IMD MBA Admissions Essays for January 2014 Admission

IMD (The Institute for Management Development), consistently ranked among the best MBA programs in the world, is a small intensive one-year program that starts in January.  IMD, along with Columbia January Term and INSEAD (INSEAD has both September and January start dates) are three of the best options for those who want to start in January 2014 at a top MBA program.

To learn about IMD, visit the website. You should download three PDFs from the website: “MBA Program Brochure,” “MBA Class Profiles,” and “Class and Placement Overview.” I will refer to these below. In addition, if possible, I suggest either attending an information session or visiting. Getting an alumni perspective would also be particularly helpful. Review the website completely and by all means read the MBA Diary to get IMD students’ perspectives. Japanese applicants should also look at IMD Japan Club 2012.  To learn about IMD faculty perspectives, please visit Tomorrrow’s Challenges.

I high recommend  reading my 2012 interview with Lisa Piguet and also my Q&A with a former client who is a member of the Class of 2009. I think this interview will provide you with some key insights into IMD. My  report on my visit to IMD can be found here.

IMD’s small size sets it apart from other top programs, as its brochure states: “90 Exceptional People Who Will Shape The Future of Business.” If you get into IMD, chances are quite high that you will go there.

When you think about IMD, two keywords to focus on are “international” and “leadership.” Based on my experience working with clients admitted there for Class of 2013, the Class of 2011 (See here for a testimonial), Class of 2010 (See here for my client’s testimonial),  and Class of 2009 (See here for my client’s testimonial), I can say that IMD is looking for those individuals who both already have and aspire to increased capacity in both being internation al and being leaders. Visiting the program in 2012 and through conversations with Lisa Piguet and my former clients who attended IMD has only further convinced me that international and leadership are key to INSEAD.

In any given year, I work with only a few people applying to IMD because this is most certainly a very unique program.  For the Class of 2012, I had two clients who were offered interview, but one was admitted to his first choice school and did not interview and the other, was unfortunately dinged after interview.  Getting dinged after an IMD interview, especially for candidates without solid English ability, effective presentation skills, and the perceived potential to work well in a small group is common enough. For the Class of 2013, I had two clients who who were offered interview, one was admitted.

THE ESSAYS ARE THE EASY PART OF THE IMD APPLICATION PROCESS.
There is no MBA interview that compares to the day of trial that IMD puts potential applicants through.  Reading a report of an IMD interview makes me feel exhausted.  The particular style of group and individual interviewing and observation admissions does, is truly impressive and totally necessary given their class size and reputation.   The IMD interview eliminates those who will not be able to survive in a very intense program. IMD interviews  a rather high percentage of those who apply, but again, the program is rather self-selecting so this percentage makes sense. Consider that IMD is trying to fill a class of 90 and received 441 applications.  They are working with limited numbers and based on my 2010 conversation with the admissions director, I know that they are being highly selective when it comes to making final decisions.  As I mentioned in my school visit post,  I visited on an inte rview day and saw the candidates “relaxing” at lunch, when in fact they were being observed by the students they were having lunch with.  That is how much IMD cares about fit!  Finding the right 90 who will come together is what this process about. The application serves as the basis to determine whether you should be considered for their interview, but based on what I understand the application can’t mitigate a bad interview day.

INTERNATIONAL
Like its bigger rival INSEAD, IMD is truly an international program with a very diverse student body and faculty. You can actually view all of the Class of 2009 as well as read a statistical summary of their backgrounds on PDFs found on the IMD site. Doing so will certainly help you understand that IMD students are incredibly diverse and multilingual.  I think it also important to keep in mind that being international is about being open-minded to diversity and to having mental flexibility.  Both through the essays and interview you will be assessed for capacity to be an open-minded person.

LEADERS
The IMD program is focused on making leaders, not managers. It also is not designed for those who primarily want to develop expertise in a business subfield. IMD makes the program’s focus very clear on page 2 of the PDF version of their brochure:
Top executives of leading multinational companies tell us clearly: they need leaders, not managers. Leaders with the insight and ability to address issues and problems that are more complex and changing more quickly than ever before. Leaders who are confident, creating their own solutions to these emerging issues with integrity and high ethics. Leaders who understand themselves and how they interact with others. Leaders who understand the needs of their organizations and their business environments. Leaders who can drive change through innovation. Leaders who can move their businesses forward. The single aim of the IMD MBA program is to develop these leaders.
If you are not looking for an education focused on leadership, do not apply to IMD, but if you are, IMD offers a very intensive one-year leadership education:
The program starts with a foundation in the core business courses, e.g. accounting, finance, marketing and operations. This helps you to understand all of the functional areas of the organization and how they work together. It continues with real-world projects and additional courses that allow you to apply what you have learned in the classroom to real leadership situations.

A review of the program structure makes it perfectly clear that it is not a degree for those wanting expertise in a particular business subfield (e.g. finance or marketing) because there is actually only one three-week period of study available for electives.

THE QUESTIONS
The questions have been greatly revised for 2014 admission.  The overall spirit of the questions is the same and most have actually had an increase in character count from 1230 to 1500 characters.  Only the MBA goals essay was reduced from 2000 to 1500.
You have 1500 characters including spaces for each answer, which would be approximately 300-375 words.  With 7 questions, that totals somewhere between approximately 2100 and 2500 words, making IMD longer than most US school applications, but of approximately the same length as its biggest rivals, INSEAD and LBS.


Essay 1: Important achievement
What do you consider to be your single most important achievement and why?

Some key things to keep in mind when answering this question:

-Achievements reveal your potential to succeed at IMD and afterwords.

-Achievements reveal your potential for contributing to your classmates.

-Everyone has had achievements, so make your single most important achievement really stand out.

-What you consider to be an achievement is a real test of your self-awareness and judgment.

Think about which achievement to use

The first thing you need to do is brainstorm possible achievements to use here. Your achievement may relate to your professional experience, academics, volunteer activities, hobbies, community engagement, personal matters.  The possibilities are quite endless. Whatever it is, you should explain why it is so important.

Next, think about the following issues in determining which achievement to use and how to present it. 

Think about what skill(s), value(s), or unique experience is/are being showcased

Your achievement needs to reveal valuable thing(s) about you. Some will call these selling points, but more specifically they consist of skills, values, or unique experiences. One might use a specific achievement to emphasize one’s leadership skills,  one’s ethical values, and to explain a significant barrier that was overcome. If you breakdown the meaning of an achievement it might easily reveal multiple important things about you.

Think about what potential for success in the MBA program or afterwords is being demonstrated by your achievement

You may or may not be directly stating this in the essay, but you should think about what how your achievement  reveals in terms of your potential. IMD will most certainly be considering how your achievement demonstrates your potential to succeed in their program and afterwords, so you should as well.

Think about how your achievement could become a contribution to others in the MBA program

Just as with potential, think about whether your achievement demonstrates your ability to add value to other students at IMD.  IMD is very focused on understanding your ability to function as part of a group of 90 people. This is very much at the center of the education they offer and how how they differentiate their program.

Think about why does IMD needs to know about this achievement

If your achievement has made it this far, chances are it is substantial. That said, I have three simple tests for determining whether achievement really belongs in this essay.

1. Does IMD really need to know about this achievement? After all, you might consider getting the love of your life to marry you to be one of your greatest achievement, but will Lisa and her colleagues care? If an achievement does not reveal (whether stated or implied) potential and/or contribution, chances are likely that it is not significant enough.

