Essays
Johnson Admissions Director Weighs in on Recently Released Application Essays
Cornell’s Johnson Graduate School of Management recently posted essay topics for the 2017-18 MBA application season, revealing some new twists as well as some old favorites. We caught up with Judi Byers, executive director of admissions and financial aid, to learn more. New this year is a novel fill-in-the-blank goals statement designed to help applicants convey their short- and long-term career goals. “A statement of your goals will begin a conversation that will last throughout the admissions process and guide your steps during the MBA program and experience,” reads the prompt, which
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New Clear Admit Chat Series Offers Valuable Free Primer for the MBA Admissions Season
Note: You can join the chat in progress here https://www.clearadmit.com/chat/mba-admissions-series/
If you are planning to apply to business school in the coming year, listen up: We’re rolling out a brand-new series of 10 free expert-led chats that together offer a comprehensive overview of the steps successful applicants take in the MBA admissions process. Hosted by Clear Admit’s own Alex Brown—author of Becoming a Clear Admit: The Definitive Guide to MBA Admissions and former senior associate director of admissions at Wharton—each chat in the series will focus in on an individual component of the MBA admissions process.
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Published: August 28, 2016
Admissions Tip: 10 Basic Essay Writing Rules
Before you complete your MBA application essays, it is worth noting the context within which they will be read. The adcom will be reading many essays in a short period of time. They may not have as much time as they’d like to reflect deeply on your content and ‘connect the dots.’ They will be trying to make subjective decisions in order to make recommendations regarding whether to offer interviews or admissions, the easy call, or whether to deny, which is a final, and often more difficult, call. Given that, there are 10 basic rules that you should follow (in no particular
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Published: August 14, 2016
The MBA Application: Know Your Audience
As Round 1 deadlines approach, applicants are coming to understand that applying to business school is an incredibly demanding process. In addition to taking the GMAT, assembling academic transcripts and providing recommendation letters, candidates are required to draft multiple essays, job descriptions, lists of activities and more. With the obvious incentive to save time wherever possible, it’s understandable that many applicants simply cut and paste content from an existing resume and write about their work in the manner that comes most naturally. However, in doing so, countless candidates each year assemble their materials without ever asking a
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LBS Admissions Director on Reduction in Required Essays, Importance of Interview
With London Business School announcing its essay questions for the upcoming application season this week, we thought it a good time to check in with David Simpson, admissions director for the school’s MBA and Master in Finance programs, to see what led to some of the changes implemented this year.
David Simpson, admissions director, MBA and MiF, London Business School
In brief, LBS has decided to reduce the number of essays it requires from two to one, while retaining an optional essay.
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Real Humans of MBA Admissions: Bruce DelMonico of Yale School of Management
We’re moving right along with our fun new series spotlighting the real people who make those life-altering decisions of whether to admit or deny you to a given business school. At bat this week is Bruce DelMonico, assistant dean and director of admissions at Yale School of Management (SOM). We happen to know he’s a bit of a baseball fan, even though it didn’t come up in our interview. Read on to find some other lesser-known facts about the person who has helmed admissions at SOM for the past 12 years. Of course, we also talked a little
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Admissions Tip: The MBA Career Goals Question in Essays, Short-Answers, and Interviews
Though essay questions tend to vary year to year, the two things that nearly every prospective student can count on being asked are “What are your short-term and long-term post-MBA goals?” and “How will Business School X help you achieve these goals?” Even those schools that do not ask this question directly in their essays will likely ask the question in their data forms, or during the interview. These are the fundamental questions of the entire application process; identifying clear answers will help in everything from creating a list of target schools to communicating effectively with recommenders and interviewers down
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Published: February 23, 2016
MBA Admissions Mashup: Diversity & Inclusion
Every Wednesday, we share a round-up of the latest news from admissions blogs at the top business schools. This week’s MBA Admissions Mashup takes a look at what business schools and MBAs are doing to promote diversity and inclusion on campus and we’ve sprinkled in several admissions tips...just in time for your MBA interview or a Round 3 target deadline.
