This is another post from Taichi Kono, author of two textbooks on TOEFL and one on TOEIC and a highly experienced TOEFL, TOEIC, and GMAT instructor. Most of his posts will be in Japanese. This post is on GMAT sentence correction. His other posts can be found here.
-Adam
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河野塾代表の河野太一です。年来の友人であるAdam Markusさんのご厚意で、"The Official Guide for GMAT Review, 12th Edition"の解説ブログの内容の一部をこちらにアップさせていただくことになりました。オリジナルは河野太一のGMAT OG12解説でご覧いただけます。なお、オリジナルのほうは予告なく内容を変更することがあり、ここに上げたものと相違があることがありますのでご了承ください。私のこれまでの記事やGMAT以外の話題についてはこちらをご覧ください。
SC15
文全体の構造を把握してから取りかかるのが筋（というか、速くて正確な手法）だが、キレイに揃った選択肢の頭が否が応でも目に入る。一見してdoing副詞（分詞構文）か＜and ＋動詞＞かという選択の問題であることが見て取れる。
それを見た上で文構造の把握に取りかかる。 Warning ...はdoing副詞であろうと仮説を立て、カンマまで目を飛ばしてその後ろを見ると、主節のSVらしきもの（the National Academy of Sciences has urged）がある。文頭と文末の両方にdoing副詞を配置する形になるのかもしれないと思いつつ下線部に目を飛ばす途中で、, instituteが目に入る。この瞬間、動詞の原形がA, B, and Cの並列になっているのだと判断し、(A)(B)(C)はサヨウナラ。もし下線部をcreating ...とし、直前のカンマを「主節とdoing副詞を隔てるためのカンマ」と解釈してしまったら、真ん中にある, institute（カンマ＋動詞原形）の説明が付かなくなる。
for doingとto doの戦いならto doに軍配で、(E)が正解。このto takeは後置のto do形容詞で、「〜するための」という基本的な意味で使われている。カンマに注目するといかにラクに解けるかという見本のような問題。
ちなみに、ライティングの添削をしていると、to do形容詞、またはto do副詞を用いるべきところを、ことごとくfor doingとする人をたまに見かける。日本語に訳せばたしかに「〜するための/に」となるが、英語では不自然。<前置詞＋ doing>という組み合わせ自体に問題はないので、「なぜダメなのか？」と問われても困る。for doingとする実例もまれにあるため、「通常はto doを使います」としか言いようがない。このあたりが、理屈だけでなく、大量の英語を読むことで「自然な英語」の感覚を身につけてほしいところ。
-河野太一
河野塾ではTOEFL/IELTS/GMATの個人授業を提供しております。なかなかスコアが上がらずにお悩みの方、きめの細かい効果的な個人指導をお求めの方は、ぜひinfo@konojuku.comまでお気軽にお問い合わせください。
July 26, 2010
July 23, 2010
When you join the HBS Class of 2013, how will you introduce yourself to your new classmates?
This post is on the forth of four of the "pick two" questions for the Harvard Business School MBA Application for Fall 2011 Admission.
All the posts in this series: Overall Strategy, Accomplishments, Mistake, Option 1, Option 2, Option 3, and Option 4. My post on HBS interviews can be found here. My post on HBS recommendation questions can be found here.
4. When you join the HBS Class of 2013, how will you introduce yourself to your new classmates?
As I discussed in my analysis of Columbia Business School’s Essay 2, first impressions matter. The purpose of this new question is to give the HBS Admissions insight into your personality. Specifically, what parts of you would you want your fellow students to initially know about you? Think about the section of 90 students you will be a part of as well as the Class of 2013 as a whole. You can think about this in terms of contribution and/or in terms of fit: Explain why the HBS Class of 2013 is the right community for you to be a part of.
You have already discussed your most substantial achievements in Essay 1 and clearly a career vision is not really what your classmates need to first know about you. If you think people want to hear about your career goals when you initially meet them, you are (a) suffering from delusions of grandeur, (2) impossibly socially retarded, and/or (3) not taking the question seriously. Perhaps your goals will be interesting to some people in the Class of 2013 but certainly not all. And is that what they first need to know about you? When you meet first someone, do you first tell them your career vision? I bet not.
For those who don't write a career vision essay for HBS, this essay can certainly explain why you not to attend HBS, but very careful about how you do that. Make sure you are communicating that explanation in way that would actually make a strong first impression on a fellow student. Make sure you don't end up writing a goals essay, instead try to write a fit essay. For those also applying to MIT, it is possible that this HBS essay would be a great choice because both the MIT cover letter and this essay question are focused on fit.
Think about why someone would want to be your friend, your colleague, and/or your teammate. Without making this into a contribution essay so directly, you need to imagine that you are trying to make your fellow students like you and what to work with you. What special qualities and a talents will bring to enhance the experience of the Class of 2013?
