioner of Major League Soccer, the CEO of the Atlanta Hawks, and the head of U.S. sports at Twitter. The panels covered such topics as “Start Me Up: Innovation and Entrepreneurship,” “Changing Sports: Beyond Ownership,” “The Path to Greatness,” “Pass the Secret Sauce: Learning Across Sports,” and “Reinventing a Business: The Future of Sports Business.” Other conference events included a research papers exhibition, such workshops as “An Optimization Approach to Roster Creation and Game Scheduling” and “Introduction to NFL Player Tracking Data in R,” a First Pitch Case Competition, and a “Hackathon.” A second-year EMS (Entertainment, Media, and Sports) Club member told mbaMission, “The event is one of the largest student-organized conferences in the country and was named the third most innovative company in all of sports (behind only the NFL and MLB Advanced Media) by Fast Company [magazine].” For a thorough exploration of what MIT Sloan and 16 other top business schools have to offer, please check out our free mbaMission Insider’s Guides. |
17 Aug 2020, 10:00
| FROM mbaMission Blog: Get an Early Start on Your Resume and Personal Goals |
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We at mbaMission try to encourage business school candidates to get as much “noise” out of the way as possible before they begin working on their official application(s) and essays, even several months in advance. We want applicants to have the freedom to reflect on their experiences, formally and thoroughly brainstorm, choose ideas, prepare outlines, and then focus on crafting powerful essays. Essentially, we want them to be unfettered as they engage in what is, for many, one of the most significant creative challenges they will ever face. Using this time to address a task such as preparing your resume—a process that often requires several rounds of revisions—will allow you to focus better on the other elements of your application later. By revising your resume now, you can dedicate the time needed to do so at a more leisurely pace, before “crunch time” hits. Further, you will lay the foundation for brainstorming for your essays, by reminding yourself of your most significant accomplishments. If you prepare your resume now, you will definitely thank yourself later for having completed this task early. Note: We recognize that you may achieve additional accomplishments before applying. We nonetheless suggest that you update your resume now and then revisit and amend it as necessary one to two weeks before your application deadlines. A similar message applies to personal leadership—you always have time to take steps to bolster your chances of admission. Many candidates completely ignore the personal side of their candidacy. But if you have, for example, completed a triathlon, learned a language, published an article, or simply been an inordinately dedicated neighbor/sibling/mentor in an unofficial capacity, your story can provide an interesting point of differentiation. So, if you have an activity or adventure in mind that you would otherwise complete later anyway, we recommend pursuing it now. We are not suggesting that you start writing poetry tomorrow in hopes of getting something published, for instance, but if you are a dedicated poet and have verses that you have long intended to submit, do so now. If you can run 20 miles and have always planned to run a marathon, do it now. These kinds of personal stories can help set you apart from your fellow applicants. |
19 Aug 2020, 10:00
| FROM mbaMission Blog: MBA Admissions Myths Destroyed: Title Trumps All |
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In the past, we have addressed (and debunked!) the myth that you must personally know alumni from the top MBA programs to gain acceptance into those schools. Another admissions myth that is somewhat similar—in that it pertains to who you know instead of who you are—is that your recommendation must be written by someone with a flashy title. Each year, many candidates will persuade either someone from outside their workplace (e.g., a congressperson) or an insider who does not know their work all that well (e.g., a managing director or CEO) to write a recommendation on their behalf. Unfortunately, when you obtain a recommendation from someone because of their title and not because that person actually knows you and your work, the result is a vague endorsement. Consequently, the admissions committee will not get to know you better through this individual’s recommendation letter, and this undermines the very purpose of recommendations. Even if you can educate someone far above you in the corporate hierarchy about your achievements and that person can write a seemingly personal letter, it still will not make sense that a CEO, for example, knows what you—one of hundreds of employees—are doing on a daily basis. So the intimacy of this person’s letter just might seem absurd. Of course, if your CEO does actually know you and can write a personal letter that makes a logical connection between your position and theirs, that could be helpful. Rather than focusing on titles when considering possible sources for your recommendations, strive to identify an individual who knows you well and can write about your strengths—and even your weaknesses—with sincerity. If your supervisor has a less than impressive title, this will not reflect negatively on you; what will matter is what they write about you. If that person can discuss your performance while providing powerful examples of standout achievements, they will help you to the fullest. |
20 Aug 2020, 08:00
| FROM mbaMission Blog: Manhattan Prep Offers New “Diversity and the MBA” Event Series |