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Published: August 18, 2015
Admissions Director Q&A: Julie Barefoot of Emory’s Goizueta Business School
School’s in session at Emory’s Goizueta Business School! Just as students were beginning to stream onto the Atlanta campus for both the full-time and executive MBA programs, Associate Dean of Admissions Julie Barefoot made time to discuss all things Goizueta with Clear Admit. We are so grateful to her.
Barefoot has been at Goizueta since 1988, so if anyone knows the school, it’s her. She herself holds an MBA from UNC’s Kenan-Flagler School of Business, so she also knows MBA admissions from both sides.
In the interview that follows, the self-professed foodie dishes on the Atlanta restaurant scene, exciting developments in the school’s management practice initiative, the opportunities available to students interested in social impact and much more. She also goes into amazing detail about the admissions process, including giving advice on how to tackle the essay questions.
If Goizueta is one of your target schools, this is a must read.
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Chicago Booth Admissions Director Reveals Origins of Unusual New Essay Prompt
The University of Chicago Booth School of Business has done it again. Seven years ago the school made waves when it invited applicants to respond to its essay prompts via PowerPoint presentation. This year, the school has decided to go even further—innovating on its prior innovation. Applicants now are instructed to select one of 16 photographs that capture elements of the school’s community and culture and offer a response—in whatever format they want—that tells the Admissions Committee how the photo resonates with their own viewpoint on why Booth is right for them.
“We are always trying to stimulate more authentic reactions,” Chicago Booth Associate Dean of Student Recruitment and Admissions Kurt Ahlm explained when we caught up with him earlier this week. “But we also wanted to give people a better sense of the breadth and depth of the Booth experience,” he continues. “With this new prompt, we wanted to give people the opportunity to see that and reflect on it.”
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Admissions Director Offers Advice on Kellogg’s New Essay Questions
We caught up with Director of Admissions Beth Tidmarsh late last week to discuss the new essay questions posted by the Kellogg School of Mangement on July 8th. Though the wording and order of the questions has changed slightly this year, applicants are asked, like last year, to respond to two required prompts and given 900 words in which to provide their answers. As in past years, applicants also have the opportunity to respond to an additional optional essay with no word limit.
Leadership and collaboration once again factor prominently into Kellogg’s new essay questions this year, but Tidmarsh and her team hope the prompts provide applicants with a great deal of latitude in how they respond.
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Fuqua Admissions Dean Dishes on Essays and Life
It’s not every admissions director who will make time during her vacation to discuss how prospective business school applicants should approach their essays. And yet Liz Riley Hargrove, associate dean for admissions at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business, did just that. Speaking from North Carolina’s Outer Banks this morning, before the kids woke up ready to head to the beach, she shared insights with Clear Admit on the essay prompts released last week.
Not a lot has changed this year in terms of Fuqua’s application, it turns out. Applicants will find they have twice as much space in which to answer three short-answer prompts—one on short-term goals, one on long-term goals and one on an alternative plan should that first short-term goal not pan out. This year candidates get 500 characters for each response, up from 250 last year. “We wanted to give candidates a little more opportunity to expand upon their responses,” she says of this year’s doubled answer field.
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Georgetown McDonough’s Shari Hubert Points to Subtle Changes in New Application
Refreshed following a two-day staff retreat, the head of admissions at Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business took time this morning to share with Clear Admit her advice to prospective candidates on how to approach the school’s application for the Class of 2018.
Though its essay question remains unchanged from last year, there are subtle shifts elsewhere in the application, says Shari Hubert, who has served as Georgetown McDonough’s associate dean of MBA admissions since 2013. Among other things, applicants will have greater opportunity to highlight experiences living and working abroad. Read on to learn more about these subtle shifts, as well as Hubert’s advice on how to make taking a risk in response to the essay pay off.