Identify a few, likely two to four, aspects of yourself that would make a strong positive impression on your classmates. provide stories, perhaps only anecdotes, to introduce yourself.
Obviously you don't want to unnecessarily repeat content presented in other essays, but it is certainly possible that the same characteristic about yourself that makes an accomplishment possible is also something you elaborate on, with a different story, in this essay.
Keep in mind that you don't want this to a purely chronological life story. There is really not enough word count for such a chronological exercise, but you can certainly interpret your life if doing so will make for an effective way of introducing yourself to your classmates.
Bottom Line: Make your reader want to meet you!
All the posts in this series: Overall Strategy, Accomplishments, Mistake, Option 1, Option 2, Option 3, and Option 4. My post on HBS interviews can be found here. My post on HBS recommendation questions can be found here.
4. When you join the HBS Class of 2013, how will you introduce yourself to your new classmates?
As I discussed in my analysis of Columbia Business School’s Essay 2, first impressions matter. The purpose of this new question is to give the HBS Admissions insight into your personality. Specifically, what parts of you would you want your fellow students to initially know about you? Think about the section of 90 students you will be a part of as well as the Class of 2013 as a whole. You can think about this in terms of contribution and/or in terms of fit: Explain why the HBS Class of 2013 is the right community for you to be a part of.
You have already discussed your most substantial achievements in Essay 1 and clearly a career vision is not really what your classmates need to first know about you. If you think people want to hear about your career goals when you initially meet them, you are (a) suffering from delusions of grandeur, (2) impossibly socially retarded, and/or (3) not taking the question seriously. Perhaps your goals will be interesting to some people in the Class of 2013 but certainly not all. And is that what they first need to know about you? When you meet first someone, do you first tell them your career vision? I bet not.
For those who don't write a career vision essay for HBS, this essay can certainly explain why you not to attend HBS, but very careful about how you do that. Make sure you are communicating that explanation in way that would actually make a strong first impression on a fellow student. Make sure you don't end up writing a goals essay, instead try to write a fit essay. For those also applying to MIT, it is possible that this HBS essay would be a great choice because both the MIT cover letter and this essay question are focused on fit.
Think about why someone would want to be your friend, your colleague, and/or your teammate. Without making this into a contribution essay so directly, you need to imagine that you are trying to make your fellow students like you and what to work with you. What special qualities and a talents will bring to enhance the experience of the Class of 2013?
Identify a few, likely two to four, aspects of yourself that would make a strong positive impression on your classmates. provide stories, perhaps only anecdotes, to introduce yourself.
Obviously you don't want to unnecessarily repeat content presented in other essays, but it is certainly possible that the same characteristic about yourself that makes an accomplishment possible is also something you elaborate on, with a different story, in this essay.
Keep in mind that you don't want this to a purely chronological life story. There is really not enough word count for such a chronological exercise, but you can certainly interpret your life if doing so will make for an effective way of introducing yourself to your classmates.
Bottom Line: Make your reader want to meet you!
-Adam Markus
アダム マーカス
Questions? Contact me directly at adammarkus@gmail.com. Please see my FAQregarding the types of questions I will respond to. If you are looking for a highly experienced admissions consultant who is passionate about helping his clients succeed, please feel free to contact me at adammarkus@gmail.com to arrange an initial consultation. To learn more about my services, see here. Initial consultations are conducted by Skype or telephone. For clients in Tokyo, a free face-to-face consultation is possible after an initial Skype or telephone consultation. I only work with a limited number of clients per year and believe that an initial consultation is the best way to determine whether there is a good fit. Whether you use my service or another, I suggest making certain that the fit feels right to you.
MBA留学 ビジネススクール カウンセリング コンサルティング ハーバード MBA
July 18, 2010
HBS: Tell us about a time in your professional experience when you were frustrated or disappointed.
This post is on the third of four of the "pick two" questions for the Harvard Business School MBA Application for Fall 2011 Admission.
All the posts in this series: Overall Strategy, Accomplishments, Mistake, Option 1, Option 2, Option 3, and Option 4. My post on HBS interviews can be found here.
3. Tell us about a time in your professional experience when you were frustrated or disappointed.
If Essay Option 1 was written especially for the benefit of those without professional experience, Option 3 is written for those with professional experience.
DIFFERENTIATING BETWEEN THIS QUESTION AND REQUIRED ESSAY QUESTION 2
Keeping in mind that you have already covered the topic of a mistake and what you learned it from it, you certainly want to make sure that the content between the two. I think that differentiation, at its most basic means NOT WRITING ABOUT FAILURE IN BOTH ESSAYS. Too much failure would probably make it difficult to fully focus on accomplishments and/or lock you into "the whole learning from failure model," potentially resulting in essays that are structurally telling the same story. The mistake question requires a discussion of learning from failure, but this one does not.