2. Is the story totally obvious from reviewing other parts of your application?

If the story is simply a very cause-effect based one such as “I studied hard to get a 4.0 in university ” that could ber very dull and rather obvious.  On the other hand if you overcome great challenges to get such an academic result, you could have a great story.  Obvious stories are dull.  Reveal something important about yourself that goes beyond the surface level and could not be easily assumed from reviewing other aspects of your application.

3. Is the achievement really your most important one?

It is critical that you explain clearly why it is important. Is the importance because of its significance to you or to an impact you had or to both?   Really make sure the importance is stated clearly.

Finally, as I mentioned above what you include here is a real test of your judgment, so don’t just write about an obvious achievement. Think deeply and come up with a unique achievement that will compel IMD to want to interview you.

Essay 2: Self Development
Please comment on a situation where your leadership skills proved to be inadequate and what you learned.

This is a new question for this year, replacing a more standard failure question. Beyond being about failure (it  may only be partial failure), this essay is about the development of your leadership skills.  You may not have completely failed because the question simply requires that your leadership skills were not sufficient.  You may have partially succeeded. It is even possible that others perceived you as succeeding, but you did not see it that way.
It is critical that you learned something meaningful about yourself as a leader. And your insights should be important, otherwise why tell admissions about it? Therefore the key constraint of this question is that whatever the leadership failure is, you have learned something important from it. While not stated, you may very well find that one way of showing what you learned is to discuss how you applied your lesson to a new situation.
I would, in fact, argue that the heart of any sort of “failure question,” whether it is an essay question or an interview is what you learned. Also depending on what your role was, how you reacted is also very important.
The basic components of an answer:
1. Clearly state what the situation was.
2. Clearly state your role. Especially in a leadership related question, a clear statement about your role in terms of leadership is important.
3. Clearly state how your leadership skills were insufficient.
4. Explain what you learned.
The word count is limited, but, if you can, show how you applied what you learned to a new situation because the application of abstract learning to a new situation is a key indicator of real learning.

Keep in mind that a core part of the IMD experience is becoming very aware about your strengths and weaknesses as a leader in order to enhance your skills.  Over lunch with one of my former clients earlier this year,  I heard about just how intense and personal leadership development at IMD can be.  To that extent, this question really tests your openness and self-awareness for an exploration into your personality at IMD.


Essay 3: Global leadership
IMD develops global leaders…what does global leadership mean to you?

Given what I have previously mentioned about both leadership and international in regards to IMD, this question is no surprise. IMD wants your insight into global leadership.  I suggest you provide an answer that both clearly has a global leadership concept and also focuses on how you have demonstrated global leadership or at least the potential for it.  While it is possible to write this essay without reference to your experiences, I think most applicants will find it far more effective to write about some form of global leadership that they have experience. There are a number of ways to write this essay:

You might concentrate on a single concept and one example supporting that concept, which given the word count is the easiest thing to do:

Global Leadership Means to me:	An example of that leadership:	What does your answer reveal about  you?
One Concept	A single example

You might concentrate on  one concept and multiple examples supporting that concept, but this only makes sense if each of the examples is revealing something important about you:

Global Leadership Means to me:	Examples of that leadership:	What does your answer reveal about  you?
One Concept	Example 1 Example 2	EXAMPLE 1: EXAMPLE 2:

You might concentrate on a multiple concepts each backed-up by an example, but getting this into the word count available could prove very challenging.  I think the only way this works is if the examples are actually specific aspects of one leadership story. In other words,  you do two different things in the same situation that relate to  two different global leadership concepts:

Global Leadership Means to me:	Examples of that leadership:	What does your answer reveal about  you?
Concept 1 Concept 2	Example 1 Example 2	Example 1 Example 2

I think each of the above structures can make for a good essay.
Keep in mind that simply providing a description of your actions, is not enough.  Just writing abstractly is not good either. Make sure your reader understands what your concept is by stating it clearly and connecting it to an example(s). If you use multiple concepts


Essay 4: Key Differentiators
Give us four bullet points that clearly differentiate you, that identify your unique contributions to the program.


In a Class of 90, there is no room for letting in someone who can’t function well and does not have something distinct to contribute. I like this question because it forces applicants to really think about their core selling points.  Clearly, there will be significant overlap with other essays. Think of this as more than an executive summary because really it is a your “elevator pitch” to IMD.  What are the key statements that IMD really needs to know about you that will make them want to invite you for their interview?

Some Questions to get you brainstorming:
1. What do you want IMD to know about you that would positively impact your chances for admission?
2. What major positive aspects of your life have not been effectively INTERPRETED to the admissions committee in other parts of the application?
3. If you were going to tell admissions 4 things about you that would not be obvious from rest of the application, what would they be? Why should IMD care?
4.  What could you discuss about yourself that you think would really help admissions understand you and want to admit you?
As you can see, these questions would lead to very different kinds of responses. There is no one way to answer this question, but I believe there are right ways for every applicant to do so.



Essay 5: Reflection
Give an example of the most unexpected thing that you’ve ever learned.

Instead of asking a culture shock question, IMD is making you consider something really valuable that you learned.

THE RELEVANCE TEST: A great answer here will be on something relevant to why IMD should admit you:

- A concept or value that has influenced a major decision(s) you have made in your life

-An important aspect of the way you view an issue critical to your goals

-Your commitment to something greater than your own personal interest

-Your inner intellectual life

-Your ethical values

-Some other aspect of who you are that will compel admissions to want to interview you

The structure for answering this question is likely to be something like the following:
1. Discussion of the unexpected thing (person, place, event, book, situation) that you learned.
2. Explanation of the significance of what you learned
3.  Perhaps a specific example of how your thinking was changed from learning this.

Ultimately, I think this is way for IMD to understand what makes your thinking distinct, get a sense of  your self-reflectivity (Obvious from the question’s title), and your mental flexibility.


Essay 6: Position sought after graduation
Please answer either (A) or (B), depending on your career situation.
A. For people who are planning to consider new jobs and/or organizations after the MBA: Please give us your short term career goal post-MBA. Which function, industry and geography do you see yourself working in? Are these changes for you, and, if so, why? How will you approach your job search?
B. For people who are company-sponsored, confirmed going back to their previous company, entrepreneurs planning to go back to their own firm, and/or members of a family who are planning to work for the family business after graduation: Please let us know your short-term career goals and plans after your MBA.

Whether you are answering A or B,  THIS QUESTION DOES NOT FOCUS ON YOUR LONG TERM GOALS! It is about a post-MBA plan.
In a program with 90 students, making sure that they all actually have clear post-MBA plans is highly rational (and very Swiss!).  The two different variations of the question reflect the different kinds of people who apply to and attend IMD. The B version of this question is new and is especially helpful for applicants who fit within the categories indicated.

Do not freak out about whether you should answer A or B.  It really is a fact-based issue and there is no hidden agenda here.

A. IMD has very intensive career services for its students who need it and career services gives input into applicants who will be seeking employment after their MBA. A. is for such applicants, who are the majority of applicants to IMD.  Don’t forget to answer “how you will approach your job search?” because this is an important part of your plan. IMD is looking for applicants who can take charge of their own careers and drive them, not people who expect a career services office to simply take care of them. Explain what resources you can leverage to launch your post-IMD career.

