My Fall 2009 essay analysis can be found here.
This is the second of two posts on New York University Stern's essay questions for Fall 2008 admission. The first post is here. I suggest reading the first post before reading this one.
There are two reasons that I am analyzing NYU's essays. The first is that I am working with a number of clients applying there. The second is that I really like Essay 3. You can find complete instructions for the entire essay set in my previous post, but here is the core part of the question:
Essay 3. Personal Expression:
Please describe yourself to your MBA classmates. You may use almost any method to convey your message (e.g. words, illustrations). Feel free to be creative.
This is the NYU question. It is the one that seems to stop many applicants from applying to Stern (which is good for Stern's yield). In my experience, I have found that strong applicants who are willing to put the time into this question are often well rewarded (invited for interviews, admitted), but those who slap something together are often rejected.
You don't have to make anything or do anything visual. A creative essay can be at least as effective as anything else. If you think you can answer the question most effectively by writing an essay, just do that.
In past years, I have had clients who have done Power Points for NYU, but given that Chicago GSB now requires one, if you are applying to Chicago GSB and Stern, don't do a Power Point for Stern because the NYU admissions people will know (they can always look at your GMAT Score Report unless you control for that) you were trying to cut corners. After all, one reason NYU asks this question is because they want you to show your commitment to NYU by putting time into it.
In general, anytime a school has a non-standard question, you should really keep in mind that they are looking for answers that demonstrate an applicant's willingness to put time into it.
Regarding time, try to give yourself at least three weeks before the deadline to write this. In my experience, most successful versions of this essay take more time and drafts than most other essays. Of course, some applicants can do it right quickly, but since you are trying to be creative and also to effectively introduce yourself to your classmates, you may need more time.
One very common initial error with this essay is to focus on being creative at the exclusion of thinking about the purpose: to introduce yourself to your classmates. Keep in mind that your objective is to create a positive image of yourself that would make an excellent first impression on your classmates. It may be creative, but make sure that it also leaves admissions with a clear understanding of what positive impression of yourself you are communicating. It is your job to provide a sufficiently clear message regardless of the way you creatively present yourself.
Some Questions to get you brainstorming:
1. What do you want Stern Admissions 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 meeting people that would you be working closely with for two years and that you might want as a part of your lifetime professional network, what would you tell them about yourself to create a strong first impression?
4. Why do people like you?
5. If there was one story about yourself that you think would really help admissions understand you and want to admit you, what is it?
6. Do you have a personal interest (painting and poetry for example) that would work effectively?
Finally, keep in mind that what you write here should not duplicate the content of Essay 2 or anything else in the application, instead it should really provide admissions with a new perspective on why you belong at Stern.
Question? Comments? Email me at adammarkus@gmail.com
-Adam Markus
アダム マーカス
ビジネススクール カウンセリング コンサルティング 大学院 合格対策 エッセイ MBA留学
November 02, 2007
NYU Stern MBA Essays for Fall 2008
My Fall 2009 essay analysis can be found here.
This is the first of two posts on NYU Stern's MBA Essays for Fall 2008 Admission. The second one is here.
New York University Stern School of Business MBA essay questions' web page also includes great tips for the questions, so I have included them. Let's look at the whole thing first and than break it down.
The following essay questions give you the opportunity to more fully present yourself to the Admissions Committee and to provide insight into your experiences, goals and thought processes. Your essays should be written entirely by you. An offer of admission will be withdrawn if it is discovered that you did not write your essays. Please note the following:
Essays 1, 2 and 4 must be typed and submitted using the standard U.S. 8 1/2” x 11” format, double-spaced, in 12-point font.
Please adhere to the essay word limits provided for each question.
Word limits apply to the total question. For example, your response to Essay 1 should answer part (a), part (b) and part (c) with a maximum of 750 words.
Label the top of each essay with the following: Name, Date of Birth (month, day, year), Essay Number and Page Number (e.g.: Joe Applicant, January 1, 2001, Essay #1, Page 1)
Essay 1. Professional Aspirations:
(750 word maximum, double-spaced, 12-point font)
Think about the decisions you have made in your life. Answer the following:
(a) What choices have you made that led you to your current position?
(b) Why pursue an MBA at this point in your life?
(c) What is your career goal upon graduation from NYU Stern? What is your long-term career goal?
Admissions Tips:
Listen to our podcast: Writing your Story.
Proofread your essays carefully.
Make sure you have fully answered the essay questions.
Be genuine in your essays - tell us about the real you.
Follow the essay instructions, including word limits and font size.
Essay 2. Fit with Stern:
(500 word maximum, double-spaced, 12-point font)
The NYU Stern community is one of our strongest assets. Please answer the following questions about our community:
(a) What is your personal experience with the Stern community? What actions have you taken to learn more about us?
(b) How would you contribute to our community as a student?
(c) How will you benefit personally and professionally from the Stern community?
Essay 3. Personal Expression:
Please describe yourself to your MBA classmates. You may use almost any method to convey your message (e.g. words, illustrations). Feel free to be creative.
All submissions become part of NYU Stern’s permanent records and cannot be returned for any reason. Please do not submit anything that must be viewed or played electronically (e.g. CDs, DVDs, MP3s, online links), that is perishable (e.g. food) or that has been worn (e.g. used clothing). If you submit a written essay, it should be 500 words maximum, double-spaced, 12-point font.
If you are not submitting Essay 3 online, you must provide a brief description of your submission with your online application. To mail in Essay 3, please follow the mail and labeling instructions. Also, note that supplemental Essay 3 packages are subject to size restrictions. Essays that exceed the stated size restrictions will not be accepted for review by the Admissions Committee. Please see the table below for the required package guidelines:
Packaging Type
Dimensions: Metric
Dimensions: Non-metric
Box
36cm x 31cm x 8cm
14” x 12” x 3”
Cylindrical tube
8 cm x 91cm
3” x 36”
Triangular tube
97cm x 16cm x 16 cm x 16 cm
38” x 6” x 6” x 6”
Admissions Tips:
Listen to Isser Gallogly, Executive Director of MBA Admissions, discuss Essay 3 on Public Radio's "Marketplace". (Before listening, note that we now have new Essay 3 size restrictions.)
To see if Stern is a fit for you, come visit us in New York City or visit us overseas.
Essay 4. Additional Information: (optional)
Please provide any additional information that you would like to bring to the attention of the Admissions Committee. This may include current or past gaps in employment, your undergraduate record, plans to retake the GMAT and/or TOEFL or any other relevant information.
If you are unable to submit a recommendation from a current supervisor, you must explain your reason in this essay.