LIFE SUCKS AT LEAST SOME OF THE TIME
I have yet to meet a person who has not experienced frustration or disappointment. The world of work is filled with things that produce frustration or disappointment. I would suggest you think about people and projects.
PEOPLE: Difficult people, mean people, stupid people, lazy people, rude people, psychologically disturbed people, etc. are all part of the world of work. How do you effectively handle such encounters? What techniques of working through interpersonal problems have you developed? This really is about your emotional intelligence. People can frequently disappointment each other: How do you overcome a situation when there is a huge gulf between your expectations and the actual output/behavior of someone else in a professional situation?
PROJECTS can certainly be a huge source of both frustration or disappointment. Projects can be frustrating because of problems on a team, organizational resistance, insufficient resources (time, money, people, and/or ideas), lack of clarity of objectives, bad strategy and/or tactics, etc. Dealing with such problems can highlight ones leadership, teamwork, creativity and/or problem solving skills in a tight situation.
BOOKS TO HELP YOU BRAINSTORM
One book that I think might really be worth your consideration is Patrick Lencioni's THE FIVE DYSFUNCTIONS OF A TEAM (MANGA EDITION). Lencioni's brings an understanding of frustration builds up and is expressed in teamwork, how and why leaders fail to build teams that work, and numerous other ways that the team, as the core unit of an organization can frustrate, disappoint, and fail. I have never bothered reading the book version, but the comic book is great! The scenario that is built in the comic book really lays out a series of team stories that might help you develop your own team-based frustration or disappointment story.
As far as difficult personalities in professional settings go, Professor Robert Sutton at Stanford GSB has written one of the best books on the subject, THE NO ASSHOLE RULE. While I don't necessarily suggest that you tell HBS that you were "frustrated by an asshole," Professor Sutton's provides a deep understanding of both how to handle such people, how to avoid them, and how not to become one.
THE BOTTOM LINE: “When life hands you lemons – you make lemonade.”
HBS is a place for doers not complainers, so whatever you write about make sure that you come across as someone who overcomes frustration and disappointment.
-Adam Markus
アダム マーカス
Questions? Contact me directly at adammarkus@gmail.com. Please see my FAQ regarding the types of questions I will respond to. If you are looking for a highly experienced admissions consultant who is passionate about helping his clients succeed, please feel free to contact me at adammarkus@gmail.com to arrange an initial consultation. To learn more about my services, see here. Initial consultations are conducted by Skype or telephone. For clients in Tokyo, a free face-to-face consultation is possible after an initial Skype or telephone consultation. I only work with a limited number of clients per year and believe that an initial consultation is the best way to determine whether there is a good fit. Whether you use my service or another, I suggest making certain that the fit feels right to you.
MBA留学 ビジネススクール カウンセリング コンサルティング ハーバード MBA
All the posts in this series: Overall Strategy, Accomplishments, Mistake, Option 1, Option 2, Option 3, and Option 4. My post on HBS interviews can be found here.
3. Tell us about a time in your professional experience when you were frustrated or disappointed.
If Essay Option 1 was written especially for the benefit of those without professional experience, Option 3 is written for those with professional experience.
DIFFERENTIATING BETWEEN THIS QUESTION AND REQUIRED ESSAY QUESTION 2
Keeping in mind that you have already covered the topic of a mistake and what you learned it from it, you certainly want to make sure that the content between the two. I think that differentiation, at its most basic means NOT WRITING ABOUT FAILURE IN BOTH ESSAYS. Too much failure would probably make it difficult to fully focus on accomplishments and/or lock you into "the whole learning from failure model," potentially resulting in essays that are structurally telling the same story. The mistake question requires a discussion of learning from failure, but this one does not.
LIFE SUCKS AT LEAST SOME OF THE TIME
I have yet to meet a person who has not experienced frustration or disappointment. The world of work is filled with things that produce frustration or disappointment. I would suggest you think about people and projects.
PEOPLE: Difficult people, mean people, stupid people, lazy people, rude people, psychologically disturbed people, etc. are all part of the world of work. How do you effectively handle such encounters? What techniques of working through interpersonal problems have you developed? This really is about your emotional intelligence. People can frequently disappointment each other: How do you overcome a situation when there is a huge gulf between your expectations and the actual output/behavior of someone else in a professional situation?
PROJECTS can certainly be a huge source of both frustration or disappointment. Projects can be frustrating because of problems on a team, organizational resistance, insufficient resources (time, money, people, and/or ideas), lack of clarity of objectives, bad strategy and/or tactics, etc. Dealing with such problems can highlight ones leadership, teamwork, creativity and/or problem solving skills in a tight situation.