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[url=https://www.mbamission.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/DiversityAndTheMBA_02.png][img]https://www.mbamission.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/DiversityAndTheMBA_02-300x300.png[/img][/url] [url=https://www.manhattanprep.com/about/]Manhattan Prep’s mission[/url] is to create the highest quality teaching services for as many students as possible. That is why we at mbaMission exclusively recommend its services to our clients seeking guidance in their GMAT, GRE, or Executive Assessment test prep throughout their business school journey. In these unprecedented times, Manhattan Prep has taken an active role in the eradication of existing disparities based on race, class, and gender, especially as it is well established that standardized tests, in particular, help to perpetuate inequality in multiple ways. As part of its efforts to create a more equitable and inclusive space, Manhattan Prep has launched the Diversity in Education Event Series, which focuses on both student and institutional perspectives. We encourage you to enroll (for free!) in the upcoming four-part series: [b][url=https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/classes/details/26133/]August 20, 7:30–8:30 p.m. ET: Diversity and the MBA (Student Perspectives)[/url][/b] In this event, join current students and alumni of top business schools as they discuss the following topics: [list] [*]Their experiences in business school, what they wished had been better, and what schools and companies are doing well[/*] [*]Their advice to those applying to an MBA program, including a discussion on why an MBA is valuable[/*] [*]How the MBA has impacted their career and overall life[/*] [/list] This event will be moderated by Rey Fernandez (Haas School of Business) and will feature the following panelists: [list] [*]Mario Ruiz, PayPal, Seizing-Every-Opportunity (Yale School of Management)[/*] [*]Aaron Hancock, Co-President, African American Student Union, Harvard Business School[/*] [*]Laura Sandoval, Management Leadership for Tomorrow, Harvard Business School[/*] [*]Tabria Lenard, Black Business Students Association, London Business School[/*] [*]Additional speakers to come! [/*] [/list] [url=https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/classes/details/26134/][b]September 15, 7:30–8:30 p.m. ET: Women and the MBA (Student Perspectives)[/b][/url] In this event, join current students and alumni of top business schools as they discuss the following topics: [list] [*]Their experiences in business school, what they wished had been better, and what schools and companies are doing well[/*] [*]Their advice to those applying to an MBA program, including a discussion on why an MBA is valuable[/*] [*]How women can reshape not just business school but also business (and society!) overall[/*] [/list] This event will be moderated by Grace Trewartha (Harvard Business School) and will feature the following panelists: [list] [*]Shirley Arteaga, Microsoft, Ross School of Business[/*] [*]Lupe Manriquez, Haas School of Business[/*] [*]Additional speakers to come![/*] [/list] [url=https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/classes/details/26135/][b]October 15, 7:30–[/b][b]8:30 p.m. ET: Diversity and the MBA (School Perspectives)[/b][/url][b][/b] In this event, join professionals working in top MBA programs, diversity initiatives, and other partners within the MBA space as they discuss the following topics: [list] [*]The imperative for business schools to increase diversity among race, gender, and accessibility for all nontraditional students at MBA programs and in companies throughout the world[/*] [*]The barriers to entry for these students, and the barriers to schools, companies, and other institutions in fostering more inclusive workplaces and environments[/*] [*]Ongoing solutions that they are exploring or committed to in order to increase accessibility in the MBA[/*] [/list] This event will feature the following panelists: [list] [*]Lydia Wakefield, Associate Director, University Outreach and Partnership Development, London Business School[/*] [*]Om Chitale, Director of Diversity Admissions, Haas School of Business[/*] [*]Additional speakers to come![/*] [/list] [url=https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/classes/details/26136/][b]November 11, 7:30–8:30 p.m. ET: Fostering Inclusivity and Diversity in U.S. Education[/b][/url] (with Access and Equity Team) In this event, we are joined by cross-industry professionals working in education to discuss the following topics: [list] [*]How do we address inequality in education related to enrollment, recruitment, and also in the content we create? [/*] [*]Why is education inequality so difficult to fix? [/*] [*]Is inequality in education real? And why does it matter? [/*] [/list] Manhattan Prep’s goal is to create a space for educators to candidly discuss inequality that exists in education, practical ways to ease it, and what resources and steps are needed to get to a more equitable education system in the United States. This event will feature the following panelists: [list] [*]Kwame Osei-Sarfo, Director, Bridge to the Ph.D. Program in STEM, Columbia University[/*] [*]Additional speakers to come![/*] [/list] [b]We hope that you will join join Manhattan Prep for the full series: [/b] [list] [*][url=https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/classes/details/26133]August 20, 2020 from 7:30 – 8:30 pm ET: Diversity and the MBA (Student Perspectives)[/url][/*] [*][url=https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/classes/details/26134]September 15, 2020 from 7:30 – 8:30 pm ET: Women and the MBA (Student Perspectives)[/url][/*] [*][url=https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/classes/details/26135/]October 15, 2020 from 7:30 – 8:30 pm ET: Diversity and the MBA (School Perspectives)[/url][/*] [*][url=https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/classes/details/26136/]November 11, 2020 from 7:30 – 8:30 pm ET: Fostering Inclusivity and Diversity in U.S. Education[/url][/*] [/list] |