If you are a re-applicant from last year, please explain how your candidacy has improved since your last application.
If you are applying to a dual degree program, please explain your decision to pursue a dual degree.
Every year, I have seen some potential applicants to Stern look at the above questions and simply decide it is better to apply elsewhere. Actually, I have found myself advocating application to Stern as part of a school selection strategy as a result. While Stern's questions are unique, especially Essay 3, they maybe significantly less daunting than what you initially think.
Stern admissions does a very good job of explaining their application. As is written above, listen to their podcasts. If you can attend a presentation at Stern or at least attend an admissions event, that is most helpful because getting into Stern is all about fit.
Consider that in the three required questions above, the one constant feature is Stern. If you look at other top schools essay sets you will not find another one where a 100% of the questions require you to discuss the school. While Essay 1 only refers to Stern in the context of what you will do after it, clearly the assumption here is not that you just need any MBA, but one from Stern. Essay 2 actually consists of three questions about your relationship to Stern. Finally Essay 3 is about how you would introduce yourself to your classmates at Stern.
From an admissions office perspective, I think Stern's "100% fit essays" approach makes quite a bit of sense if you consider that Stern's yield (percentage of accepted students who attend) is 50% among the 22% of total applicants that it accepted in 2006 (all numbers from Businessweek). Compare this to Columbia's yield of 79% on the 17% of students that it accepts, Wharton's yield of 69% on the 21% of students that it accepts, and Harvard Business School's yield of 91% on the 15% of students that it accepts and I think you will begin to see one reason why Stern cares about fit. I am comparing NYU against these other top urban East Coast schools because many applying to those other schools are likely to apply to NYU and because these are the schools that NYU wants to compare itself to. NYU's yield is not bad, in fact it is better than schools than the schools that rank (it is ranked 14th) immediately above it in Businessweek, UCLA (12th) and Cornell (13th), but its yield is significantly lower than schools it is most likely to be compared to, especially Columbia Business School (ranked 10th).
Attending Stern's Admission Event in Tokyo only further convinced me of this. The impression I gathered from both the admissions presentation and the short video that was shown was that Stern places a high value on involvement within its community. At least that was impression that I got.
Given the very clear nature of NYU's instructions, I don't think my own analysis of Essays 1 and 2 is that interesting!
Essay 1. Professional Aspirations:
(750 word maximum, double-spaced, 12-point font)
Think about the decisions you have made in your life. Answer the following:
(a) What choices have you made that led you to your current position?
(b) Why pursue an MBA at this point in your life?
(c) What is your career goal upon graduation from NYU Stern? What is your long-term career goal?
What I really like about this essay is that Stern is doing all the organizational work for you. Lets examine each part.
(a) What choices have you made that led you to your current position?
Basically you need to provide an explanation for your career to the present with an emphasis on your current position. Given the space limitations, I don't suggest using more than 1/3 of your word count for this part of the essay. Focus on providing an explanation that would not be clear from simply reviewing your resume. Your motivations should be made clear. If your resume is what you done, this should be about why? and more specifically why are you doing your current job?
(b) Why pursue an MBA at this point in your life?
Please see my analysis of Chicago GSB Question 1, which is very much focused on "Why now?" Clearly you need to show why given your present position and future goals, now is the right time to get an MBA.
(c) What is your career goal upon graduation from NYU Stern? What is your long-term career goal?
Use at least 1/3 of your essay to explain both your post-MBA career goal and your long-term career goals. For more about goals formulation, see here and here.
Essay 2. Fit with Stern:
(500 word maximum, double-spaced, 12-point font)
The NYU Stern community is one of our strongest assets. Please answer the following questions about our community: (a) What is your personal experience with the Stern community? What actions have you taken to learn more about us? (b) How would you contribute to our community as a student? (c) How will you benefit personally and professionally from the Stern community?
This essay consists of providing detailed answers to three questions that should show your passion to be part of Stern. Let's examine each part:
(a) What is your personal experience with the Stern community? What actions have you taken to learn more about us?
Here you need to clearly indicate how you have become informed. Visiting is obviously best, attending their admissions event is also good, and so is making an effort to communicate with students and alums. Obviously reading their website is important, but is rather minimal. Make sure you listened to their podcasts. Making a connection to alum is always a good idea. Be specific about the steps you have taken. Feel free to use names of admissions officers, alums and students that you met.
(b) How would you contribute to our community as a student?
Please see my analysis of contribution questions. Think specifically about how specific parts of your background will add value to other students and the Stern community as a whole.
(c) How will you benefit personally and professionally from the Stern community?
Think as specifically as possible about what you gain from being a part of the Stern COMMUNITY. I capitalize community to emphasize that you should focus at least part of your answer on things outside of classes. You should show the likely ways you think Stern will contribute to your personal and professional development.
Question 3: See here.
Essay 4. Additional Information: (optional)
Please provide any additional information that you would like to bring to the attention of the Admissions Committee. This may include current or past gaps in employment, your undergraduate record, plans to retake the GMAT and/or TOEFL or any other relevant information.
If you are unable to submit a recommendation from a current supervisor, you must explain your reason in this essay.
If you are a re-applicant from last year, please explain how your candidacy has improved since your last application.
If you are applying to a dual degree program, please explain your decision to pursue a dual degree.
Like the optional question for Chicago GSB and Wharton, this is primarily a place for explaining something potentially negative. If you are a re-applicant, this is where your reapplication essay goes and clearly this should be a very positive and wonderful essay that states clearly how you are much stronger candidate. Under no circumstances include an essay clearly written for another school. Yes, I know that NYU did not ask you write a whole essay about an important leadership experience you had, but since they did not ask for it, we can assume that is not the way they will gauge your potential.
Question? Comments? Email me at adammarkus@gmail.com
-Adam Markus
アダム マーカス
ビジネススクール カウンセリング コンサルティング 大学院 合格対策 エッセイ MBA留学
This is the first of two posts on NYU Stern's MBA Essays for Fall 2008 Admission. The second one is here.
New York University Stern School of Business MBA essay questions' web page also includes great tips for the questions, so I have included them. Let's look at the whole thing first and than break it down.
The following essay questions give you the opportunity to more fully present yourself to the Admissions Committee and to provide insight into your experiences, goals and thought processes. Your essays should be written entirely by you. An offer of admission will be withdrawn if it is discovered that you did not write your essays. Please note the following:
Essays 1, 2 and 4 must be typed and submitted using the standard U.S. 8 1/2” x 11” format, double-spaced, in 12-point font.
Please adhere to the essay word limits provided for each question.