B. On the other hand, if you don’t need career services because you will be returning to a business or starting your own, just do B.
If you are having trouble formulating your post-MBA plan, you might want to go through a formal analysis of why you need an MBA.
You can use my GAP, SWOT, AND ROI TABLE FOR FORMULATING GRADUATE DEGREE GOALS for this purpose (see below). I think Gap, SWOT, and ROI analysis are great ways for understanding what your goals are, why you want a degree, and how you will use it. (Click here for the Businessweek MBA ROI calculator. Click here for a GMAC report on MBA ROI. )
(To best view the following table, click on it.)
How to use this table:
Step 1. Begin by analyzing your ”Present Situation.” What job(s) have you held? What was/is your functional role(s)? What was/are your responsibilities?
Next, analyze your present strengths and weaknesses for succeeding in your present career. REMEMBER:WHEN YOU ARE THINKING ABOUT YOUR STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESS DON’T ONLY THINK ABOUT WORK, THINK ABOUT OTHER ASPECTS OF YOUR LIFE. In particular, some of your greatest strengths may have been demonstrated outside of work, so make sure you are accounting for them.
Strengths: What are you good at? Where do you add value? What are you praised for? What are you proud of?
Weakness:What are you bad at? What are you criticized for? What do you try to avoid due to your own limitations? What do you fear?
Next, analyze the environment you work in right now. What opportunities exist for your growth and success? What threats could limit your career growth?
Step 2. Now, do the same thing in Step 1 for your ”Post-Degree” future after you have earned your MBA. IF YOU CANNOT COMPLETE STEP 2, YOU HAVE NOT SUFFICIENTLY PLANNED FOR YOUR FUTURE and therefore you need to do more research and need to think more about it.
Step 3. If you could complete step 2, than you should see the ”Gap” between your present and your future. What skills, knowledge, and other resources do you need to close the gap between your present and future responsibilities, strengths, and opportunities?
Step 4. After completing Step 3, you need to determine how an MBA will add value to you. It is possible that an increased salary as a result of job change will be sufficient ”ROI” for the degree to justify itself, but you should show how a degree will allow you to reach your career goals. How will the degree enhance your skills and opportunities and help you overcome your weaknesses and external threats? If you can complete Step 4 than you should be ready to explain what your goals are, why you want a degree, and the relationship between your past and future career, as well as your strengths and weaknesses.
The above table will also help you answer such common interview questions as: Where do you want to work after you finish your degree? Why do you want an MBA (or other degree)? What are you strengths? What are your weaknesses? What are your goals? Thinking about these issues now will help you to develop a fully worked-out strategy for how you will best present yourself both in the application and in an interview.
After going through this formal process, review what you know about IMD again. In your answer to the question, please focus on showing how IMD will help make your post-MBA future objectives a reality.  BOTTOM LINE: Conceptualize this as a business plan with IMD as a partner who will help enable that plan.


Essay 7: Additional Information
Is there any additional information that is critical for the Admissions Committee to know which has not been covered elsewhere in this application? (Optional essay).

While I suppose it is possible to answer this question with “No,” in most cases I would not recommend doing so.  I always tell my clients to write at least one positive thing in this essay even if they must deal with a negative subject as well.
For some applicants who have to discuss something negative such as a low GPA, the topic for this essay will be clear enough. Just make sure your answer is a clear and believable explanation and not an excuse.
In terns of writing something positive, think about one or two topics that you believe would help admissions to understand you and support your admission. Be careful that you do not pick a trivial topic or one that really has been handled in another essay.

Finally, best of luck with your IMD application.

-Adam Markus

I am a graduate admissions consultant who works with clients worldwide. If you would like to arrange an initial consultation, please complete my intake form. Please don't email me any essays, other admissions consultant's intake forms, your life story, or any long email asking for a written profile assessment. The only profiles I assess are those with people who I offer initial consultations to. Please note that initial consultations are not offered when I have reached full capacity or when I determine that I am not a good fit with an applicant.

UCLA Anderson MBA Essays for Fall 2013 Admission

In what follows, I will analyze the UCLA Anderson School of Management’s MBA Essays for Fall 2013 Admission. If you want to enter the Class of 2015, you will encounter a really easy set of essays to answer.

THIS A VERY EASY ESSAY SET, IF YOU ARE AT ALL INTERESTED IN UCLA, APPLY!
Assuming you are working on other schools, this one should not take particularly long. Especially if you are applying to HBS, Booth, Kellogg, Columbia, or Stanford, this one should be particularly easy to do. In the previous two years, UCLA had a video/audio presentation as part of the application, but they have now dropped it. So much for innovative approaches to the MBA admissions process!

You can find testimonials from my some of clients admitted to UCLA Anderson here.

I have taken the questions and instructions from UCLA’s website: 

What is your proudest achievement outside the workplace, and how has it impacted you? (700 words maximum)
Please see my analysis of INSEAD 2, HBS 1, Booth Essay 3, Kellogg Essays 1 and 2, Columbia Essay 2, Stanford 3, and possibly Stanford 1 (You can find the links in my Key Posts).  Depending on the topic you write about it, it is indeed possible that you will already be using it with the aforementioned schools.  I make this point because I have already seen in the first round how it is possible to repurpose content between UCLA and these other school’s essays. Even if you UCLA is the first set of essays you are working on, if you are applying more widely it does help to consider how you will repurpose your UCLA content subsequently.  I don’t believe in reinventing the wheel. If you have a great topic that can be made to work effectively for multiple schools, use it.  Don’t shoehorn a round peg into a square hole, but honestly with this year’s essay sets, there are lots of round pegs and round hole s.

Some key things to keep in mind when answering this question:

-Achievements reveal your potential to succeed at UCLA and afterwords.

-Achievements reveal your potential for contributing to your classmates.

-Everyone has had achievements, so make your achievement really stand out.

-What you consider to be an achievement is a real test of your self-awareness and judgment.

Think about which achievement to use

The first thing you need to do is brainstorm possible achievements to use here. These will eventually take the form of stories, so that is what I call them. A few things to keep in mind:

• Your achievement should not professional. It may implications for you professionally, but the core study should be professional.
• Your achievement may involve academics, volunteer activities, hobbies, community engagement, personal matters.  The possibilities are quite endless, just as long as the achievement is not work related.

Next, think about the following issues in determining which achievement to use and how to present it. 

Think about what skill(s), value(s), or unique experience is/are being showcased

Your achievement needs to reveal valuable thing(s) about you. Some will call these selling points, but more specifically they consist of skills, values, or unique experiences. One might use a specific achievement to emphasize one’s leadership skills,  one’s ethical values, and to explain a significant barrier that was overcome. If you breakdown the meaning of an achievement it might easily reveal multiple  important things about you.

Think about what potential for success in the MBA program or afterwords is being demonstrated by your achievement

You may or may not be directly stating this in the essay, but you should think about what each achievement  reveals in terms of your potential. UCLA Adcom will most certainly be considering how your achievement demonstrates your potential to succeed at Anderson and afterwords, so you should as well. One key way of thinking about the MBA application process is to see it as a test of potential. Potential itself can mean different things at different schools and so you must keep in mind differences between schools and in particular must pay close attention to what a schools say really matters when they assess applicants.  Please keep in mind that a core part of your own application strategy should be determining which parts of you to emphasize both overall and for a particular school. The first thing you should notice about this set of questions is that it begins with a question that emphasizes personality.  It is worth considering what UCLA says about its admission criteria: The Admissions Committee evaluates applicants’ prospects as leaders in management and their projected ability succeed in, benefit from and contribute to the UCLA Anderson MBA Program. Committee members carefully consider personal and academic background information, GMAT scores, TOEFL scores (for most international applicants), achievements, awards and honors, employment history, letters of recommendation, and college and community involvement, especially where candidates have served in leadership capacities. The Admissions Committee seeks to create a community of students who bring unique contributions from their diverse backgrounds and experiences and who will collectively enrich the educational experience.