21 Aug 2020, 12:00
| FROM mbaMission Blog: Stressed Out? Meditate to Lower Your Anxiety and Boost Your GMAT Score |
 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. Are you feeling overwhelmingly stressed out when you sit down to study for the GMAT? Do you find that concentrating on the task at hand is difficult? Researchers at the University of California at Santa Barbara published the results of a study following 48 undergrads preparing for the GRE. Jan Hoffman details the research in a blog post at the New York Times. The motivation for the study “We had already found that mind-wandering underlies performance on a variety of tests, including working memory capacity and intelligence,” said Michael D. Mrazek in the NYT blog post. We have all had this experience. We are taking a test, the clock is ticking, and we keep finding ourselves thinking about something other than the question we are supposed to be answering at that moment. Maybe we are stressing about our score. Maybe we are thinking about applications. Maybe we are even distracted by work, significant others, family, or other issues that have nothing to do with the test! How do we stop fixating on other things and concentrate on the task at hand? This study tried to find out. The study First, the students were given some “baseline” tests, including one verbal reasoning section from the GRE (yes, the GRE, not the GMAT). The students were then split into two groups. One group (group M) attended meditation classes four times a week; these students learned lessons on “mindfulness,” which focuses on breathing techniques and helps minimize distracting thoughts. The other group (group N) attended nutrition classes, designed to teach the students healthy eating habits. Afterward, the students did another GRE verbal section. The performance of students in group N stayed the same; the nutritional studies did not make a difference. Group M students, however, improved their GRE scores by an average of 12 percentile points! The students also reported (subjectively) that they were better able to concentrate the second time around; they felt that their minds wandered less than they had before. Here is the best part: the study took just two weeks. How did that happen? The students did not become smarter or learn (much) more in that time frame. Rather, the mindfulness techniques helped the students perform closer to their true potential by reducing negative thoughts or habits that were interfering with performance. Think how much better you could do if you could turn off, or at least minimize, all those distracting thoughts that interrupt you when you are trying to concentrate! How can I use this? That short, two-week time frame is both good news and bad news. The good news is that you can achieve results without having to study meditation for six months. The bad news is that we do not know whether this provides only a short-term boost—the effects may fade over time. So let’s speculate that the effects will fade unless you keep up with a regular meditation schedule. Let’s also assume that most people are not going to make meditation a regular part of their daily life; most will try it for a time and then drop it. Here is what to do, then: Start learning some of these mindfulness techniques about eight weeks before you plan to take the test. Give yourself enough time to learn what to do, and then make these meditation sessions a part of your regular study schedule until you take the test. (If you would like to continue after that, great!) Here is a resource to get you started: the Mindful Awareness Research Center at UCLA. They offer free meditation lessons and podcasts. They also periodically offer a six-week online course (for a small fee, roughly $200 at the time of this publication); in addition to the prerecorded classes, you will be able to take advantage of live chats with an instructor. If you would rather meet with someone in person, run a Google search to find someone in your area. Take a deep breath, exhale, and start learning how to minimize distractions and concentrate on the task at hand. Good luck! |
23 Aug 2020, 08:00
| FROM mbaMission Blog: Professor Profiles: Julie Hennessy, Northwestern University Kellogg School of Management |
 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 focus on Julie Hennessy from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. Before students even began describing the quality of their educational experiences with Julie Hennessy to mbaMission, they noted that she “cares a lot” and “makes herself available to chat and talk about recruiting.” In addition to teaching Kellogg MBA students as a clinical professor of marketing and serving as associate chair of the Marketing Department, Hennessy teaches executive education at leading firms. Students we interviewed reported that she draws on these experiences in class but does not just tell stories. Instead, Hennessy challenges students and teases out the responses that facilitate learning. Students with whom we spoke also referred to her as “funny and energetic.” Not surprisingly, then, Hennessy won the school’s L.G. Lavengood Outstanding Professor of the Year Award—which is voted on by Kellogg students—in both 2007 and 2017. In addition, she has won seven student impact awards and five Chair’s Core Course Teaching Awards—most recently in 2018 and 2010–2011, respectively. And in 2016, Hennessy received the school’s Certificate for Impact Teaching Award. Kellogg’s website notes that Hennessy focuses her writing on producing new cases for class discussion; she has completed cases on such brands as TiVo, Apple iPod, Invisalign Orthodontics, and (as separate cases) the antibiotics Biaxin and Zithromax. For more information about Northwestern Kellogg and 16 other top-ranked business schools, check out our free mbaMission Insider’s Guides. |
24 Aug 2020, 09:00
| FROM mbaMission Blog: Cold Calls and Capital Management at Darden |