Word limits apply to the total question. For example, your response to Essay 1 should answer part (a), part (b) and part (c) with a maximum of 750 words.
Label the top of each essay with the following: Name, Date of Birth (month, day, year), Essay Number and Page Number (e.g.: Joe Applicant, January 1, 2001, Essay #1, Page 1)
Essay 1. Professional Aspirations:
(750 word maximum, double-spaced, 12-point font)
Think about the decisions you have made in your life. Answer the following:
(a) What choices have you made that led you to your current position?
(b) Why pursue an MBA at this point in your life?
(c) What is your career goal upon graduation from NYU Stern? What is your long-term career goal?
Admissions Tips:
Listen to our podcast: Writing your Story.
Proofread your essays carefully.
Make sure you have fully answered the essay questions.
Be genuine in your essays - tell us about the real you.
Follow the essay instructions, including word limits and font size.
Essay 2. Fit with Stern:
(500 word maximum, double-spaced, 12-point font)
The NYU Stern community is one of our strongest assets. Please answer the following questions about our community:
(a) What is your personal experience with the Stern community? What actions have you taken to learn more about us?
(b) How would you contribute to our community as a student?
(c) How will you benefit personally and professionally from the Stern community?
Essay 3. Personal Expression:
Please describe yourself to your MBA classmates. You may use almost any method to convey your message (e.g. words, illustrations). Feel free to be creative.
All submissions become part of NYU Stern’s permanent records and cannot be returned for any reason. Please do not submit anything that must be viewed or played electronically (e.g. CDs, DVDs, MP3s, online links), that is perishable (e.g. food) or that has been worn (e.g. used clothing). If you submit a written essay, it should be 500 words maximum, double-spaced, 12-point font.
If you are not submitting Essay 3 online, you must provide a brief description of your submission with your online application. To mail in Essay 3, please follow the mail and labeling instructions. Also, note that supplemental Essay 3 packages are subject to size restrictions. Essays that exceed the stated size restrictions will not be accepted for review by the Admissions Committee. Please see the table below for the required package guidelines:
Packaging Type
Dimensions: Metric
Dimensions: Non-metric
Box
36cm x 31cm x 8cm
14” x 12” x 3”
Cylindrical tube
8 cm x 91cm
3” x 36”
Triangular tube
97cm x 16cm x 16 cm x 16 cm
38” x 6” x 6” x 6”
Admissions Tips:
Listen to Isser Gallogly, Executive Director of MBA Admissions, discuss Essay 3 on Public Radio's "Marketplace". (Before listening, note that we now have new Essay 3 size restrictions.)
To see if Stern is a fit for you, come visit us in New York City or visit us overseas.
Essay 4. Additional Information: (optional)
Please provide any additional information that you would like to bring to the attention of the Admissions Committee. This may include current or past gaps in employment, your undergraduate record, plans to retake the GMAT and/or TOEFL or any other relevant information.
If you are unable to submit a recommendation from a current supervisor, you must explain your reason in this essay.
If you are a re-applicant from last year, please explain how your candidacy has improved since your last application.
If you are applying to a dual degree program, please explain your decision to pursue a dual degree.
Every year, I have seen some potential applicants to Stern look at the above questions and simply decide it is better to apply elsewhere. Actually, I have found myself advocating application to Stern as part of a school selection strategy as a result. While Stern's questions are unique, especially Essay 3, they maybe significantly less daunting than what you initially think.
Stern admissions does a very good job of explaining their application. As is written above, listen to their podcasts. If you can attend a presentation at Stern or at least attend an admissions event, that is most helpful because getting into Stern is all about fit.
Consider that in the three required questions above, the one constant feature is Stern. If you look at other top schools essay sets you will not find another one where a 100% of the questions require you to discuss the school. While Essay 1 only refers to Stern in the context of what you will do after it, clearly the assumption here is not that you just need any MBA, but one from Stern. Essay 2 actually consists of three questions about your relationship to Stern. Finally Essay 3 is about how you would introduce yourself to your classmates at Stern.
From an admissions office perspective, I think Stern's "100% fit essays" approach makes quite a bit of sense if you consider that Stern's yield (percentage of accepted students who attend) is 50% among the 22% of total applicants that it accepted in 2006 (all numbers from Businessweek). Compare this to Columbia's yield of 79% on the 17% of students that it accepts, Wharton's yield of 69% on the 21% of students that it accepts, and Harvard Business School's yield of 91% on the 15% of students that it accepts and I think you will begin to see one reason why Stern cares about fit. I am comparing NYU against these other top urban East Coast schools because many applying to those other schools are likely to apply to NYU and because these are the schools that NYU wants to compare itself to. NYU's yield is not bad, in fact it is better than schools than the schools that rank (it is ranked 14th) immediately above it in Businessweek, UCLA (12th) and Cornell (13th), but its yield is significantly lower than schools it is most likely to be compared to, especially Columbia Business School (ranked 10th).
Attending Stern's Admission Event in Tokyo only further convinced me of this. The impression I gathered from both the admissions presentation and the short video that was shown was that Stern places a high value on involvement within its community. At least that was impression that I got.
Given the very clear nature of NYU's instructions, I don't think my own analysis of Essays 1 and 2 is that interesting!
Essay 1. Professional Aspirations:
(750 word maximum, double-spaced, 12-point font)
Think about the decisions you have made in your life. Answer the following:
(a) What choices have you made that led you to your current position?
(b) Why pursue an MBA at this point in your life?
(c) What is your career goal upon graduation from NYU Stern? What is your long-term career goal?
What I really like about this essay is that Stern is doing all the organizational work for you. Lets examine each part.
(a) What choices have you made that led you to your current position?
Basically you need to provide an explanation for your career to the present with an emphasis on your current position. Given the space limitations, I don't suggest using more than 1/3 of your word count for this part of the essay. Focus on providing an explanation that would not be clear from simply reviewing your resume. Your motivations should be made clear. If your resume is what you done, this should be about why? and more specifically why are you doing your current job?
(b) Why pursue an MBA at this point in your life?
Please see my analysis of Chicago GSB Question 1, which is very much focused on "Why now?" Clearly you need to show why given your present position and future goals, now is the right time to get an MBA.
(c) What is your career goal upon graduation from NYU Stern? What is your long-term career goal?
Use at least 1/3 of your essay to explain both your post-MBA career goal and your long-term career goals. For more about goals formulation, see here and here.