Think about how your achievement could become a contribution to others in the MBA program

Just as with potential, think about whether your achievement demonstrates your ability to add value to other students at Anderson. UCLA is very focused on understanding your ability to make a contribution to their community. This very much at the center of the education they offer and how how they differentiate their program:

Student life at Anderson is exceptional, highlighted by:

• Challenges: Whether its tackling the intricacies of corporate strategy, leading a student initiative, or climbing a nearby mountain, students will be tested by both the academic rigors of UCLA Anderson and development activities outside of class.

• Values: The values of UCLA Anderson set it apart from other schools. By working with professors and administrators, students forge a community that values learning, teamwork and research-based practical knowledge
• Collegiality: The hallmarks of student life at Anderson are compassion, mutual respect and support, which students demonstrate toward one another. The UCLA Anderson community is built on the collective strengths of our diverse student body.
• Access: The network of personal relationships and industry contacts that students develop while attending UCLA Anderson and after they graduate is arguably as important as the academic degree they earn. Countless opportunities exist for students to connect with individuals, business and community outside the classroom, and for alumni to stay in touch with the school, faculty, fellow alumni and current students.

I mention all of the above because I think it is quite helpful in understanding what UCLA is looking for:  Highly collaborative, community-oriented high EQ individuals, who are great at networking, and are willing to push themselves to seek new challenges. Your achievement may or may not necessarily relate to those characteristics, but if your essay topic neither shows your potential or your ability to contribute, it is not likely to make for an effective topic.

Think about why does UCLA Adcom needs to know about this achievement

If your achievement has made it this far, chances are it is substantial. That said, I have two simple tests for determining whether achievement really belongs in this essay.

1. Does UCLA really need to know about this achievement? After all, you might consider getting the love of your life to marry you to be one of your greatest non-professional achievement, but will Adcom care? If an achievement does not reveal (whether stated or implied) potential and/or contribution, chances are likely that it is not significant enough.

2. Is the story totally obvious from reviewing your resume or application form?

If the story is simply a very cause-effect based one such as “I studied hard to get a 4.0 in university ” that could ber very dull and rather obvious.  On the other hand if you overcome great challenges to get such an academic result, you could have a great story.  Obvious stories are dull.  Reveal something important about yourself that goes beyond the surface level.

Finally, as I mentioned above what you include here is a real test of your judgment, so don’t just write about an obvious achievement. Think deeply and come up with a unique achievement that will compel Anderson to want to interview you.

What are your short-term and long-term career goals, and how will an MBA from UCLA Anderson specifically help you achieve these goals? (700 words maximum)
Rather than repeat much of what I have previously written about other versions of this question, I would suggest that you look at my analysis of Columbia 1 as it can be applied here.
A great Essay 2 will clearly answer the “Why now” aspect of the question without focusing too much on past experience. One core focus of this essay should be on how being a part of Anderson’s Class of 2014, will contribute to your intended professional future. Make sure that your motivations for pursuing that future are clearly stated in this essay and perhaps explained further elsewhere in your essay set.
UCLA puts great emphasis on applicants demonstrating that they have become informed about The Anderson School, so I strongly suggest that you visit if you can, but at least attend one of their admissions events. Getting in contact with UCLA alumni would also be helpful. At a minimum, learn as much as you can from their web page. You really need to convince adcom that you know what you need from UCLA for your future goals. If you have the word count do so, you may also want to address what you can contribute. The Anderson School is also very focused on entrepreneurship. If you are at all interested in entrepreneurship, pay special attention to  the Harold and Pauline Price Center for Entrepreneurial Studies web page.
Japanese applicants should most certainly take a look at The Japan America Business Association (JABA) page. In addition, please see LA State of Mind ～UCLA MBA留学記 2009-2011～. You can find my Q&As with UCLA students on my Key Posts page.

THE OPTIONAL QUESTION
1. Are there any extenuating circumstances in your profile about which the Admissions Committee should be aware? (250 words)
This is a nice open-ended version of the standard “anything negative” optional essay. If everything is good, you don’t need to write this one. If it is not, I suggest doing so. As with other school’s optional questions, do not put an obvious essay for another school here, but you can certainly write on something positive here if you think its omission will be negative for you, but before you do, ask yourself these questions:
1. If they did not ask it, do they really need to know it?
2. Will the topic I want to discuss significantly improve my overall essay set?
3. Is the topic one that would not be covered from looking at other parts of my application?
4. Is the essay likely to be read as being a specific answer for UCLA and not an obvious essay for another school?
If you can answer “Yes!” to all four questions, it might be a good topic to write about.

RE-APPLICANTS - ONE REQUIRED ESSAY:
Reapplicants who applied for the class entering in fall 2011 or 2012 are required to complete the following essay:

• Please describe your career progress since you last applied and ways in which you have enhanced your candidacy. Include updates on short-term and long-term career goals, as well as your continued interest in UCLA Anderson. (700 words maximum)

If you are a reapplicant to UCLA,  I hope that you have taken the time to learn more about it and can really explain why you fit there.  In my analysis of Essays 1 and 2 above, please review the Anderson-specific comments I made.  The whole point of reapplication is to give Anderson another chance to love you. Reapplicants should see my reapplication guide. Use this space to specifically explain what has improved about you since you last applied. You can certainly mention improved test scores, but I would not use very much of your word count for that. Typical topics include: development of a new skill, promotions that demonstrate your potential for future success, involvement in an extracurricular activity, learning significantly more about Haas, and why your goals now are better than the ones you presented last time. They want to see career growth or at least pers onal growth. Help them want to give you a chance.

-Adam Markus

I am a graduate admissions consultant who works with clients worldwide. If you would like to arrange an initial consultation, please complete my intake form. Please don't email me any essays, other admissions consultant's intake forms, your life story, or any long email asking for a written profile assessment. The only profiles I assess are those with people who I offer initial consultations to. Please note that initial consultations are not offered when I have reached full capacity or when I determine that I am not a good fit with an applicant.

INSEAD MBA INTERVIEW PREPARATION

My analysis of the INSEAD application essays can be found here. My overall strategy for interviewing can be found here.

INSEAD alumni interviews, of which most applicants will have two of, are not necessarily that hard in any obvious way.  The INSEAD website states that the majority of applicants will have two such interviews.  These interviews are about fit as determined by  alumni “gatekeepers.” My analysis of INSEAD interviews based on my own personal knowledge as well as reviewing the reports of INSEAD interviews found at accepted.com and clearadmit.com.

Based on what I can see, aside from issues of availability, there is no specific pattern for who interviews you. Like most schools that use alumni interviewers, it is not necessarily the case that the schol has put any significant time into selecting who will interview you.  Also, don’t be surprised if INSEAD has to change one or both of the interviewers that they initially assign to you because of the potential interviewer’s availability. I get the impression that is frequent.  It can result in having slightly longer to prep for the interview, which is not a bad thing.

During a Q&A I conducted with INSEAD’s Deborah Riger, she discussed the whole issue of the two interviewers:

ADAM: Sometimes when I read or hear about INSEAD interviews, it almost seems like one interviewer is being intentionally aggressive and the other much less so. Sometimes I think this is probably just a kind of post-facto perception, but is there some real distinction between the two interviewers?