BOOKS TO HELP YOU BRAINSTORM
One book that I think might really be worth your consideration is Patrick Lencioni's THE FIVE DYSFUNCTIONS OF A TEAM (MANGA EDITION). Lencioni's brings an understanding of frustration builds up and is expressed in teamwork, how and why leaders fail to build teams that work, and numerous other ways that the team, as the core unit of an organization can frustrate, disappoint, and fail. I have never bothered reading the book version, but the comic book is great! The scenario that is built in the comic book really lays out a series of team stories that might help you develop your own team-based frustration or disappointment story.
As far as difficult personalities in professional settings go, Professor Robert Sutton at Stanford GSB has written one of the best books on the subject, THE NO ASSHOLE RULE. While I don't necessarily suggest that you tell HBS that you were "frustrated by an asshole," Professor Sutton's provides a deep understanding of both how to handle such people, how to avoid them, and how not to become one.
THE BOTTOM LINE: “When life hands you lemons – you make lemonade.”
HBS is a place for doers not complainers, so whatever you write about make sure that you come across as someone who overcomes frustration and disappointment.
-Adam Markus
アダム マーカス
Questions? Contact me directly at adammarkus@gmail.com. Please see my FAQ regarding the types of questions I will respond to. If you are looking for a highly experienced admissions consultant who is passionate about helping his clients succeed, please feel free to contact me at adammarkus@gmail.com to arrange an initial consultation. To learn more about my services, see here. Initial consultations are conducted by Skype or telephone. For clients in Tokyo, a free face-to-face consultation is possible after an initial Skype or telephone consultation. I only work with a limited number of clients per year and believe that an initial consultation is the best way to determine whether there is a good fit. Whether you use my service or another, I suggest making certain that the fit feels right to you.
MBA留学 ビジネススクール カウンセリング コンサルティング ハーバード MBA
July 15, 2010
HBS: What is your career vision and why is this choice meaningful to you?
This post is on the second of four of the "pick two" questions for the Harvard Business School MBA Application for Fall 2011 Admission.
All the posts in this series: Overall Strategy, Accomplishments, Mistake, Option 1, Option 2, Option 3, and Option 4. My post on HBS interviews can be found here. My post on HBS recommendation questions can be found here.
2. What is your career vision and why is this choice meaningful to you? (400-word limit)
While I think it is important that the MBA Admissions Board understand what motivates you, I don't believe that you necessarily have to answer this essay topic to tell them that. While many applicants are likely to want to answer this question, if you want to set yourself apart from the pack, don't do it unless your answer is really very compelling.
An obvious reason for why HBS admissions made this question optional is because they don't want to read standard obligatory goals essays. This has been part of trend at HBS which began when they stopped asking about why applicants want to attend there. I think they decided that asking that particular "Why HBS?" question was not interesting and probably not sufficiently helpful in selecting who would necessarily succeed at HBS. As I have mentioned in my first post in this series, it is possible to express your future academic and professional objectives in another essay question.
An answer to this question that is not compelling is a poor use of your limited essay space. If you know your career goals are fairly generic and lack a strong visionary aspect to them, don't write on this topic. Instead, create an overall essay strategy that includes with in at least one of your four essays a clear explanation of why you want an HBS education and your potential to succeed at HBS and afterwords. While you will certainly have to explain your goals in an HBS interview, if you know your career vision is not one of the more interesting subjects you have to write about, don't write this essay.
At a strategic application level, all applicants should go through the process of analyzing their goals in detail. Chances are quite high that if your are interviewed by HBS, you will be asked about your goals. Hence, having essays that account for your goals even indirectly or in limited detail is an important part of having an overall application strategy.
Even if your career vision is absolutely clear to you, I suggest going through a formal process of MBA goals formulation. 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 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 graduate degree. 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 now 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, then 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. If you know about HBS, you are ready to write about your goals, whether in Question 3-4 or elsewhere in the essay set.
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?
Formulating goals is not enough to answer 3-4 effectively because HBS is especially focused on understanding the "why," not just the "what." Simply stating what your goals are and why HBS is the best place for you to accomplish them is not exactly what you need here. Instead, you need to articulate a vision related to your goals. You need to focus on your motivations as well as your idealized career outcomes.
Making your career goals sound exciting requires thinking about whether these goals are compelling. Admissions committees ask applicants to write about their goals after graduate school, but can applicants actually know what will be on the cutting-edge in two or three years? While many applicants will be able to successfully apply with relatively standard goals ("I want to be a consultant because..."), putting together a truly outstanding career vision is one way of differentiating your application. But how?
Be informed. HBS Admissions needs to believe you know what you are talking about. If you are changing careers, no one expects you to be an expert, but you should come across as having a clear plan based on real research into your future. If are planning on staying in your present industry, you should be well informed not only about the companies you have worked for, but the industry as a whole. If you are not already doing so, read industry related publications and network.