Essay 2. Fit with Stern:
(500 word maximum, double-spaced, 12-point font)
The NYU Stern community is one of our strongest assets. Please answer the following questions about our community: (a) What is your personal experience with the Stern community? What actions have you taken to learn more about us? (b) How would you contribute to our community as a student? (c) How will you benefit personally and professionally from the Stern community?
This essay consists of providing detailed answers to three questions that should show your passion to be part of Stern. Let's examine each part:
(a) What is your personal experience with the Stern community? What actions have you taken to learn more about us?
Here you need to clearly indicate how you have become informed. Visiting is obviously best, attending their admissions event is also good, and so is making an effort to communicate with students and alums. Obviously reading their website is important, but is rather minimal. Make sure you listened to their podcasts. Making a connection to alum is always a good idea. Be specific about the steps you have taken. Feel free to use names of admissions officers, alums and students that you met.
(b) How would you contribute to our community as a student?
Please see my analysis of contribution questions. Think specifically about how specific parts of your background will add value to other students and the Stern community as a whole.
(c) How will you benefit personally and professionally from the Stern community?
Think as specifically as possible about what you gain from being a part of the Stern COMMUNITY. I capitalize community to emphasize that you should focus at least part of your answer on things outside of classes. You should show the likely ways you think Stern will contribute to your personal and professional development.
Question 3: See here.
Essay 4. Additional Information: (optional)
Please provide any additional information that you would like to bring to the attention of the Admissions Committee. This may include current or past gaps in employment, your undergraduate record, plans to retake the GMAT and/or TOEFL or any other relevant information.
If you are unable to submit a recommendation from a current supervisor, you must explain your reason in this essay.
If you are a re-applicant from last year, please explain how your candidacy has improved since your last application.
If you are applying to a dual degree program, please explain your decision to pursue a dual degree.
Like the optional question for Chicago GSB and Wharton, this is primarily a place for explaining something potentially negative. If you are a re-applicant, this is where your reapplication essay goes and clearly this should be a very positive and wonderful essay that states clearly how you are much stronger candidate. Under no circumstances include an essay clearly written for another school. Yes, I know that NYU did not ask you write a whole essay about an important leadership experience you had, but since they did not ask for it, we can assume that is not the way they will gauge your potential.
Question? Comments? Email me at adammarkus@gmail.com
-Adam Markus
アダム マーカス
ビジネススクール カウンセリング コンサルティング 大学院 合格対策 エッセイ MBA留学
November 01, 2007
Fall 2008 MBA Contribution Questions: Kellogg, Duke, McCombs, Babson & LBS
In this post I analyze the contribution essay questions for Fall 2008 asked by Northwestern Kellogg, Duke Fuqua, University of Texas-Austin McCombs, Babson Olin, and the London Business School.
MBA programs are looking for students who will make a contribution. And this really makes sense because of the collaborative nature of MBA education. While professors play an important role in the classroom, students learn from each other on a continuous basis both inside and outside of class. It is no surprise that it is easy to find MBAs in record numbers on social networking sites like LinkedIn and Facebook because their education is very much one based on relationship building.
One of the chief functions of an MBA admissions committee is to select people who will be good classmates. The director and the rest of the committee have done their job properly if they have selected students who can work well together, learn from each other, and if these students become alum who value the relationships they initially formed at business school.
There are a number of ways of trying to determine whether someone really "fits" at a particular school, but certainly the most direct thing to do is just ask. One way they ask is by asking applicants why they want to attend. See for example, Chicago GSB Essay 1. It is clearly important that an applicant know what kind of ROI they are expecting from their MBA and they can show why a particular program can provide it. Another way is to ask applicants what they can contribute.
I would argue, in fact, that even if a school does not ask an applicant to tell them what he or she can contribute, the applicant should make that clear, directly if possible, in the essays. Interviews are usually a further opportunity to discuss how one will make a contribution.
Here we will look at essay questions that do in fact require applicants to state very clearly what kind of contributions they can make.
Kellogg
2.) Each of our applicants is unique. Describe how your background, values, academics, activities and/or leadership skills will enhance the experience of other Kellogg students. (One to two pages double spaced.)
Within the context of the Kellogg application, essay question 2 is really one of the important places to show why you will fit into this intensely social environment where both personal initiative and the ability to work with others are highly valued. While it would be possible to write on professional topics here, I would suggest not doing so because you can easily do that in Essay Questions 1,3, and 4. One way, I like to think about contribution questions is to use a matrix like the following:
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CLICK ON THE ABOVE TO ENLARGE. For an excel version, please email me at adammarkus@gmail.com.
I use the above matrix for all types of contribution questions, modifying the categories to fit the question. When it comes to contribution questions, I think it is important to tell specific stories that highlight specific ways you will add value to your future classmates. Sometimes people write about contributions that don't have any really clear added value and these by definition are not contributions. Yes, you may love reading Science Fiction in your spare time, but it is only a contribution if your experience of reading Science Fiction can be shown to add value to your classmates (Financial forecasting?). Given that Kellogg gives you up to two pages, my suggestion is to actually use this space not simply focus on one thing. Focus on at least two and probably more like three or four. When you think about what to select here, closely consider what you are writing in the other essays and use this space to help Kellogg learn even more about you. Given that essay question 3 is focused on leadership experiences, only discuss leadership skills in essay question 2 if they are points in addition to what you cover in essay question 3.
Duke Fuqua
Short Answer Essay Question 2. How will your background, values, and non-work activities enhance the experience of other Duke MBA students and add value to Fuqua's diverse culture? (1 page)
Fuqua is very clear that this space is to be used for non-work activities. It really is quite similar to Kellogg in that respect, but is limited to a single page. What I like about the Fuqua version is that it is very clear that you need to focus on ways you will add value. It is a shorter version than Kellogg, but do keep in mind that you will also be writing Long Essay 2. which is also a kind of contribution question:
How has your personal history and family background influenced your intellectual and personal development? What unique personal qualities or life experiences distinguish you from other applicants? Note: The goal of this essay is to get a sense of who you are, rather than what you have achieved professionally. (There is no restriction on the length of your response for the two long essay questions. Applicants typically use between 500 and 750 words for long essays one and two.)
I actually think it is somewhat easy to differentiate between these two essays because Short Answer 2 is really focused on specific ways that you will add value, while Long Answer 2 is focused simply on what makes you unique.
Some people really become perplexed, paralyzed or otherwise unhappy when asked to state what makes them unique, but if you follow Duke's question, you will see that there is no cause for alarm. The objective in Long Answer 2 is to really give admissions insight into who you are, not what you have done (you can do that in Short Answer 2 and in Long Answer 1). Think about what positive characteristics about yourself make you the kind of person that other people want to be around. Also keep in mind that while Duke really does want to understand your background, an overemphasis on the negative is not likely to be effective. That said, writing about obstacles that you have overcome in the past can be great way to show some really positive characteristics.
