MIT Sloan and the Pre-Interview Essay
MIT Sloan School of Management—perhaps riffing off of HBS’s post-interview reflection—has added its own new twist this year. In Sloan’s case, though, it is another essay and it comes before the interview. Clear Admit spoke with Dawna Levenson in May, when the school first announced this newest element. She shared the details she knew then, which were that applicants invited to interview would be asked to provide a written answer to a second essay question in 250 words or less. The question: “The mission of the MIT Sloan School of Management is to develop principled, innovative leaders who improve the world and to generate ideas that advance management practice. Please share with us something about your past that aligns with this mission.”
We caught up with Levenson again yesterday, who shared the precise details of how the new interview works—which hadn’t been determined yet when we spoke to her last. Essentially, as part of the congratulatory email letting candidates know they have been invited to interview, Sloan provides a link to a section of its website where it restates the question and asks candidate to upload an answer at least 24 hours before their scheduled interview. “We try to invite people to interview at least one week in advance, so that should give them more than enough time to complete it,” she says.
Levenson is as enthusiastic today as she was in the spring about this new format. The question posted to interviewing candidates is really all about an individual’s fit with MIT Sloan, which makes even more sense to ask at this later stage in the process. “I am very excited about the way we have structured things this year,” she says. “I think it makes a lot of sense both for applicants and for us.” Certainly, since it’s one less essay to write (or to read) for applicants who don’t make it to the interview stage.
Interviews have just started at MIT Sloan, but so far the second essay question is working out well, Levenson says. “As an interviewer, I have found that it’s a good ice breaker. It’s the last thing I would have read before meeting them and it is fresh in their mind since they’ve just written it,” she says. “It’s a good thing to talk about on the way to the room where the interview takes place.”
So far, the only person who will have read your second essay is the person who interviews you, Levenson says. Although in some cases this essay may become a tie breaker that gets reviewed by the whole admissions committee, she adds. “Really, any piece of data has the potential of becoming a tie breaker in those cases,” she notes.
Will they follow the same format next year? “If I had to determine next year’s process today, the answer would definitely be yes,” she says. “We really like it.”
By reducing the number of essays required with submission of the application to just one, MIT may encourage more people to apply, notes Brown. Introducing this second “fit” essay at this “post-interview decision” stage should help the school filter for candidates that are really serious in wanting to attend MIT Sloan. “I like this move, but it will be interesting to see how it works from a logistical standpoint,” says Brown. “It also creates the potential for a little uncertainty on the part of the candidate in terms of the importance of this second essay for the interview versus the remainder of the application.”