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MBA students at the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business are known to work quite hard amid the rigors of the case method. Each day, they are expected to read a business case and perform their own analysis of the situation presented. Then, they must compare and reason through their analysis with a small, diverse group of fellow students—their Learning Team. Students can often spend two to four hours prepping on their own and then two to three more with their teammates to arrive at an answer (as opposed to the answer). And what might be the reward for all this work? The student may be selected for a “cold call” to start off the class. At Darden, most first-year and some second-year classes begin with a professor randomly selecting a student to lead the day’s discussion by presenting their case analysis. This student can be subjected to anywhere from five to 20 minutes of questioning, as the professor teases out key points of discussion for the broader class to explore. Many students have sweated through a cold call only to gain the applause of their peers at the end. (Others, of course, may not do as well.) These cold calls can be daunting, but they force students to prepare thoroughly and think on their feet—a key feature of the Darden learning experience. Outside the Darden classroom, students can apply principles of the school’s general management program in the Darden Capital Management (DCM) club, where they evaluate equities to understand the entire firm while also specializing in asset management to further their careers in this finance industry niche. Many think that because Darden casts itself as offering a general management program, the school has no specialties. General management, however, is a philosophy that suggests that no business problem can be viewed in isolation—for example, a finance problem relates to marketing, a marketing problem relates to operations, and so on. Through DCM, first-year students pitch long and short investment ideas to second-year student fund managers who oversee approximately $18M of Darden’s endowment, which is divided among five funds, each with its own focal area. The first years ultimately “graduate” and run these funds themselves for credit as second years, reporting on their investment decisions and performance to Darden’s finance board. Students who manage these funds report that they have had an advantage breaking into asset management, because this hands-on experience gives them plenty to discuss in interviews. Managing around $18M will do that… For more information on Darden or 16 other leading MBA programs, check out our free mbaMission Insider’s Guides. |
25 Aug 2020, 09:00
| FROM mbaMission Blog: Georgetown McDonough Essay Analysis, 2020–2021 |
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[url=https://www.mbamission.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/mcdonough-school-of-business_416x416.jpg][img]https://www.mbamission.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/mcdonough-school-of-business_416x416-300x300.jpg[/img][/url] Of all the programs we feature in our annual essay analyses, Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business is the one we typically expect to make at least some changes to its application essay questions from one season to the next. So even though applicants must still provide one 500-word written essay in response to their choice of three question options, we were not surprised to see that those options have been modified a bit. Candidates are now asked to write about a time when they led a team (versus being out of their comfort zone), a challenging situation they navigated (versus a failure), or their personal brand and someone they admire (focusing more pointedly now on the applicant than the role model). The school has also tweaked the wording of its video essay prompt; rather than requesting that applicants introduce themselves to their future classmates, the admissions committee wants them to share how they are “unique”—likely to encourage candidates to dig deeper with their response and provide more profound insight into their individuality and personality than before. The school’s optional essay still gives applicants the leeway to discuss anything they feel is necessary, so it should be sufficient to meet everyone’s needs. Read on for our full essay analysis of all the school’s essay prompts for 2020–2021. [b]We want to hear your story. When responding to our required essays, be authentic and take time to reflect on your goals and past experiences. Craft a response that explains how these experiences led you to pursue an MBA.[/b] [b]Our goal at Georgetown McDonough is to craft a diverse class with people who have had varying personal and professional life experiences. As such, we want to give our applicants the opportunity to select one essay (from a list of three) that allows them the ability to best highlight their experiences, characteristics, and values that showcase the value proposition that they can bring to the McDonough community. Please select one of the following three essays to complete in 500 words or less and include the essay prompt and your first/last name at the top of your submission.