McCombs
Keep in mind that for some schools like the University of Texas at Austin McCombs School of Business, MBA students are directly involved in admissions decisions, so explaining how you will contribute to your fellow students is no hypothetical issue.
At the McCombs School of Business, you will be part of an active and diverse community. Referencing your personal strengths and unique experience, how will you enrich the McCombs community during your two years in the program? Limit: 500 words
The question itself is not different from Kellogg, but given the limited size of the application you may find it useful to mention something professional that you could not express elsewhere. That said you should make every effort to include sufficient personal content so that the students at McCombs know why you should be part of their school. Japanese applicants (and anyone else who can read Japanese) should most certainly take a look at http://blogs.yahoo.co.jp/ayustat9.
Babson
Taken from the pdf application:
(3) What unique contributions will you bring to the Babson community that will enhance the value of the classroom experience for your classmates?
Babson's question is not so different from McCombs, but there is a difference: Given the fact that Babson is focused primarily on entrepreneurship, you should make sure that at least some of the unique contributions you make based on either your personal or professional background clearly relate to entrepreneurship. Use this essay to help admissions understand the fit between you and an MBA program for future entrepreneurs.
London Business School
Taken from the word version of the questions:
Question 3 (500 words)
Please describe your experience of working in and leading teams, either in your professional or personal life. Given this experience, what role do you think you will play in your study group, and how do you intend to contribute to it?
This question is like Duke Short Answer A very focused on specific ways you will add value and more particularly based on your team experiences. In 500 words, you should try to cover two to three different aspects of your team experiences. One possible mix might be one recent professional team experience, one experience during your university years, and one relating to a current extracurricular activity. In addition to wanting to know about your team experiences and how they will add value to other students, London Business School wants to know how you will contribute to the school as a whole:
Question 4 (400 words)
Student involvement is an extremely important part of the London MBA experience and this is reflected in the character of students on campus. What type of student club or campus community event do you envisage yourself leading? How would you set about becoming involved in a leadership position and how would you align and communicate the goals and vision for the club to the wider School community?
This question is certainly not like the more standard contribution questions above because it is completely future focused, whereas the typical contribution question is about showing how the past will be utilized for the future. Here you should certainly explain why you would want to lead a particular club or event and while this may relate to the past, you should really use this essay to show what you want to gain from LBS. In fact, this question is both about what you will contribute and what you will learn/experience at LBS. Effective answers to this question require solid knowledge about LBS, so that you can think really practically about your answer to this question. Keep in mind that this question is not really very hypothetical because students are expected to get leadership experience through clubs and events.
Finally, London Business School clearly put a huge emphasis on teams and participation in the life of the school, so in both essays make sure that you are showing that you are the kind of person who will take initiative.
Questions? Write comments or contact me directly at adammarkus@gmail.com.
-Adam Markus
アダム マーカス
ビジネススクール カウンセリング コンサルティング 大学院 合格対策 エッセイ MBA留学
MBA programs are looking for students who will make a contribution. And this really makes sense because of the collaborative nature of MBA education. While professors play an important role in the classroom, students learn from each other on a continuous basis both inside and outside of class. It is no surprise that it is easy to find MBAs in record numbers on social networking sites like LinkedIn and Facebook because their education is very much one based on relationship building.
One of the chief functions of an MBA admissions committee is to select people who will be good classmates. The director and the rest of the committee have done their job properly if they have selected students who can work well together, learn from each other, and if these students become alum who value the relationships they initially formed at business school.
There are a number of ways of trying to determine whether someone really "fits" at a particular school, but certainly the most direct thing to do is just ask. One way they ask is by asking applicants why they want to attend. See for example, Chicago GSB Essay 1. It is clearly important that an applicant know what kind of ROI they are expecting from their MBA and they can show why a particular program can provide it. Another way is to ask applicants what they can contribute.
I would argue, in fact, that even if a school does not ask an applicant to tell them what he or she can contribute, the applicant should make that clear, directly if possible, in the essays. Interviews are usually a further opportunity to discuss how one will make a contribution.
Here we will look at essay questions that do in fact require applicants to state very clearly what kind of contributions they can make.
Kellogg
2.) Each of our applicants is unique. Describe how your background, values, academics, activities and/or leadership skills will enhance the experience of other Kellogg students. (One to two pages double spaced.)
Within the context of the Kellogg application, essay question 2 is really one of the important places to show why you will fit into this intensely social environment where both personal initiative and the ability to work with others are highly valued. While it would be possible to write on professional topics here, I would suggest not doing so because you can easily do that in Essay Questions 1,3, and 4. One way, I like to think about contribution questions is to use a matrix like the following:
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CLICK ON THE ABOVE TO ENLARGE. For an excel version, please email me at adammarkus@gmail.com.
I use the above matrix for all types of contribution questions, modifying the categories to fit the question. When it comes to contribution questions, I think it is important to tell specific stories that highlight specific ways you will add value to your future classmates. Sometimes people write about contributions that don't have any really clear added value and these by definition are not contributions. Yes, you may love reading Science Fiction in your spare time, but it is only a contribution if your experience of reading Science Fiction can be shown to add value to your classmates (Financial forecasting?). Given that Kellogg gives you up to two pages, my suggestion is to actually use this space not simply focus on one thing. Focus on at least two and probably more like three or four. When you think about what to select here, closely consider what you are writing in the other essays and use this space to help Kellogg learn even more about you. Given that essay question 3 is focused on leadership experiences, only discuss leadership skills in essay question 2 if they are points in addition to what you cover in essay question 3.
Duke Fuqua
Short Answer Essay Question 2. How will your background, values, and non-work activities enhance the experience of other Duke MBA students and add value to Fuqua's diverse culture? (1 page)
Fuqua is very clear that this space is to be used for non-work activities. It really is quite similar to Kellogg in that respect, but is limited to a single page. What I like about the Fuqua version is that it is very clear that you need to focus on ways you will add value. It is a shorter version than Kellogg, but do keep in mind that you will also be writing Long Essay 2. which is also a kind of contribution question:
How has your personal history and family background influenced your intellectual and personal development? What unique personal qualities or life experiences distinguish you from other applicants? Note: The goal of this essay is to get a sense of who you are, rather than what you have achieved professionally. (There is no restriction on the length of your response for the two long essay questions. Applicants typically use between 500 and 750 words for long essays one and two.)