Those changing fields should most certainly read industry related publications in their intended field. Additionally, I suggest conducting informational interviews with at least one peer level and one senior level person in that field. Conduct a peer-level interview to get a good idea of what it would be like to actually work in that industry. Conduct a senior-level interview to get the perspective of someone who can see the big picture and all the little details as well.
Don't know anyone in your intended field? Network! One great way to start that is through LinkedIn. Another is by making use of your undergraduate alumni network and/or career center.
LEARN WHAT IS HOT. No matter whether you are changing fields or not, learn what is hot now and try to figure out what will be hot by the time you graduate. Now, of course, this is just a plan and chances are that what is hot in your industry or field now, may very well be cold in the future. The point is to come across to the Harvard Business School as someone who is not only well informed, but has CUTTING-EDGE knowledge. Some great general sources for learning what is hot:
HBS Sources: One of the best places to learn about what HBS perceives as cutting-edge is through HBS. You should most certainly visit Harvard Working Knowledge, Harvard Business Review, and Harvard Business School Publishing.
Beyond HBS: Additionally, other great business school sources include the University of Chicago GSB's Working Papers, The University of Chicago's Capital Ideas, Stanford Social Innovation Review, Knowledge @ Wharton, and MIT Sloan Management Review.
LinkedIn Answers: I would suggest that everyone join LinkedIn and make use of LinkedIn Answers. LinkedIn Answers is a great way to tap into cutting edge expertise (including my admissions advice!). Follow LinkedIn's rules and you will often be able to obtain excellent information.
Hoovers: For information about specific companies, Hoovers is just a great way to learn about key facts including competitors (a very useful way of knowing who else you might want to work for and to learn about an industry). While primarily focused on the US, Hoovers does have listings for companies worldwide.
Vault: For scope of coverage, this site is a must. Vault includes both career and admissions information. It includes both company specific and industry-wide information.
Other sources: Read magazines, websites, and books that relate to your intended field.
The writing process: After going through a process of reflection and analysis, prepare a version of this essay that includes everything you want to say. If you have previously prepared a goals essay for another school this may serve as a foundation, but modify it to tell admissions everything you would want them to know about your career vision. Next begin the process of revision. Here are a few key things to consider when revising:
1. Think about the most important thing you need admissions to know about your career vision. Begin your essay with that. Chances are good that on your initial draft the most important thing is somewhere in the middle or end of your essay.
2. Prioritize the rest of your content: What do they really need to know? You probably have lots of details that can be cut.
3. Make a formal argument: Your essay should be neither a set of disembodied points or a summary. Instead, it should be a formal statement about your career vision. It may very well partially take the form of a memo or it may be rather creative. The important point is that the reader should be able to understand it clearly and be convinced by it.
Next, once you have put together your career vision, consider how the rest of your application supports what you say in it. Without over-marketing yourself, or even necessarily writing it directly in the essays, make sure that your past accomplishments and other aspects of your application show how your potential will contribute to your future career vision.
BE AMBITIOUS!!!!!!!
My final point is that HBS is looking for people who want to be leaders, not mere managers. They are looking for people who will use their "one precious and wild life" to achieve great things, not those who will be satisfied at being back office mediocrities. If you can't articulate an exciting vision of your future now, when will you?
Questions? Write comments or contact me directly at adammarkus@gmail.com. Please see my FAQ regarding the types of questions I will respond to. If you are looking for a highly experienced admissions consultant who is passionate about helping his clients succeed, please feel free to contact me at adammarkus@gmail.com to arrange an initial consultation. To learn more about my services, see here. Initial consultations are conducted by Skype or telephone. For clients in Tokyo, a free face-to-face consultation is possible after an initial Skype or telephone consultation. I only work with a limited number of clients per year and believe that an initial consultation is the best way to determine whether there is a good fit. Whether you use my service or another, I suggest making certain that the fit feels right to you.
カウンセリング コンサルティング エッセイMBA留学 ハーバード
All the posts in this series: Overall Strategy, Accomplishments, Mistake, Option 1, Option 2, Option 3, and Option 4. My post on HBS interviews can be found here. My post on HBS recommendation questions can be found here.
2. What is your career vision and why is this choice meaningful to you? (400-word limit)
While I think it is important that the MBA Admissions Board understand what motivates you, I don't believe that you necessarily have to answer this essay topic to tell them that. While many applicants are likely to want to answer this question, if you want to set yourself apart from the pack, don't do it unless your answer is really very compelling.
An obvious reason for why HBS admissions made this question optional is because they don't want to read standard obligatory goals essays. This has been part of trend at HBS which began when they stopped asking about why applicants want to attend there. I think they decided that asking that particular "Why HBS?" question was not interesting and probably not sufficiently helpful in selecting who would necessarily succeed at HBS. As I have mentioned in my first post in this series, it is possible to express your future academic and professional objectives in another essay question.