DEBORAH: The interviewers are given the same instructions. We don't tell one to be more aggressive than the other. However, when possible, we do try to have applicants interview with one older alum and one more junior alum. We expect the more senior alum to have a stronger perspective on the overall leadership potential of the applicant and the future contributions one might make as part of the alumni community. We would expect a junior alum to assess the applicant from the perspective of a peer. i.e. Will this applicant be happy in the INSEAD programme?”

You may not necessarily find that more senior of the two interviewers is the more difficult one.  It is also possible that you might have two interviewers who are not necessarily that different in terms of their age.  Depending on where you are located, INSEAD may or may not have many local alumni to choose from.  You should treat each of these interviews as separate experiences and if the first one does not go as well as you expected, don’t give up.  What matters is what both interviewers say about you.

You can provide your interviewers with either a resume or the application form information (non-essay pages) of the application.  Some applicants just provide the entire application.  I have not really detected any difference in outcomes between sending the application and sending a resume.

My colleague, H. Steven Green, has put the following organized list of INSEAD questions together by reviewing interview reports:

BACKGROUND (Expect answers to be probed for details.)

• Walk me through your resume. (Assumes applicant provided the interviewers with a resume, which is not required).
• What is rewarding about your current role?
• Tell me about yourself. / How did you get to where you are now?
• Tell me about your career progression to-date.
• How does one become CEO in your firm?
• Why did you choose your current firm / current position?
• Tell me about your current work responsibilities.
• Tell me, in detail, about one project in your current job.
• Tell me about your international experience(s) – both work and personal.
• Tell me about the major milestones in you life since university graduation.
• What do you do in your free time?

GOALS

• What are your goals?
• What are your career goals after INSEAD
• What will you do if you do not get the job you want after graduation?
• Why an MBA?
• Why now?
• Why INSEAD?
• Where else did you apply? How would you prioritize your decision if admitted to two or more?
• Why (THE SPECIFIC AREA OF STUDY YOU WISH TO PURSUE)?

STRENGTHS & WEAKNESSES

• What is special about you that will make me recommend you?
• Tell me 3 strengths
• Tell me 3 weaknesses
• What is the biggest challenge you have faced?
• When you are in a gathering, what attracts your attention first?
• What makes you angry?
• What are you most passionate about?
• What do you find intolerable?
• Where are your peers that started in the same class with you at your consulting firm?

COMMUNICATION

• What is your style of negotiation?
• How do you deal with a boss who is not as smart as you?
• How do you deal with a person who's determined not to listen to you even though he/ she knows you are right?

LEADERSHIP

• Tell me about a time when you were in control of a project.
• Tell me about a time when you were in a leadership position?
• What is your leadership style?

TEAMWORK

• What THREE things would you if a team member at INSEAD were not pulling his own weight?
• Tell me about your teamwork experience.
• Tell me about a time when you worked on a team.
• Tell me about time when you had to deal with conflict on a team.
• How do you handle cultural differences on an international team?

BRAINPOWER

• Tell me your opinion about (CURRENT EVENT) (FOLLOW UP)
• Tell me about (SOME ISSUE IN YOUR INDUSTRY)
• How has the economic crisis affected your company/your industry?
• What do you think of (SOME CURRENT GLOBAL ISSUE: POLITICS, ECONOMICS, etc.)
• What is the main challenge your industry/company is facing?

Steve and I have been working together since 2001. Approximately half of my 19 clients admitted to INSEAD since 2008 have done mock interview preparation with him.  Many of my clients to other schools like IMD, Stanford, HBS, and LBS have also done preparation with him. You can learn about his interview preparation services here.

You need to be able to explain in-depth why you should be admitted to INSEAD, what you can contribute, and what you want to learn. Be willing to openly discuss what soft and hard skills you need to improve/acquire. Show yourself to be open, dynamic, change oriented, and a highly motivated person because the alum will be.

Since there will be  time for you to ask questions to the alumnus, you need to give some significant thought to formulating those. Consider what year the alumnus graduated and any other background information if you can determine that through Linkedin or other sources of information. Develop  at least four or more questions to ask.

Whoever you interview with, they are likely to be quite friendly and the style of the interview is conversational.  Just because your interviewer is friendly, it does not mean that you are doing well. Don’t assume a friendly interviewer is not actually a super critical one.  Take nothing for granted. Also keep in mind that the admissions process at INSEAD is holistic and a great interview is no absolute guarantee of success.

Reported interview length for interviews is from 45 minutes to 1.5 hours.  It is a good idea to make sure that your own schedule is free for about 2 hours in the event that your interviewer wants to keep on talking.  The setting for these interviews is typically the interviewer’s office or a cafe.

-Adam Markus

I am a graduate admissions consultant who works with clients worldwide. If you would like to arrange an initial consultation, please complete my intake form. Please don't email me any essays, other admissions consultant's intake forms, your life story, or any long email asking for a written profile assessment. The only profiles I assess are those with people who I offer initial consultations to. Please note that initial consultations are not offered when I have reached full capacity or when I determine that I am not a good fit with an applicant.

Wharton Group Interview Questions Now Made Public

For my most recent post on Wharton interviews, please see Preparing for Wharton Interviews for the Class of 2015.

As far as I know the only site to put the questions up is http://admissionado.com/mba/resources/tackling-the-new-wharton-interview/.  I have already seen the questions, but as is my longstanding policy, I never release such information publically in the event that it could in any way be traced back to my clients. Call me Mr. Paranoid.   Now that the cat is out of the bag, here are the questions:

The Wharton School is committed to supporting our stakeholders as they acquire and refine the knowledge and skills they need to be successful professionally. As potential Wharton students, what is one key business skill that you think post-business school professionals must have in order to be successful, long-term, in their career?

The Wharton School’s mission is to enhance economic and social good around the world by turning knowledge into action and impact. What is the most importantsocietal challenge that could be addressed more effectively by the business community today?

I have never heard of that particular admissions consulting site before, but all I did was a search on the questions.  I think GMAT Club does not even have them up yet.

My previous posts on Wharton interviews for 2013 admission can be found here and here.  I hope to consolidate all of this into one post soon, but I will wait until after 1st Round to do so.

-Adam Markus

I am a graduate admissions consultant who works with clients worldwide. If you would like to arrange an initial consultation, please complete my intake form. Please don't email me any essays, other admissions consultant's intake forms, your life story, or any long email asking for a written profile assessment. The only profiles I assess are those with people who I offer initial consultations to. Please note that initial consultations are not offered when I have reached full capacity or when I determine that I am not a good fit with an applicant.

To my clients, former clients, and readers effected by Hurricane Sandy

My best wishes to all of those who were effected by Hurricane Sandy. Having been in NYC for 9/11 and in Tokyo last year for the earthquake, I know times like this can be tough.   I hope the best for everyone. Take care.

If you are interested in supporting relief efforts, see the list here.  I personally gave to Team Rubicon, which focuses on immediate response to those most directly effected.

Cheers,
Adam

-Adam Markus

I am a graduate admissions consultant who works with clients worldwide. If you would like to arrange an initial consultation, please complete my intake form. Please don't email me any essays, other admissions consultant's intake forms, your life story, or any long email asking for a written profile assessment. The only profiles I assess are those with people who I offer initial consultations to. Please note that initial consultations are not offered when I have reached full capacity or when I determine that I am not a good fit with an applicant.

Haas MBA Class of 2015 Admissions Essays: The Song Remains the Same

Haas always asks weird questions. Years ago, they asked who the applicant would invite to dinner and why. Last year, it was “What brings you the greatest joy? How does this make you distinctive? “ Each year brings some new weirdness. Hence their song remains the same.