I actually think it is somewhat easy to differentiate between these two essays because Short Answer 2 is really focused on specific ways that you will add value, while Long Answer 2 is focused simply on what makes you unique.
Some people really become perplexed, paralyzed or otherwise unhappy when asked to state what makes them unique, but if you follow Duke's question, you will see that there is no cause for alarm. The objective in Long Answer 2 is to really give admissions insight into who you are, not what you have done (you can do that in Short Answer 2 and in Long Answer 1). Think about what positive characteristics about yourself make you the kind of person that other people want to be around. Also keep in mind that while Duke really does want to understand your background, an overemphasis on the negative is not likely to be effective. That said, writing about obstacles that you have overcome in the past can be great way to show some really positive characteristics.
McCombs
Keep in mind that for some schools like the University of Texas at Austin McCombs School of Business, MBA students are directly involved in admissions decisions, so explaining how you will contribute to your fellow students is no hypothetical issue.
At the McCombs School of Business, you will be part of an active and diverse community. Referencing your personal strengths and unique experience, how will you enrich the McCombs community during your two years in the program? Limit: 500 words
The question itself is not different from Kellogg, but given the limited size of the application you may find it useful to mention something professional that you could not express elsewhere. That said you should make every effort to include sufficient personal content so that the students at McCombs know why you should be part of their school. Japanese applicants (and anyone else who can read Japanese) should most certainly take a look at http://blogs.yahoo.co.jp/ayustat9.
Babson
Taken from the pdf application:
(3) What unique contributions will you bring to the Babson community that will enhance the value of the classroom experience for your classmates?
Babson's question is not so different from McCombs, but there is a difference: Given the fact that Babson is focused primarily on entrepreneurship, you should make sure that at least some of the unique contributions you make based on either your personal or professional background clearly relate to entrepreneurship. Use this essay to help admissions understand the fit between you and an MBA program for future entrepreneurs.
London Business School
Taken from the word version of the questions:
Question 3 (500 words)
Please describe your experience of working in and leading teams, either in your professional or personal life. Given this experience, what role do you think you will play in your study group, and how do you intend to contribute to it?
This question is like Duke Short Answer A very focused on specific ways you will add value and more particularly based on your team experiences. In 500 words, you should try to cover two to three different aspects of your team experiences. One possible mix might be one recent professional team experience, one experience during your university years, and one relating to a current extracurricular activity. In addition to wanting to know about your team experiences and how they will add value to other students, London Business School wants to know how you will contribute to the school as a whole:
Question 4 (400 words)
Student involvement is an extremely important part of the London MBA experience and this is reflected in the character of students on campus. What type of student club or campus community event do you envisage yourself leading? How would you set about becoming involved in a leadership position and how would you align and communicate the goals and vision for the club to the wider School community?
This question is certainly not like the more standard contribution questions above because it is completely future focused, whereas the typical contribution question is about showing how the past will be utilized for the future. Here you should certainly explain why you would want to lead a particular club or event and while this may relate to the past, you should really use this essay to show what you want to gain from LBS. In fact, this question is both about what you will contribute and what you will learn/experience at LBS. Effective answers to this question require solid knowledge about LBS, so that you can think really practically about your answer to this question. Keep in mind that this question is not really very hypothetical because students are expected to get leadership experience through clubs and events.
Finally, London Business School clearly put a huge emphasis on teams and participation in the life of the school, so in both essays make sure that you are showing that you are the kind of person who will take initiative.
Questions? Write comments or contact me directly at adammarkus@gmail.com.
-Adam Markus
アダム マーカス
ビジネススクール カウンセリング コンサルティング 大学院 合格対策 エッセイ MBA留学
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October 27, 2007
Behavioral Questions: MIT Sloan & Stanford GSB for Fall 2008 MBA Admissions
CLICK HERE FOR FALL 2009 MIT SLOAN CLASS OF 2011 ESSAY QUESTION ANALYSIS.
CLICK HERE FOR FALL 2009 STANFORD CLASS OF 2011 ESSAY QUESTION ANALYSIS.
In this very long post (sorry it took so long for me to get it done, but I have been busy), I will look at behavioral questions in general, the behavioral essay and interview questions for MIT Sloan MBA Essays for Fall 2008, and the behavioral questions for Stanford GSB MBA Essay Questions for 2007/2008.
First, I think it helps to know something about the origin of behavioral questions. Next I will discuss the MIT interview. Finally, I will analyze the MIT and Stanford behavioral essay questions for Fall 2008 Admission.
Before reading the rest of this post, I strongly suggest downloading a copy of MIT's excellent guide to behavioral interviews, The MIT Sloan Interview Guide, because reading it first, will maximize the value of my comments below.
The behavioral essay questions that MIT and Stanford ask have their origins in behavioral interviewing. This method is not old:
“Bill Byham, CEO and founder of Development Dimensions International, originated the behavioral interviewing method in 1970.”
In fact, the STAR technique outlined in MIT’s guide was developed by Byham as THE WAY to answer behavioral questions:
Byham calls an example of past behavior a STAR, because a complete example consists of a situation or task, the specific action you took and the result of your action. The result you describe doesn't have to be positive; it could be that you learned a valuable lesson from doing something the wrong way.
In his book "Landing the Job You Want: How to Have the Best Job Interview of Your Life" (Three Rivers Press, 1997), Byham tells candidates how to identify the skills for a job; explore their own "behavioral dimensions" (the behaviors they use every day to get things done); and recognize and present a STAR with positive impact in an interview.
In addition to the MIT SLOAN Guide, I suggest also taking a look at the slightly different guide to the Star Technique that MIT Career Services provides.
The STAR technique is really the core method you need to use for answering behavioral questions both in interviews and essays. It is simply this (taken from the MIT Sloan Guide):
• Situation: define the situation or “set the stage.”
• Task: identify the task/project performed.
• Action: describe the action you took.
• Result: summarize the outcome
Just keep in mind that you need to be introspective as well, so say what you thought. Don’t just present “the facts” but actively interpret your actions. There is really nothing overly complicated about this as long as you understand that you need to tell a DETAILED story. Pure abstractions disconnected from a concrete set of action steps are highly likely to result in a weak answer. Similarly grand actions not told in any depth are also likely to be weak.
One key to answering these questions is to provide enough detail at the micro-level: Identify specific actions that contributed to the result so as to establish a clear link between cause and effect.
Another important consideration is, like when answering any kind of question, to think very critically about what your story selection, understanding of the task, actions taken, and results say about you. Keeping in mind that the whole point of asking behavioral questions is to determine how someone acts and thinks as a basis for selecting or rejecting that person, it is obviously critical to be aware of your own message.