An answer to this question that is not compelling is a poor use of your limited essay space. If you know your career goals are fairly generic and lack a strong visionary aspect to them, don't write on this topic. Instead, create an overall essay strategy that includes with in at least one of your four essays a clear explanation of why you want an HBS education and your potential to succeed at HBS and afterwords. While you will certainly have to explain your goals in an HBS interview, if you know your career vision is not one of the more interesting subjects you have to write about, don't write this essay.
At a strategic application level, all applicants should go through the process of analyzing their goals in detail. Chances are quite high that if your are interviewed by HBS, you will be asked about your goals. Hence, having essays that account for your goals even indirectly or in limited detail is an important part of having an overall application strategy.
Even if your career vision is absolutely clear to you, I suggest going through a formal process of MBA goals formulation. 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 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 graduate degree. 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 now 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, then 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. If you know about HBS, you are ready to write about your goals, whether in Question 3-4 or elsewhere in the essay set.
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?
Formulating goals is not enough to answer 3-4 effectively because HBS is especially focused on understanding the "why," not just the "what." Simply stating what your goals are and why HBS is the best place for you to accomplish them is not exactly what you need here. Instead, you need to articulate a vision related to your goals. You need to focus on your motivations as well as your idealized career outcomes.
Making your career goals sound exciting requires thinking about whether these goals are compelling. Admissions committees ask applicants to write about their goals after graduate school, but can applicants actually know what will be on the cutting-edge in two or three years? While many applicants will be able to successfully apply with relatively standard goals ("I want to be a consultant because..."), putting together a truly outstanding career vision is one way of differentiating your application. But how?
Be informed. HBS Admissions needs to believe you know what you are talking about. If you are changing careers, no one expects you to be an expert, but you should come across as having a clear plan based on real research into your future. If are planning on staying in your present industry, you should be well informed not only about the companies you have worked for, but the industry as a whole. If you are not already doing so, read industry related publications and network.
Those changing fields should most certainly read industry related publications in their intended field. Additionally, I suggest conducting informational interviews with at least one peer level and one senior level person in that field. Conduct a peer-level interview to get a good idea of what it would be like to actually work in that industry. Conduct a senior-level interview to get the perspective of someone who can see the big picture and all the little details as well.
Don't know anyone in your intended field? Network! One great way to start that is through LinkedIn. Another is by making use of your undergraduate alumni network and/or career center.
LEARN WHAT IS HOT. No matter whether you are changing fields or not, learn what is hot now and try to figure out what will be hot by the time you graduate. Now, of course, this is just a plan and chances are that what is hot in your industry or field now, may very well be cold in the future. The point is to come across to the Harvard Business School as someone who is not only well informed, but has CUTTING-EDGE knowledge. Some great general sources for learning what is hot:
HBS Sources: One of the best places to learn about what HBS perceives as cutting-edge is through HBS. You should most certainly visit Harvard Working Knowledge, Harvard Business Review, and Harvard Business School Publishing.
Beyond HBS: Additionally, other great business school sources include the University of Chicago GSB's Working Papers, The University of Chicago's Capital Ideas, Stanford Social Innovation Review, Knowledge @ Wharton, and MIT Sloan Management Review.
LinkedIn Answers: I would suggest that everyone join LinkedIn and make use of LinkedIn Answers. LinkedIn Answers is a great way to tap into cutting edge expertise (including my admissions advice!). Follow LinkedIn's rules and you will often be able to obtain excellent information.
Hoovers: For information about specific companies, Hoovers is just a great way to learn about key facts including competitors (a very useful way of knowing who else you might want to work for and to learn about an industry). While primarily focused on the US, Hoovers does have listings for companies worldwide.
Vault: For scope of coverage, this site is a must. Vault includes both career and admissions information. It includes both company specific and industry-wide information.
Other sources: Read magazines, websites, and books that relate to your intended field.
The writing process: After going through a process of reflection and analysis, prepare a version of this essay that includes everything you want to say. If you have previously prepared a goals essay for another school this may serve as a foundation, but modify it to tell admissions everything you would want them to know about your career vision. Next begin the process of revision. Here are a few key things to consider when revising:
1. Think about the most important thing you need admissions to know about your career vision. Begin your essay with that. Chances are good that on your initial draft the most important thing is somewhere in the middle or end of your essay.
2. Prioritize the rest of your content: What do they really need to know? You probably have lots of details that can be cut.
3. Make a formal argument: Your essay should be neither a set of disembodied points or a summary. Instead, it should be a formal statement about your career vision. It may very well partially take the form of a memo or it may be rather creative. The important point is that the reader should be able to understand it clearly and be convinced by it.
Next, once you have put together your career vision, consider how the rest of your application supports what you say in it. Without over-marketing yourself, or even necessarily writing it directly in the essays, make sure that your past accomplishments and other aspects of your application show how your potential will contribute to your future career vision.