[/b] [b]Essay Option One: Principled Leadership: Georgetown McDonough places a strong emphasis on principled leadership, providing both curricular and co-curricular opportunities to strengthen your leadership skills. Describe a time when you’ve led a team in a professional environment to implement a new idea or process. What leadership characteristics did you utilize? What could you have done to be more effective? And most importantly, what skills will you be able to bring to the teams you lead at McDonough? [/b] Although this essay question retains some elements of the one the school posed last year and again focuses primarily on leadership skills, the admissions committee has made some meaningful adjustments in what it wants to know and how it frames its request. Rather than asking you to discuss an instance in which you led (and succeeded) outside your comfort zone, McDonough tasks you with sharing a time when you led a team specifically “to implement a new idea or process.” This means that the situation you share is one in which you had to apply your skills and thought processes in a novel way rather than simply repeating ones you had executed before in a similar context. You must thereby demonstrate that the abilities and knowledge you possess are broad and keen enough to apply to novel situations and—even more—that you know how and when to exercise certain ones to fit the demands of the task at hand. This essay is about revealing not only the leadership qualities you already possess but also your instincts in identifying the ones that are appropriate and helpful in a given situation and in using them effectively. The addition of the specification “in a professional environment” requires that the experience you share be related to your career (a change from last year), and although the prompt no longer says the incident must be one in which “you were asked to lead” (emphasis ours), this will likely be the case, given the workplace context. The prompt also no longer specifies that you must have “succeeded,” but you will of course want to show yourself to be effective and that your leadership skills are such that they direct people to the desired result, so we would caution against sharing an instance in which you and your team failed to attain your goal. You want to focus on conveying the skills you engaged and steps you took to guide your team, as well as your thought processes along the way. The admissions committee will thereby gain both a clear picture of what you accomplished and the aspects of your character that inspired you and helped enable your success. Take time as you are planning your response to this prompt to carefully read the “[b][url=https://msb.georgetown.edu/executive-masters-in-leadership/academics/principled-leadership/#:~:text=A%20Unique%20Learning%20Experience,be%20global%2C%20principled%20business%20leaders.&text=Global%2C%20principled%20leadership%20requires%20conscious,that%20benefit%20all%20stakeholder%20groups.]About Principled Leadership[/url][/b]” page on the McDonough website. Although you obviously want to be authentic in conveying which skills and qualities you in fact relied on in the situation (and therefore not claim to possess any you do not because you think the admissions committee is seeking a specific “right” answer here), if any you plan to discuss align with the school’s stated values, they might warrant a little extra emphasis in your essay. The addition of the query “What could you have done to be more effective?” constitutes an invitation to demonstrate to the admissions committee your capacity for self-assessment and both your motivation and ability to identify areas for improvement. This is also your opportunity to explain how the McDonough MBA experience will help you address and mitigate those shortcomings. Absolutely do not denigrate anyone else on your team or related to the project by saying or implying that you could have been more effective if others had acted differently. Also, note that the admissions committee does not ask what you learned from the experience, so we caution you against using valuable word count on this point. As for which skills will enable you to contribute to your teams at McDonough, the admissions committee will already understand that the ones you applied in the situation you describe are ones you will bring with you to the program, so you do not need to reiterate those too much. Also, the committee is aware that the single leadership experience you highlight in your essay might not have required or allowed you to engage all the strengths and expertise you actually possess. So this part of the query opens the door for you to mention ones that are complementary and/or that you know would be helpful in other team situations to show the school the full breadth of your capabilities in this context. [b]Essay Option Two: Hoyas for the Common Good: Georgetown McDonough embodies the ethos that people and organizations can and should contribute to the greater good. The admissions committee would like to better understand how you’ve demonstrated these values during uniquely challenging times. Describe a time where you’ve put the needs of others ahead of your own or ahead of the bottom line. We look forward to learning more about the challenge you faced, what unique characteristics you brought to that scenario, and what you learned from it. [/b] We imagine that the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic could have inspired this essay prompt, given that we are all being challenged in new and often intense ways, and trying situations can really bring out the best in a person—or the worst. Some people step up when adversity arises, while others retreat, and McDonough is clearly interested in candidates who fall into the former category. The school is seeking individuals who not only naturally feel a sense of responsibility toward others but proactively embrace opportunities to act on that value. Because the admissions committee does not specify what part of your life the situation you describe must come from, be sure to plumb all your options to identify your strongest and most applicable story. It could be in a community service capacity, within your family, at the office, related to an extracurricular activity, with a single friend or loved one, or any of a multitude of possibilities—as long as you were inspired to put yourself second to another in some way. The scale or scope of the situation is not as important as how affecting and meaningful it was for you