MIT INTERVIEWS
When it comes to behavioral interviews, first do the following:
1. Review your own application completely and isolate your key selling points/qualities as abstractions.
2. Review the types of questions you are likely to encounter by reading reports from other applicants. See here for more about that.
3. Next develop a set of stories that make the very same or similar points about you as the essays, but not the same content. These stories should cover a wide array of possible questions. I don’t suggest writing them out, just outline them using STAR.
4. Practice telling stories using STAR.
5. Don’t memorize everything, just be comfortable with telling a wide variety of possible stories so that when you are asked you come across as natural, not providing something memorized.
During the interview:
1. Make sure that you don’t just begin telling the first story that comes to you. That is natural enough, but you should avoid it at all costs because you may very well not select the right story. Instead pause for a second to think about it.
2. Presentation counts, so make sure that you are showing good eye contact, speaking clearly, showing personality, and otherwise making a good impression because all of these things are also part of your behavior.
3. Don't worry if you are unable to discuss everything you wanted to. Just focus on giving solid answers to the questions.
MIT SLOAN ESSAYS
Please see my prior post for MIT’s complete instructions. I will analyze one question at a time. A few things to keep in mind:
1. You need to show the capacity of analyzing and acting in different ways, so while all the stories should utilize STAR, don’t tell them in the same way. Make sure you are presenting different sides to who you are by telling your stories differently.
2. If at all possible discuss different situations in these essays, not two different stories from the same situation because you are trying present as wide a spectrum of events and qualities about yourself as you can.
3. You should ask yourself “what does this essay reveal about me?” If you can’t state that clearly and unambiguously, you need to clarify your message. When asking this question, think about both what you intend the reader to think and what you might also be revealing. Control for the possibility of sending out unintended signals. One of the best ways of handling this issue is to have a very careful and intelligent reader review these essays. If you are working with an admissions consultant, they should be able to do this. Getting multiple perspectives on what you wrote will help you better understand your likely impact on an admissions reader.
Essay 1: Please tell us about a time when you had an impact on a group or organization. Describe in detail what you thought, felt, said, and did. (500 words or less.)
THINK WIDELY and don’t just tell big picture leadership story here, instead think about a situation where your actions lead to positive improvement in a group or organization. Don’t feel obligated to provide a work related answer to this question even though you may have developed such an answer for another school. A few questions to think about:
1. How did you add value?
2. What skills or qualities did you demonstrate in the process?
3. What does this story reveal about the way you interact with organizations or groups?
Essay 2: Please tell us about a challenging interaction you had with a person or group. Describe in detail what you thought, felt, said, and did. (500 words or less.)
If Essay 1 is in primarily about the way positively impact groups or organizations, Essay 2 is clearly about the way you interact either individuals or groups. Clearly think about what “challenging” means to you. We have all had challenging situations that ended badly and that we wish we had handled better, but that is not what you should write about here. Instead focus on a difficult interaction that ultimately shows you positively. They are not asking for a failure story here, so don’t provide one.
Essay 3: Please tell us about a time when you defended your idea. Describe in detail what you thought, felt, said, and did. (500 words or less.)
MIT is about the joining together of Mens et Menus (Mind and Hand), so it should come as no surprise that they ask about your ability to champion an idea. I use the word champion because defending, sounds merely reactive and ultimately you must show your ability to serve as the champion for an idea whether you were acting on the offensive or the defensive. The idea might be an abstraction (“honesty”) or a specific analysis (“My calculations were simply better because…”), but in either case be very specific about you defended the idea. Clearly this question is tailor-made for showing linkages between thoughts, interactions with others, actions, and means of communication. You need to show MIT that you have the ability to get other people to accept your ideas. This may involve a compromise, but should not involve failure. Think about what this essay reveals about your ability to work with other students at MIT Sloan.
Essay 4: Please tell us about a time when you executed a plan. Describe in detail what you thought, felt, said, and did. (500 words or less.)
DO NOT WRITE ABOUT YOUR PLAN TO APPLY TO MBA PROGRAMS! Hopefully no one will do that, but I know someone will. If there is one essay in the MIT set of questions that is well suited for a big story, this one is it. You can of course tell a small story here, but if you want to write about your biggest accomplishment that involved a significant amount of planning that is great. This essay is clearly about the joining of mind (plan) and hand (implementation). Focus on the execution of the plan, not its initial conceptualization. While there are now hard and fast rules, I would try to expend at least two-thirds of your word count focused on showing how you realized your plan.
Entrepreneurship and Innovation (E&I) applicants only: Essay 5: Tell us about a time when you shared your talents or expertise with a group or organization. (500 words or less.)
While you should try to use STAR here as well, I think the important thing is to focus on one to three aspects of yourself that added value to a group or organization. The emphasis should be one linking these specific aspects of who you are to the outcome. Obviously many applicants will write about situations that directly involve prior experience with entrepreneurship and innovation, and it is fine to do that. On the other hand if you can showcase talents or expertise that reveal your potential to be an entrepreneur in a situation that is not obviously entrepreneurial that may very well have a greater impact on your reader.
STANFORD GSB ESSAY C FOR 2007/2008
Last year Stanford followed MIT by introducing Essay C. In the process, Stanford applicants now have the opportunity to write on their accomplishments, failures, difficulties, impact, and other characteristics without direct reference to either what matters to them most (Essay A) or their goals (Essay B). See here for my analysis of the other essays. This has made the Stanford Essay Set a more balanced set of questions. If Essay A is ultimately about what you value and B is about what you want, C is about what you can do.
Before looking at the specific questions, lets look at the instructions:
Essay C: Short Essays—Options 1-4
Answer two of the questions below. In answering both questions, tell us not only what you did, but also how you did it. Tell us the outcome, and describe how people responded. Describe only experiences that have occurred within the last three years.
If you are applying to MIT SLOAN, I think it is best if you can write the MIT essays first because this will likely help you select topics for Stanford. Having four or five behavioral essays to choose from would certainly help. The only constraint on this suggestion is that Stanford specifically requires that these experiences come from the last three years. That time constraint is important to keep in mind. If you consider that you can focus on the past and future in Essays A and B, Essay C is clearly the space to focus on the present. In C, Stanford is trying to get a sense of who you are now.