BE AMBITIOUS!!!!!!!
My final point is that HBS is looking for people who want to be leaders, not mere managers. They are looking for people who will use their "one precious and wild life" to achieve great things, not those who will be satisfied at being back office mediocrities. If you can't articulate an exciting vision of your future now, when will you?
Questions? Write comments or contact me directly at adammarkus@gmail.com. Please see my FAQ regarding the types of questions I will respond to. If you are looking for a highly experienced admissions consultant who is passionate about helping his clients succeed, please feel free to contact me at adammarkus@gmail.com to arrange an initial consultation. To learn more about my services, see here. Initial consultations are conducted by Skype or telephone. For clients in Tokyo, a free face-to-face consultation is possible after an initial Skype or telephone consultation. I only work with a limited number of clients per year and believe that an initial consultation is the best way to determine whether there is a good fit. Whether you use my service or another, I suggest making certain that the fit feels right to you.
-Adam Markus
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アダム マーカス
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HBS: What would you like the MBA Admissions Board to know about your undergraduate academic experience?
This post is on the first of four of the "pick two" questions for the Harvard Business School MBA Application for Fall 201 Admission.
All the posts in this series: Overall Strategy, Accomplishments, Mistake, Option 1, Option 2, Option 3, and Option 4. My post on HBS interviews can be found here. My post on HBS recommendation questions can be found here.
1. What would you like the MBA Admissions Board to know about your undergraduate academic experience? (400-word limit)
It is rather obvious that the questions an MBA program asks you reflect its admissions strategies. This is as true for the Harvard Business School as for any other school. For example, when HBS introduced the this question in 2005, it was directly connected to an effort to recruit younger applicants.
This question is obviously ideal for an applicant to the 2+2 program, a graduating senior or someone with 1 or 2 years of work to answer.It is no surprise that they ask this question. Consider the emphasis that HBS puts on academic ability:
"Harvard Business School is a demanding, fast-paced, and highly-verbal environment. We look for individuals who will thrive on sophisticated ideas and lively discussion. Our case-based method of learning depends upon the active participation of prepared students who can assess, analyze, and act upon complex information within often-ambiguous contexts. The MBA Admissions Board will review your prior academic performance, the results of the GMAT, and, if applicable, TOEFL and/or IELTS, and the nature of your work experience. There is no particular previous course of study required to apply; you must, however, demonstrate the ability to master analytical and quantitative concepts."
More generally, I think that this question is great for any applicant who learned something valuable in their undergraduate academic program. You don't need a high GPA to answer this one and, in fact, those who don't have a high GPA, but actually did something meaningful as part of their program of study, should consider writing on this topic to help mitigate the impact of a weak GPA.
For those who have been out of school for a while or would prefer to emphasize other aspects of their background, this question need not be answered as long as some other aspect(s) of your application- GMAT score, GPA, transcript, your resume, or perhaps one of your substantial accomplishments- demonstrates your academic potential to succeed. You must demonstrate your academic potential somewhere in your application (Yes, a solid GPA and GMAT are enough for that purpose), so if you find that have not done so effectively elsewhere and have an important story to tell about your undergraduate experience, you should most certainly consider writing an essay on this question.
Additionally for those whose undergraduate academic experience connects to their career vision and/or reasons for obtaining an MBA, part of this essay may very well serve that explanatory purpose. If you do find that you can best relate your career vision and/or reasons for pursuing an MBA on this topic, I still suggest you closely review my analysis of Option 5.
ESSAY STRUCTURE AND CONTENT
The likely structure for your answer here may very well be similar to the Accomplishments Essay. That said, while it is possible to write on multiple aspects of your academic experience (two to four different topics), it is certainly possible that you might want to focus on only one topic here.
While this essay may seemingly focus on an academic topic, it is very possible that the theme actually relates to your leadership potential, career vision, personality, or some other topic that you have not effectively addressed elsewhere. As with any topic, you should ask yourself why Adcom needs to know about it?
WARNING
The following two topics are not really so effective here:
1. A story focused on your graduate school experience. Unless the point is to simply show that your undergraduate work laid the foundation for your graduate studies, discussing graduate school is pretty much outside of the scope of what is acceptable here.
2. A story focused on your non-academic undergraduate activities. Clearly this is not part of what HBS is asking about.
Both topics might very well have their place in the Accomplishments Essay, but not here.
Finally, I should point out that I don't see any advantage to using this essay to explain a bad GPA. Instead focus not such an explanation, but on making a clear argument for why you are strong candidate. There is an additional information section on the application which is long enough to provide a brief explanation of anything problematic in your academic background.