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NYU Stern Head of Admissions Offers Advice on Essays Posted Today
Just after New York University (NYU) Stern School of Business posted its essay questions for the 2015-16 admissions cycle this morning, Assistant Dean of MBA Admissions Isser Gallogly got on the phone with Clear Admit to share some advice on what the school is looking for in prospective applicants’ responses.
Stern didn’t change much this year in terms of its essay prompts. The first, identical to last year, invites applicants to outline their professional aspirations, including why they are pursuing an MBA now, what they have done to determine that Stern is the best fit for them and what they see themselves doing professionally when they graduate.
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McCombs Director of MBA Admissions Weighs in on Essays, Application Changes
The McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas at Austin earlier this week posted its essay questions for the application season. Though the prompts remain largely the same as last year, McCombs Director of MBA Admissions Rodrigo Malta had several interesting tidbits of news to share yesterday in an interview with Clear Admit.
“We really, really, really love our first essay question,” Malta says of the prompt that invites applicants to introduce themselves to members of their future McCombs cohort. “We have had it for three years now, so we had it way before Harvard did,” he adds with a satisfied chuckle.
When the question debuted at McCombs the year before last, applicants were asked to reply in essay form. Last year, McCombs offered greater flexibility, inviting applicants to choose between writing an essay, sharing a video introduction or sharing an about.me profile.
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Columbia Business School Admissions Director Provides Insight into 2015-16 Essays
Columbia Business School (CBS) kicked off the application cycle for the Class of 2018, sending its application live in late April, before any other leading business school. Though this year’s essay questions aren’t hugely different from last year’s, the school’s admissions director took time to share her perspective on the subtle changes with Clear Admit and offer some guidance to applicants who may be preparing to embark upon the application process.
Speaking to Clear Admit yesterday, Admissions Director Amanda Carlson turned first to the school’s first essay prompt—the “career goals/why a Columbia MBA now” question.
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Ross Admissions Director Provides Insight into New Essay Questions
The admissions director at the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business weighed in on the school's new application essay questions—announced this week—in an exchange of emails with Clear Admit. Read on to learn what she had to say.
On Wednesday, Ross Admissions Director Soojin Kwon posted the school’s new essay questions for the 2015-16 application season on her Admissions Director Blog. This year, she and her team chose to combine last year’s two essay questions ("What are you most proud of personally?" and "What are you most proud of professionally?") into one, more open-ended question and ask a second question about applicants’ career goals.
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MIT Sloan Admissions Director Provides Insight into New Essay Question, Third Round
In an interview today with Clear Admit, the admissions director at the MIT Sloan School of Management shared the reasoning behind the school’s decision to add an additional round to its admissions process and reduce the number of required essays applicants must answer to just one.
For the first time in its history, MIT Sloan will give applicants the opportunity to apply as part of a third admissions round, which will feature a deadline of April 11th and a notification date of May 18th. The change comes in response to requests from multiple applicants, according to MIT Sloan Admissions Director Dawna Levenson. “Many of our peer schools, if not all of them, have a Round 3,” says Levenson. By adding a third round, she says, MIT Sloan provides greater options to prospective applicants whose work situation may have changed after earlier round deadlines passed, for example.
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Published: December 11, 2014
Kellogg Admissions Director Shares How School Assesses Candidates’ Interpersonal Skills
The director of admissions at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management has devoted a series of recent blog posts to demystifying the admissions process at the school. Her most recent post shares what she and her team are looking for as they assess candidates’ interpersonal skills.
How well a candidate fits with the school’s MBA program is a significant consideration for the Kellogg admissions team, as it is at many top programs. “Our community values collaboration, involvement and giving back, and we look for that in our applicants as well,” wrote Admissions Director Beth Tidmarsh in a blog post earlier this week. Candidates who thrive in team-based environments will fit in well at the school, she continued.