I had a dream. Crazy dream.
Anything I wanted to know, any place I needed to go
Hear my song. People won’t you listen now? Sing along.
You don’t know what you’re missing now.
Any little song that you know
Everything that’s small has to grow.
And it has to grow!
California sunlight, sweet Calcutta rain
Honolulu Starbright – the song remains the same.
Sing out Hare Hare, dance the Hoochie Koo.
City lights are oh so bright, as we go sliding… sliding… sliding through.
-Led Zeppelin, The Song Remains the Same

Well, since Berkeley Haas has decided to ask applicants about their favorite song, so this blog post will be infused with music.   Set back, relax, I will keep it musical and hopefully valuable.  I have  taken the questions from the Haas website.


BILD: Are you Berkeley enough?
Before discussing BILD (Learn more about Berkeley-Haas’ Defining Principles), I could not ask for a better start to our musical journey than DJDAVE and LeaCharles’ Berkeley Enough (Fog and Smog), which will give those not familiar with town of Berkeley some possible insight.



I have visited Berkeley since I was a child and lived there at various times in the 1990s, so the following remarks reflect that.  If you do not know, Berkeley, also known as the Peoples Republic of Berkeley, is one of my America’s most liberal, alternative, progressive, freaky, eccentric, left-wing, drug infested,  intellectual, health food conscious, and gourmet cities. It is thus a place with very different sides to it. North Berkeley towards the hills is very affluent, while southern Berkeley merges into Oakland, a city with a long and troubled history of poverty and violence. If you are looking to go to school in one of America’s safest cities, Berkeley is not it. Students are regularly victims of crime. This could be true of any urban campus in America, so understand that Berkeley is a highly urban environment and not just a relaxed college town filled with happy old hippies drinking gourmet coffee and smoking medical marijuana, Bay Area entrepreneurs working on the next big thing, and hardworking students.

My Interactions with the Haas Community: You can read testimonials and  results from clients admitted to Haas here. I experienced the energy of Haas students when I attended the end of the Japan Trek (I was a sponsor) parties  in April 2009 and  March 2012. I saw great diversity and real sense of enthusiasm amongst the participants.  You can find my Q&As with Haas students,  MBA 2010 and MBA/MPH 2009. I also visited Haas in the summer of 2011 when no students were there. It was a really useless visit as part of a conference I attended. Visiting schools when they are not in session is not particularly effective unless you have great face time with the admissions staff. I had face time, but that wasn’t so usefu l either. My student sources are much more useful to me.

BILD
At Berkeley-Haas, our distinctive culture is defined by four key principles — Question the status quo; Confidence without attitude; Students always; and Beyond yourself. We seek candidates from a broad range of cultures, backgrounds, and industries who demonstrate a strong cultural fit with our program and defining principles.
I think it is worth considering these four values when thinking about your fit for Berkeley.
Question the status quo: Haas values change agents and non-conformists. This fits both within the larger prevailing worldview of UC Berkeley, the Bay Area, and the Silicon Valley. This value also directly relates to Essay 3 below.
Confidence without attitude: Haas values humility. It is important that you don't come across as an arrogant person or egotistical leader type person in your essays. That might fly for HBS, but not Haas. Stanford Professor Bob Sutton’s No Asshole Rule surely applies at Haas. It should be reflected in the way you present yourself in your entire essay set.
Students always: Haas like UC Berkeley itself is place that values both a sense of curiosity and a passion for learning. Your intellectual capability matters at Berkeley. This directly relates to Essay 4 below.
Beyond yourself: Haas values people who are engaged with the world and want to make a difference. Those who have demonstrated a commitment to some issue or activity beyond their own personal concerns will be looked upon favorably. This should be reflected in your goals (Essay 5),  a personal perspective you have,  and/or your  extracurricular activities.


Essay 1: If you could choose one song that expresses who you are, what is it and why? (250 word maximum)
“Pick a song that is meaningful to you — it doesn't have to be popular, in English, or even have lyrics.”

Anytime you are given a question where you are asked to give something symbolic meaning, the first thing to do is think about what you want to express through the song. For example, if your objective was demonstrate your commitment to peace and social justice, you might pick Bob Dylan's Blowin’ In The Wind:

How many roads most a man walk down
Before you call him a man ?
How many seas must a white dove sail
Before she sleeps in the sand ?
Yes, how many times must the cannon balls fly
Before they’re forever banned ?
The answer my friend is blowin’ in the wind
The answer is blowin’ in the wind.
Yes, how many years can a mountain exist
Before it’s washed to the sea ?
Yes, how many years can some people exist
Before they’re allowed to be free ?
Yes, how many times can a man turn his head
Pretending he just doesn’t see ?
The answer my friend is blowin’ in the wind
The answer is blowin’ in the wind.
Yes, how many times must a man look up
Before he can see the sky ?
Yes, how many ears must one man have
Before he can hear people cry ?
Yes, how many deaths will it take till he knows
That too many people have died ?
The answer my friend is blowin’ in the wind
The answer is blowin’ in the wind.



In this case, you might explain when Dylan's first caught your attention. What it means to you and how it relates to actions you have taken in your own life.  This is just one possible way of answering this question.
Your musical selection does not need to have lyrics and does not need to have lyrics in English. Even if the song has lyrics, my suggestion would be only briefly explain the meaning of those lyrics because  you should really using most of your word count to explain what the song means to you.
I think the advantage of a song without lyrics, say a jazz instrumental or a classical composition (Western, Indian, Chinese, Japanese, whatever), is that it allows for easily focusing on what the song means to you. For example, I might use a song by India’s master violinist L. Subramaniam to discuss how the way the music effects me to express who I am. I might discuss 2-3 qualities about myself that are reflected in his music.



Clearly with compositional works, you have great freedom to attach any meaning you want it to it.

For songs with lyrics that are not English, there is no real difference between them and songs that are. You need to provide a brief explanation of what the song means.

I see two very different, but equally viable ways to actually think about this question within the greater context of the overall essay set:
For those who want to use Essay 1 to be the core operating logic for their entire essay set I would picking song whose theme relates to a dominant idea that connects to your professional goals and past actions. This is not easy to do, but if you were, for example, also applying to Stanford, it  might very well be that the answer to what matters most you in Essay 1, could become the theme for this essay.  This requires some real planning and having the time to really make the connections between at least Essay 1 and Essay 5.
For those who simply want to answer this totally twisted question and get on with the rest of their essay set,  I would suggest that unless something occurs to you immediately, work through the rest of the essay set and then figure out what value(s) or quality(ities) about yourself that you have been unable to communicate elsewhere in the essay set.  Assuming you have a list of few such qualities, I would then start to think about music and come up with some options.
Again, I think both ways are equally viable.  The point is to give Haas admissions insight into what kind of person you are. Whatever kind of person that is, I suggest it be someone who fits at Haas.  On that basis, I can’t recommend picking any music from GWAR:



But hey, maybe someone can make that work.  If you get into Haas using a song by GWAR, let me know. Drinks are on me.


Essay 2: What is your most significant accomplishment? (250 word maximum)




With all your power
What would you do?
-Flaming Lips, Yeah Yeah Yeah Song

This is actually a totally standard issue essay topic.   What have you done (with your power) so far?  Where have you had the biggest impact and/or what accomplishment is most meaningful to you?

Some key things to keep in mind when answering this question:

-An Accomplishment can reveal your potential to succeed at Haas and afterwords.

-An Accomplishment can reveal your potential for contributing to your classmates.

-Everyone has had accomplishments, so the more unique the accomplishment, the harder it will be for you to compared to others.