Questions? Write comments or contact me directly at adammarkus@gmail.com. Please see my FAQ regarding the types of questions I will respond to. If you are looking for a highly experienced admissions consultant who is passionate about helping his clients succeed, please feel free to contact me at adammarkus@gmail.com to arrange an initial consultation. To learn more about my services, see here. Initial consultations are conducted by Skype or telephone. For clients in Tokyo, a free face-to-face consultation is possible after an initial Skype or telephone consultation. I only work with a limited number of clients per year and believe that an initial consultation is the best way to determine whether there is a good fit. Whether you use my service or another, I suggest making certain that the fit feels right to you.
カウンセリング コンサルティング エッセイMBA留学 ハーバード
All the posts in this series: Overall Strategy, Accomplishments, Mistake, Option 1, Option 2, Option 3, and Option 4. My post on HBS interviews can be found here. My post on HBS recommendation questions can be found here.
1. What would you like the MBA Admissions Board to know about your undergraduate academic experience? (400-word limit)
It is rather obvious that the questions an MBA program asks you reflect its admissions strategies. This is as true for the Harvard Business School as for any other school. For example, when HBS introduced the this question in 2005, it was directly connected to an effort to recruit younger applicants.
This question is obviously ideal for an applicant to the 2+2 program, a graduating senior or someone with 1 or 2 years of work to answer.It is no surprise that they ask this question. Consider the emphasis that HBS puts on academic ability:
"Harvard Business School is a demanding, fast-paced, and highly-verbal environment. We look for individuals who will thrive on sophisticated ideas and lively discussion. Our case-based method of learning depends upon the active participation of prepared students who can assess, analyze, and act upon complex information within often-ambiguous contexts. The MBA Admissions Board will review your prior academic performance, the results of the GMAT, and, if applicable, TOEFL and/or IELTS, and the nature of your work experience. There is no particular previous course of study required to apply; you must, however, demonstrate the ability to master analytical and quantitative concepts."
More generally, I think that this question is great for any applicant who learned something valuable in their undergraduate academic program. You don't need a high GPA to answer this one and, in fact, those who don't have a high GPA, but actually did something meaningful as part of their program of study, should consider writing on this topic to help mitigate the impact of a weak GPA.
For those who have been out of school for a while or would prefer to emphasize other aspects of their background, this question need not be answered as long as some other aspect(s) of your application- GMAT score, GPA, transcript, your resume, or perhaps one of your substantial accomplishments- demonstrates your academic potential to succeed. You must demonstrate your academic potential somewhere in your application (Yes, a solid GPA and GMAT are enough for that purpose), so if you find that have not done so effectively elsewhere and have an important story to tell about your undergraduate experience, you should most certainly consider writing an essay on this question.
Additionally for those whose undergraduate academic experience connects to their career vision and/or reasons for obtaining an MBA, part of this essay may very well serve that explanatory purpose. If you do find that you can best relate your career vision and/or reasons for pursuing an MBA on this topic, I still suggest you closely review my analysis of Option 5.
ESSAY STRUCTURE AND CONTENT
The likely structure for your answer here may very well be similar to the Accomplishments Essay. That said, while it is possible to write on multiple aspects of your academic experience (two to four different topics), it is certainly possible that you might want to focus on only one topic here.
While this essay may seemingly focus on an academic topic, it is very possible that the theme actually relates to your leadership potential, career vision, personality, or some other topic that you have not effectively addressed elsewhere. As with any topic, you should ask yourself why Adcom needs to know about it?
WARNING
The following two topics are not really so effective here:
1. A story focused on your graduate school experience. Unless the point is to simply show that your undergraduate work laid the foundation for your graduate studies, discussing graduate school is pretty much outside of the scope of what is acceptable here.
2. A story focused on your non-academic undergraduate activities. Clearly this is not part of what HBS is asking about.
Both topics might very well have their place in the Accomplishments Essay, but not here.
Finally, I should point out that I don't see any advantage to using this essay to explain a bad GPA. Instead focus not such an explanation, but on making a clear argument for why you are strong candidate. There is an additional information section on the application which is long enough to provide a brief explanation of anything problematic in your academic background.
Questions? Write comments or contact me directly at adammarkus@gmail.com. Please see my FAQ regarding the types of questions I will respond to. If you are looking for a highly experienced admissions consultant who is passionate about helping his clients succeed, please feel free to contact me at adammarkus@gmail.com to arrange an initial consultation. To learn more about my services, see here. Initial consultations are conducted by Skype or telephone. For clients in Tokyo, a free face-to-face consultation is possible after an initial Skype or telephone consultation. I only work with a limited number of clients per year and believe that an initial consultation is the best way to determine whether there is a good fit. Whether you use my service or another, I suggest making certain that the fit feels right to you.
-Adam Markus
アダム マーカス
アダム マーカス
カウンセリング コンサルティング エッセイMBA留学 ハーバード
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