personally and for the other party. You must present a complete narrative that outlines the quandary so that the different actions you could have chosen in the situation are clear. The admissions committee needs to understand what would be gained or lost, and by whom, in the alternatives you were considering. What exactly was at stake for both you and the other person(s) involved? Also describe how these options were revealed—as in, did you recognize on your own that you could do something other than what you might have originally considered and that would put someone else’s welfare ahead of yours, or were options presented to you from which you then had to choose? Be sure to detail your thought processes as you considered which route to take. Also make sure that the “challenge” aspect of the incident is clear; an easy choice between two positive outcomes would not fulfill this element of the school’s query. You need to have experienced some kind of struggle or conflict either within yourself or with an outside force to be able to move forward with your ultimate decision. What values, beliefs, or abilities do you possess that made you the right person to step up in that instance and be able to deliver an important benefit or kindness to another? What past experiences have you had that might have guided, informed, or inspired your decision? What made putting your own personal gain or fulfillment aside the more attractive option? And lastly, what did acting on your impulse ultimately teach you, whether about yourself or about someone or something external to you? Strive to convey these core elements of the situation so that the admissions committee gains a full understanding not only of what transpired but also of your motivations and character. [b]Essay Option Three: Personal Brand: Think of a business leader or role model you admire or aspire to be. What are the defining characteristics of his or her personal brand that you see in yourself? Give an example of how you have been able to emulate these characteristics in your professional career and how your personal brand will enrich the McDonough community.[/b] The school has made several wording tweaks in this prompt compared with last year’s version, but the central query is largely the same. The most significant change is that candidates are now asked to provide an illustrative example from their past—essentially to prove they indeed have the qualities they claim and can apply them effectively—as well as an envisioned future example. Perhaps applicants last season spent a little too much word count talking about what their admired role model has accomplished rather than what they themselves have; this modification to the question should go a long way in preventing that this time around. The admissions committee wants to know which values and strengths you believe are important in a leader, why you feel they are important, which of them you already possess (with associated evidence), and how these fit with the McDonough brand and environment. This is a lot to cover in just 500 words, but if you focus on conveying all four points in a targeted and concise manner, you should be able to craft a compelling essay response. Before we address how you should approach this prompt, we want to point out a few things you should not do. First, avoid choosing any individuals who would come across as obvious or cliché, such as Steve Jobs or Barack Obama. Second, like all application essay questions, this one does not have a “right” answer, so do not spend any time or effort trying to guess who the admissions committee wants or is expecting you to pick. Third, resist the urge to choose a parent, grandparent, or other close relative, unless the person in question really has something distinctly and obviously special to offer. And fourth, do not make your chosen individual the star of your essay and spend too much time or word count describing and praising them. McDonough wants to learn about you, so make sure your description of the leader/role model you have selected serves its purpose as the jumping off point for describing yourself and then move on. Authenticity is key to your success with this essay, so start by thinking of people who truly inspire and appeal to you—who elicit a strong response from you in some key way. Then identify the qualities you have in common with these figures and single out the ones you feel play a significant role in your selected individual’s success and/or compelling presence. Once you have this information, you should be able to recognize which person will be most effective in helping convey who you are to the McDonough admissions committee. Do not forget to address the final part of the school’s question—” how your personal brand will enrich the McDonough community.” With this, the school wants you to touch on why it is the right fit for you. The admissions committee will be looking for evidence that you have researched its MBA program thoroughly enough to understand how and why it aligns with your interests, needs, personality, and style. Please allow us to once again repeat our advice about getting to know a school beyond its website and published materials. Connect directly with McDonough students and alumni to identify aspects of the school where the characteristics you are highlighting in your essay would prove complementary and additive. [b]Video Essay: What makes you unique? In a one-minute video, describe the most compelling aspects of yourself that you believe make you unique from other MBA candidates. (Hint: one minute goes fast! We already have your resume and goals – share something new!) Use this video as an opportunity to bring life to your application. [/b] McDonough’s video essay is a great opportunity for you to offer the school a glimpse into your character and personality. As the prompt says, the video can “bring life to your application,” so your focus should