-What you consider to be your greatest accomplishment is a real test of your self-awareness and judgment.

Brainstorm possible answers

The first thing you need to do is think of the accomplishments. These will eventually take the form of stories, so that is what I call them.  Your accomplishments maybe personal, professional, or academic. While it is very important that your accomplishments be distinct so as to reveal different things about you, there is no single formula for what their content must be.

Here are my criteria for thinking about whether an accomplishment is a good topic for this essay:

Ask yourself  what skill, value, or unique experience is being showcased by your accomplishment: Your accomplishment needs to reveal valuable things about you. Some will call these selling points, but more specifically they consist of skills, values, or unique experiences. One might use a specific accomplishment to emphasize one’s leadership skills, another to show one’s ethical values, and another to explain a significant barrier that was overcome. The point is that each accomplishment must at its core reveal something key to understanding who you are. Pick the one not covered by other essays and  that you think will have the most impact.

Ask yourself what potential for success in the MBA program or afterwords is being demonstrated: You may or may not be directly stating this in the essay, but you should think about what the accomplishment reveals in terms of your potential. Haas Adcom will most certainly be considering how your accomplishment demonstrates your potential to succeed in the MBA program  and afterwords, so you should as well. One key way of thinking about the MBA application process is to see it as a test of potential. Potential itself can mean different things at different schools and so you must keep in mind differences between schools and in particular must pay close attention to what schools say really matters when they assess applicants.  Please keep in mind that a core part of your own application strategy should be determining which parts of you to emphasize both overall and for a particular school. In the case of Haas, consider BILD  above as well as Haas&#8217 ;s general admissions criteria.

Just as with potential, think about whether your accomplishment demonstrates your ability to add value to other students at Haas: It is not likely or necessary that you will be explaining how your accomplishment will be contribution, but rather this is a strategic consideration. Think about whether your accomplishment demonstrates how you will likely add value to other students Haas experience. Not all accomplishments will have this quality, but many will.

If your accomplishment meets at least the first two of the above criteria, you likely have a good topic. That said, I have two simple tests for determining whether an accomplishment really belongs in this essay. The first is whether Haas really needs to know about this accomplishment. After all, you might consider getting the love of your life to marry you to be one of your most substantial accomplishments, but will Adcom care?  The second and final simple test I have for determining whether an accomplishment really belongs in this essay is based on the idea that something that is totally obvious about you to anyone looking at your resume and transcript is probably not worth mentioning. If you were a CPA, having an accomplishment that merely demonstrated you passed the CPA exam would be rather dull. Instead it would be important to show something more specific that reveals something that is not obvious by a mere examination of the basic facts of your a pplication.

Finally, as I mentioned above what you include here is a real test of your judgment, so think deeply and come up a unique accomplishment that reveals something something about you that will compel admissions to want to interview you.

ESSAY 3: Describe a time when you questioned an established practice or thought within an organization. How did your actions create positive change? (250 word maximum)

To make change, you can’t let anything stop you. I have to say that I love this question. Berkeley  is a place for those who are not traditional and are flexible in their thinking. If you are a maverick, a risk-taker, or simply unconventional in your approach to adding value, this essay option is for you. Show how you alter the very rules of something that you have been a part of and had a positive impact as a result. Leadership is often tested most profoundly in situations where one has to go against "common sense," organizational tradition, and/or the interests of others. In one way or another show how you possess the courage to act in the face of opposition.
As I mentioned above, this essay question directly relates to BILD in terms of questioning the status quo.  Given the limited word count here, I would suggest the following kind of structure:
1. Identify the specific situation and exact nature of the established practice or thought you questioned. Keep in mind that while you questioned something within in an organization, it might very well be the case that what you questioned impacted a third party. For example you might question a best consulting practice of your consulting firm in relationship to a specific client.  So the impact you had might have been on that third party.
2.  Explain what actions you took. Think of this in terms of what you said and did.  You may find it useful to discuss how your organization reacted, but I suspect there will be limited word count available for doing this.
3. Explain the positive  impact of  your actions. This question assumes you succeeded because your actions created positive change.  This can’t be a failure story. As I noted in 1 above, the impact might not necessarily be primarily on your organization, but could also be on a third party. For example, an M&A banker might question a valuation method within his own team and then get that valuation changed to positively impact a client.
For those also applying Stanford, it is highly likely that Stanford Essay 3 and Haas Essay 3 will be on the same topic. The Haas version will just likely be shorter.  Even if you don’t apply to Stanford, you might find my extended discussion of  Stanford Essay 3 helpful.


ESSAY 4: Describe a time when you were a student of your own failure. What specific insight from this experience has shaped your development? (250 word maximum)
You might very well succeed from the perspective of others, but fail from your own perspective.
It is critical that you learned something meaningful about yourself. And your learning about yourself should be important, otherwise you role as a student would be what? Therefore the key constraint of this question is that whatever the failure is, you have learned something important from it.
You should discuss how you applied your lesson because they are specifically asking for you to discuss the impact of the failure on your own development.
I would, in fact, argue that the heart of any sort of “failure question,” whether it is an essay question or an interview is what you learned. Also depending on what your role was, how you reacted is also very important.
The basic components of an answer:
1. Clearly state what the situation was.
2. Clearly state your role.
3. Clearly state your failure.
4. Explain what you learned.
5. Explain how your failure impacted your subsequent development.
This quite a bit to do in limited word count so obviously you need to effectively summarize and analyze here. Keep descriptions brief and to the point.  Make sure you are giving as much attention to your failure as how reflecting on it impacted you subsequently.
Finally, cliches are boring, so don’t write stuff like “Rome was not built in a day and neither was I.” Here is a song about that:



ESSAY 5: a. What are your post-MBA short-term and long-term career goals? How have your professional experiences prepared you to achieve these goals? b. How will an MBA from Haas help you achieve these goals? (750 word maximum for 5a. and 5b.)



Doing it your way is what any goals essay should be about.  With the exception for the need to discuss your past experience and Berkeley specific content, please refer to my analysis of Stanford Essay 2 for formulating a goals essay.

Regarding 5a., Berkeley asks for you to explain how your professional experiences can be leveraged to support your goals.  Therefore you need to specifically discuss particular aspects of your past professional experience.  For those looking to make a career change, think of this in terms of transferable skills.  For those who will be continuing with their present careers, think of this in terms of showing how what you have done so far will help you reach the next level of your career track.

Regarding 5b., keep your Berkeley specific content focused on explaining how Haas will help you with your goals. Haas provides online resources to help you, but in addition, if possible I suggest you visit, meet alums, and/or communicate with current students to become informed about the program. While it is important to show what steps you have taken, it is equally important to make a clear case for why Haas is the right school for you. See the Berkeley MBA Student Blogs.  Also take a look at the various institutes and centers connected to Haas. Those who read Japanese should most certainly visit the Haas Japanese website and Haas Japanese students/alumni blogs.

Warning: One problem with a question like this is that some applicants will write too much about their past experience at the expense of fully explaining their goals or why they want to go to Haas to achieve those goals.

You have 750 words to answer this question, so make the most of them and convince admissions that Berkeley is really your first choice. Those who have visited Haas and/or networked with students and/or alumni will have a distinct advantage in making that case over anyone who simply cuts and pastes some class names into their essay.

Reapplicant Essay: We strongly recommend that you submit a statement outlining how you have improved your candidacy since your last application, as the Admissions Committee will be looking for substantive change in your qualifications. You can use the optional essay question to provide this information.