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Published: November 23, 2014
Admissions Tip: Avoiding Common Pitfalls, Part II
Last week we offered some advice to help applicants avoid common pitfalls in writing their essays for the Round 2 deadlines. This week we’d like to offer some more advice. Although these tips might not apply to everyone or to every school, these are some good basic strategies to employ. For personalized advice about your applications, contact Clear Admit directly.
1) Think strategically when delving into anecdotes that are highly personal
While breaking up with your college sweetheart may have had some impact on who you are today, you’ll want to be careful about using personal matters as the basis for an essay. While there are certainly exceptions, we find that examples from the professional sphere or from extracurricular activities typically make for stronger, and more compelling, essays, as they speak to the things that the admissions committee cares the most about, including qualities and skills that relate to professional success.
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Published: November 16, 2014
Admissions Tip: Avoiding Common Pitfalls, Part I
Today we would like to offer a handful of essay pointers in brief in order to help applicants avoid common pitfalls as they gear up for the Round Two deadlines. While we should caution that every applicant is unique and that some of these tips may not apply to everyone, we wanted our readers to have an introduction to some of the basic strategies they should be employing. As always, contact Clear Admit directly for more tailored advice to your candidacy.
1. Remember your reader
In application essays and résumés, applicants often get caught in the technicalities of their work, losing their reader in jargon. Keep it simple in order to make your discussion easy for your non-specialist audience to understand. Such clarity will help the reader to appreciate the nature and significance of your work.
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Published: November 2, 2014
Admissions Tip: The Long Essay
Essay content you’ve polished for one school often serves as a great starting point for the next application, but as we’ve often said, customizing this text for the school in question is key. One particular challenge we see applicants struggle with each year is effectively expanding a short essay they’ve written for one program in responding to a question on the same topic but with a longer limit. With this in mind, we’d like to offer some pointers on converting condensed comments to more extensive remarks.
1) Expand in proportion
When taking an existing response as a starting point for crafting a longer document, one good rule of thumb is to build upon each subject to more or less the same extent. While elaborating on your work to date might involve less time and work than the more research-intensive “why School X” discussion, it’s generally prudent to maintain balance among subjects and provide all of the major pieces of information a school requests in equal measure.
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McDonough School of Business Admissions Director Reveals New Essay Question to Clear Admit
The Fall 2015 MBA application for Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business will feature only one required essay, Clear Admit learned today as part of an interview for our Admissions Director Q&A Series.
Though the new application has not yet gone live – it will be available to applicants early next month – McDonough Associate Dean of MBA Admissions Shari Hubert shared that her team has decided to reduce the number of required essays to just one. The question will be as follows:
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New MIT Sloan School of Management Essay Question Presents Challenging Opportunity to Applicants
MIT Sloan School of Management, like many top business schools, has recently released its essay questions for the upcoming application season, leaving prospective applicants and others in the admissions community buzzing about how this year’s prompts require more or less from applicants than in years past. Sloan put a new twist on things late last week when it revealed that its newest question invites applicants to write their own letters of recommendation.
Make no mistake. These essays are not intended to take the place of actual letters of recommendation, two of which will still be required of all applicants to Sloan. Instead, the new essay prompt is designed to encourage applicants to reflect on themselves in a new and different way. Specifically, they are asked to put themselves in their most recent supervisor’s shoes and – from that manager’s perspective – offer an assessment of how they themselves interact with others, stand out from others and what they would change about themselves.
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Harvard Business School Reduces Number of Application Essays, Recommendations
Prospective applicants to Harvard Business School (HBS), take note: Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid Dee Leopold shared a lot of interesting information in her Director’s Blog today. Topline news: Applicants for fall 2014 will only answer one essay (with no word limit) and will only need to submit two letters of recommendation (down from three).
The single essay question asks simply what else the Ad Com should consider about an applicant’s candidacy in addition to the other elements submitted as part of the application (resume, school transcripts, extra-curricular activities, awards, post-MBA career goals, test scores).
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