be on ensuring that it as authentic and natural as possible. Do not use the video to pitch your candidacy or to pander to the school, and avoid repeating any information that is already clearly conveyed in your resume. This is also not the time to detail your career goals or express your admiration for the program. Whereas last year, the prompt requested that applicants introduce themselves to their cohort, this season, candidates must speak on what makes them unique. We interpret this refinement as a way of pushing applicants to get even more granular and distinctive in this submission. After all, in a basic “introduction,” you could easily cover topics that, while authentic and relevant, would not necessarily make you stand out (e.g., hobbies), whereas being tasked with explaining exactly why and how you are unique requires you to share much more personal and detailed information. You have only one minute in which to make an impression, and even without knowing you personally, we are confident in our belief that you have more to your character than can be conveyed in a mere 60 seconds—so do not waste any of them! Given that this is a video, you will obviously need to think beyond what you will say and consider the clothing you will wear, the setting or background of your video, your tone of voice, your language style, whether you will include music, and a host of other 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 using a GoPro or similar camera to film your video while you are actively riding. If you are a dedicated guitar player, perhaps strum your guitar as you speak (or, if you are especially confident, you could even sing about yourself!). Think about what makes you who you are today, decide what you most want to share with your future classmates, 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. You still want to come across as genuine and natural. [b]Optional Essay: Please provide any information you would like to add to your application that you have not otherwise included. (500 words or fewer)[/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. However, because McDonough does not stipulate that you can only discuss a problem area in this essay, you have some leeway to share anything you feel is that you think may be pivotal or particularly compelling. 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. In our [b][url=https://shop.mbamission.com/products/mbamission-optional-essays-guide]mbaMission Optional Essays Guide[/url][/b], we offer detailed advice on how best to take advantage of the optional essay, with multiple examples, to help you mitigate any problem areas in your application. However, because the question can be interpreted rather broadly, it does open the door for you to discuss anything that is not addressed elsewhere in your application and that you feel is truly critical for the admissions committee to know to be able to evaluate you fully and effectively. We caution you about simply trying to fill this space 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]Re-Applicant Essay: Required for re-applicants. How have you strengthened your candidacy since your last application? We are particularly interested in hearing about how you have grown professionally and personally. (500 words or fewer) [/b] 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. McDonough 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 McDonough 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. |
26 Aug 2020, 12:00
| FROM mbaMission Blog: Storytelling: Talking About Yourself to Potential Employers |
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This post was written by our resident Career Coach, [url=https://www.mbamission.com/who-we-are/team/elissa-harris/]Elissa Harris[/url]. To sign up for a free 30-minute career consultation with Elissa, please [url=https://www.mbamission.com/consult/career-coaching/]click here[/url]. Many MBAs use their degree to pivot or enhance their careers. But in order to secure an offer, you must excel at explaining who you are and how you can add value to your target employer. So, how do you build a compelling story? [b]Know Your Target Audience[/b] Step 1: Identify requirements for your target role. Seek to understand the skills, experiences, and attributes required for success. Check out our [b][url=https://shop.mbamission.com/collections/career-guides]mbaMission Career Guides[/url][/b], review the [b][url=https://www.learneducatediscover.com/]Learn Educate Discover[/url][/b] podcast, talk with classmates who have direct experience in your target areas, and/or listen to employer informational sessions. [b]Know Yourself[/b] Step 2: Catalog your pre-MBA experiences. Think about your functional and industry expertise but also the transferable skills you developed doing your job. Review your application essays and performance reviews. Reflect on what you liked most about what you did prior to your MBA program and the skills you used to achieve success. Step 3: Find the common threads. Ask yourself the following question: where is the overlap between the requirements of your target role and your pre-MBA experiences? Common threads could be things like serving key stakeholders and convincing them to take specific actions, analyzing data to drive decision making, understanding drivers of growth or company success, or communicating complex concepts in easy-to-understand ways. Step 4: Brainstorm specific examples of when you demonstrated each of these common threads. Look at bullet points on your resume for ideas. Brainstorm your biggest accomplishments and how you made them a reality. Think about the situation, your key actions, and the outcomes of those actions. Step 5: Identify elements that were missing from your previous role but are desirable to you and exist in your target role. Perhaps your previous role focused on one industry but a different industry excites you, or