The whole point of reapplication is to give Haas another chance to love you. Reapplicants should see my reapplication guide. Use this space to specifically explain what has improved about you since you last applied. You can certainly mention improved test scores, but I would not use very much of your word count for that. Typical topics include: development of a new skill, promotions that demonstrate your potential for future success, involvement in an extracurricular activity, learning significantly more about Haas, and why your goals discussed in Essay 5 now are better than the ones you presented last time. They want to see career growth or at least personal growth. Help them want to give you a chance.

Optional Essays

1. (Optional) Please feel free to provide a statement concerning any information you would like to add to your application that you haven’t addressed elsewhere. (500 word maximum)
Sorry, no song with this one.
While this question is optional, most of my clients write about something here.  Beyond any explanation for any negative issues,  feel free to write about any extracurricular activities, professional experiences, personal experiences, and/or other matters that you can add here to provide another positive perspective about you. This is a completely open question. While you might very well need to tell the admissions something negative, such as an explanation for a low GPA, I would suggest using at least part of it to tell them something positive about you. Feel free to write on any topic that will add another dimension to Admissions’ perception of who you are. I would not treat it as optional unless you truly feel that the rest of your essays have fully expressed everything you want Haas to know about you. I don’t suggest writing about something that would be obvious from reviewing your application, instead tell Haas that one or two additional key points that will give them another reason to admit you.
You need not use all 500 words here.
Warning: Using another school’s essay here would be a bad idea if it is at all obvious.  Think of this as the place to discuss anything about you that you really want admissions to know, but could not discuss elsewhere.  Don’t be boring and don’t repeat stuff they already know about you.

2. (Optional) If not clearly evident, please discuss ways in which you have demonstrated strong quantitative abilities, or plan to strengthen quantitative abilities. You do not need to list courses that appear on your transcript. (250 word maximum)

Sorry, no song with this one either .  If you need to write this, beyond mentioning ways you obtained quantitative skills in your work or in school (when it is not obvious),  I would provide a plan for addressing your weakness in this area.  If you GMAT Quant score is in the 80% range or higher, I don’t think you really need to write anything. If you do need a plan for fixing your problem, I would highly recommend looking at MBA Math.

-Adam Markus

I am a graduate admissions consultant who works with clients worldwide. If you would like to arrange an initial consultation, please complete my intake form. Please don't email me any essays, other admissions consultant's intake forms, your life story, or any long email asking for a written profile assessment. The only profiles I assess are those with people who I offer initial consultations to. Please note that initial consultations are not offered when I have reached full capacity or when I determine that I am not a good fit with an applicant.

A new .com site, new Key Posts page, and new way to see my blog

After a year of planning and work, my adammarkus.com site has been completely redesigned.  A number of people, both on and off the net, had long pointed out the ugliness of my old .com site and also of the Blogger version of my blog. I have now attempted to provide something a bit more state of the art in both respects.

In addition to a great new design produced by Martin Celis, the .com site now includes my blog. Writing on WordPress is much better than Blogger.  Also since Blogger is blocked in China, I wanted something my clients in China could actually easily see.  The new version of the blog contains an enhanced set of search functions and hopefully a better overall look and feel.  I will continue maintaing the Blogger blog, but I think you will find using the .com version a better reading experience.  Changing my .com  site also made it easier to change the Blogger version, which has been greatly simplified.

One new feature is a Key Posts Page. I hope this will make accessing my important posts easier.

Finally, like with all websites this new probably has something wrong with it that I have not found. If you discover any issues, please let me know.

Happy reading!

Cheers,
Adam

-Adam Markus

I am a graduate admissions consultant who works with clients worldwide. If you would like to arrange an initial consultation, please complete my intake form. Please don't email me any essays, other admissions consultant's intake forms, your life story, or any long email asking for a written profile assessment. The only profiles I assess are those with people who I offer initial consultations to. Please note that initial consultations are not offered when I have reached full capacity or when I determine that I am not a good fit with an applicant.

More details about Wharton MBA Interviews for 2013 entry

For my most recent post on Wharton interviews, please see Preparing for Wharton Interviews for the Class of 2015.

I should consolidate my prior Wharton interview post, what is below, and the actual group interview questions, but will do so after Round 1.  This information is being sent to first round applicants and is now up on GMAT Club as well:

"As many of you know, the Admissions office has partnered with the Wharton Innovation group to launch a new evaluation method, the team-based discussion, for the 2012-2013 application cycle. In anticipation of the interview portion of the process, we have prepared the following to provide further insight into this new format. Please Note: you must be invited to interview in order to take part in the next phase of the process.

STRUCTURE

If you are invited to interview, you will participate in a team-based discussion with 5-6 other applicants during your scheduled session. The team-based discussion will allow you the opportunity to interact with your fellow applicants through discourse, which will highlight how you approach and analyze specific situations.

Our hope is that this will give applicants a glimpse into Wharton's group learning dynamic - which is central to our program. We believe that this type of assessment also serves as a tool to take prospective students 'off the page' and allows us to see firsthand the ways in which they can contribute to our community of diverse learners and leaders.

PROCESS

Interviews will be conducted both on campus and in select international locations. On campus interviews are conducted by Admissions Fellows, a select group of trained second-year students, while off-campus are facilitated by Admissions staff members. The off-campus interviews will be held in Dubai, London, Mexico City, Mumbai, New Delhi, San Francisco,  Sao Paulo, Seoul, Shanghai, Singapore, and Tokyo.
                       
You will be able to schedule your interview through your Wharton account once you are invited to do so via email. All applicants will have the option of interviewing on Wharton's campus or in one of our select major cities around the world. While there are two options and no one way is preferred over another, we do encourage invited candidates to interview on campus to get a sense of our community and culture. While on campus, candidates will have the opportunity to take part in our campus visit program by attending a class, having lunch with students and experiencing the MBA community in action. We will not be able to accomodate all requests for a specific location, so we encourage all invited candidates to register for a slot as soon as possible.

Once you have successfully registered for your interview, you will then receive a series of follow-up emails, detailing logistics and next steps regarding the session.

FORMAT

Your discussion will have a prompt and a purpose and you will work towards a tangible outcome with your group. The team-based discussion is additive and does not replace the opportunity for an individual exchange. There will be time allotted for a short one-on-one conversation regarding your candidacy with a member of the Admissions staff or Admission Fellow during the interview. This will also provide an opportunity to ask any questions that you may have.

Below are examples of the type of prompts that may be used during a session (Please note that we will provide you further information on the prompt for your team based discussion after you are invited to interview and sign up):

· What one talent or strength should a leader rely on most in daily life?

· If you could teach one thing about innovation to a group of new employees, what would it be?

GENERAL TIPS

· Come prepared to share your individual thoughts.

· You should plan to spend no more that one hour in preparation.

· Do not expect the interviewer to give you feedback - literally or figuratively. Be careful to avoid any interpretation of verbal or non-verbal communication, as both may mislead you.

· Interviews are not a popularity contest. The interviewer is there to assess your fit for the Wharton MBA program.

The key is to relax, be genuine, and enjoy the opportunity for us to get to know you and you to get to know each other!"

-Adam Markus

I am a graduate admissions consultant who works with clients worldwide. If you would like to arrange an initial consultation, please complete my intake form. Please don't email me any essays, other admissions consultant's intake forms, your life story, or any long email asking for a written profile assessment. The only profiles I assess are those with people who I offer initial consultations to. Please note that initial consultations are not offered when I have reached full capacity or when I determine that I am not a good fit with an applicant.