perhaps your previous role was very operational and you are now seeking to contribute in a more strategic way. [b]Prepare Your Story [/b] Step 6: Curate the information gathered in Steps 1 to 5 to craft your story. Put yourself in the mindset of the employer; start with content that will be compelling to them and use keywords that will resonate with them. Show your excitement and commitment to their company/role. Prepare three different versions of your story: [list] [*]A one-sentence version to introduce yourself to a larger group of people[/*] [*]A 30- to 45-second version to introduce yourself to a smaller group of two to three people or one-on-one for networking purposes[/*] [*]A 90- to 120-second version to introduce yourself one-on-one in an interview setting[/*] [/list] Bottom line: Compile and deliver a relevant, memorable, and concise story that engages the listener while connecting the dots between your previous experiences and your interest in/qualifications for your target roles. |
28 Aug 2020, 08:00
| FROM mbaMission Blog: Tackling Reading Comprehension Problems in the GMAT |
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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. We previously examined how to read Reading Comprehension (RC) passages. If you have not read our earlier article, go ahead and do so right now. Today, I want to talk about the three primary types of questions that appear on RC: Main Idea, Specific Detail, and Inference. I also want to talk about how to analyze RC problems. In general, we learn the most from a problem after we have finished doing it. Our review is the real learning experience. Any problem can (and should!) be analyzed using the questions discussed in this “How to Analyze a Practice Problem” article. How would that work with a Reading Comprehension question? Glad you asked. This article contains an example of a complete RC Inference problem analysis—you will learn not only how to analyze an RC problem but also how to tackle Inference problems. (In general, Inference problems ask us to deduce something from some piece of evidence provided in the passage.) Let us tackle Main Idea questions next. These questions focus on the main point of a passage, though we could also be asked to give the main point of just one paragraph. Specific Detail questions ask us to address some particular detail mentioned explicitly in the passage. We could be asked what the passage says or why the author mentions a certain thing. Knowing whether you are dealing with a What question or a Why question is important. Think about the answers to these two questions: What are you studying? Why are you studying it? Completely different answers! Those will cover most, if not all, of the RC question types you will see when you take the GMAT. You might also encounter a Strengthen or Weaken question, similar to the questions that we see in the Critical Reasoning section. These are fairly rare in RC, though—chances are good that you will not actually see one. So go ahead and tackle those Reading Comprehension question types and remember this: when you are studying, your goal is not (just) to get the question right. Your goal is to learn something that you could apply on a different question (or questions) in the future! |
28 Aug 2020, 10:00
| FROM mbaMission Blog: Tackling Reading Comprehension Problems in the GMAT |
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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. We previously examined how to read Reading Comprehension (RC) passages. If you have not read our earlier article, go ahead and do so right now. Today, I want to talk about the three primary types of questions that appear on RC: Main Idea, Specific Detail, and Inference. I also want to talk about how to analyze RC problems. In general, we learn the most from a problem after we have finished doing it. Our review is the real learning experience. Any problem can (and should!) be analyzed using the questions discussed in this “How to Analyze a Practice Problem” article. How would that work with a Reading Comprehension question? Glad you asked. This article contains an example of a complete RC Inference problem analysis—you will learn not only how to analyze an RC problem but also how to tackle Inference problems. (In general, Inference problems ask us to deduce something from some piece of evidence provided in the passage.) Let us tackle Main Idea questions next. These questions focus on the main point of a passage, though we could also be asked to give the main point of just one paragraph. Specific Detail questions ask us to address some particular detail mentioned explicitly in the passage. We could be asked what the passage says or why the author mentions a certain thing. Knowing whether you are dealing with a What question or a Why question is important. Think about the answers to these two questions: What are you studying? Why are you studying it? Completely different answers! Those will cover most, if not all, of the RC question types you will see when you take the GMAT. You might also encounter a Strengthen or Weaken question, similar to the questions that we see in the Critical Reasoning section. These are fairly rare in RC, though—chances are good that you will not actually see one. So go ahead and tackle those Reading Comprehension question types and remember this: when you are studying, your goal is not (just) to get the question right. Your goal is to learn something that you could apply on a different question (or questions) in the future! |
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Hi Generic [Bot],
Here are updates for you:
ANNOUNCEMENTS
 Wednesday, Apr 24, 2024 11:30am NY / 3:30pm London / 9pm Mumbai Watch earlier episodes of DI series below EP1: 6 Hardest Two-Part Analysis Questions EP2: 5 Hardest Graphical Interpretation Questions
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