Option 1: Tell us about a time when you empowered others. (Recommended length is 1 page, double-spaced)
As a Californian, I can’t help but find something essentially regional about the wording of this question. “Empowering others” is California-speak for motivating other people or for providing them with resources that make it possible for them to take action. I can’t imagine an East Coast school asking this question. That said, this is actually a question about your ability to generate the multiplier effect that leaders are capable of. This is not the place to write about your leadership in general, but to show how you provided resources or motivations to others that allowed them to take action. Establish a clear chain of causality between your impact on others, their actions, and the outcome.
Option 2: Tell us about a time when you had a significant impact on a person, group or organization. (Recommended length is 1 page, double-spaced)
This is the same question as MIT SLOAN 1 except that it also includes individuals.
Option 3: Tell us about a time when you tried to reach a goal or complete a task that was challenging, difficult, or frustrating. (Recommended length is 1 page, double-spaced)
This may very well be a failure story. See my post on failure essays. It is possible that the topic of this question is the same as MIT Essay 2 above.
Option 4: Tell us about a time when you went beyond what was defined, established, or expected. (Recommended length is 1 page, double-spaced)
This may very well be the same as MIT SLOAN Essay 3. Going beyond something defined, established, or expected may involve breaking the rules. It certainly may involve innovation, so it is possible that this could be on the same topic as MIT Sloan Optional Essay 5. Stanford GSB is place for those who are not traditional and are flexible in their thinking. If you are maverick, a risk-taker, or simply unconventional in your approach to adding value, this essay option is for you.
IN CONCLUSION
Behavioral questions are not necessarily harder than other types of questions, but they do have their own underlying logic: Past behavior is a guide to future behavior. Keep that in mind, so that Stanford and MIT see what you want them to see and believe in your future potential.
Questions? Write comments or contact me directly at adammarkus@gmail.com.
-Adam Markus
アダム マーカス
ビジネススクール カウンセリング MITスローン コンサルティング 大学院 合格対策 エッセイ スタンフォード MBA留学
CLICK HERE FOR FALL 2009 STANFORD CLASS OF 2011 ESSAY QUESTION ANALYSIS.
In this very long post (sorry it took so long for me to get it done, but I have been busy), I will look at behavioral questions in general, the behavioral essay and interview questions for MIT Sloan MBA Essays for Fall 2008, and the behavioral questions for Stanford GSB MBA Essay Questions for 2007/2008.
First, I think it helps to know something about the origin of behavioral questions. Next I will discuss the MIT interview. Finally, I will analyze the MIT and Stanford behavioral essay questions for Fall 2008 Admission.
Before reading the rest of this post, I strongly suggest downloading a copy of MIT's excellent guide to behavioral interviews, The MIT Sloan Interview Guide, because reading it first, will maximize the value of my comments below.
The behavioral essay questions that MIT and Stanford ask have their origins in behavioral interviewing. This method is not old:
“Bill Byham, CEO and founder of Development Dimensions International, originated the behavioral interviewing method in 1970.”
In fact, the STAR technique outlined in MIT’s guide was developed by Byham as THE WAY to answer behavioral questions:
Byham calls an example of past behavior a STAR, because a complete example consists of a situation or task, the specific action you took and the result of your action. The result you describe doesn't have to be positive; it could be that you learned a valuable lesson from doing something the wrong way.
In his book "Landing the Job You Want: How to Have the Best Job Interview of Your Life" (Three Rivers Press, 1997), Byham tells candidates how to identify the skills for a job; explore their own "behavioral dimensions" (the behaviors they use every day to get things done); and recognize and present a STAR with positive impact in an interview.
In addition to the MIT SLOAN Guide, I suggest also taking a look at the slightly different guide to the Star Technique that MIT Career Services provides.
The STAR technique is really the core method you need to use for answering behavioral questions both in interviews and essays. It is simply this (taken from the MIT Sloan Guide):
• Situation: define the situation or “set the stage.”
• Task: identify the task/project performed.
• Action: describe the action you took.
• Result: summarize the outcome
Just keep in mind that you need to be introspective as well, so say what you thought. Don’t just present “the facts” but actively interpret your actions. There is really nothing overly complicated about this as long as you understand that you need to tell a DETAILED story. Pure abstractions disconnected from a concrete set of action steps are highly likely to result in a weak answer. Similarly grand actions not told in any depth are also likely to be weak.
One key to answering these questions is to provide enough detail at the micro-level: Identify specific actions that contributed to the result so as to establish a clear link between cause and effect.
Another important consideration is, like when answering any kind of question, to think very critically about what your story selection, understanding of the task, actions taken, and results say about you. Keeping in mind that the whole point of asking behavioral questions is to determine how someone acts and thinks as a basis for selecting or rejecting that person, it is obviously critical to be aware of your own message.
MIT INTERVIEWS
When it comes to behavioral interviews, first do the following:
1. Review your own application completely and isolate your key selling points/qualities as abstractions.
2. Review the types of questions you are likely to encounter by reading reports from other applicants. See here for more about that.
3. Next develop a set of stories that make the very same or similar points about you as the essays, but not the same content. These stories should cover a wide array of possible questions. I don’t suggest writing them out, just outline them using STAR.
4. Practice telling stories using STAR.
5. Don’t memorize everything, just be comfortable with telling a wide variety of possible stories so that when you are asked you come across as natural, not providing something memorized.
During the interview:
1. Make sure that you don’t just begin telling the first story that comes to you. That is natural enough, but you should avoid it at all costs because you may very well not select the right story. Instead pause for a second to think about it.
2. Presentation counts, so make sure that you are showing good eye contact, speaking clearly, showing personality, and otherwise making a good impression because all of these things are also part of your behavior.
3. Don't worry if you are unable to discuss everything you wanted to. Just focus on giving solid answers to the questions.
MIT SLOAN ESSAYS
Please see my prior post for MIT’s complete instructions. I will analyze one question at a time. A few things to keep in mind:
1. You need to show the capacity of analyzing and acting in different ways, so while all the stories should utilize STAR, don’t tell them in the same way. Make sure you are presenting different sides to who you are by telling your stories differently.
2. If at all possible discuss different situations in these essays, not two different stories from the same situation because you are trying present as wide a spectrum of events and qualities about yourself as you can.
3. You should ask yourself “what does this essay reveal about me?” If you can’t state that clearly and unambiguously, you need to clarify your message. When asking this question, think about both what you intend the reader to think and what you might also be revealing. Control for the possibility of sending out unintended signals. One of the best ways of handling this issue is to have a very careful and intelligent reader review these essays. If you are working with an admissions consultant, they should be able to do this. Getting multiple perspectives on what you wrote will help you better understand your likely impact on an admissions reader.
Essay 1: Please tell us about a time when you had an impact on a group or organization. Describe in detail what you thought, felt, said, and did. (500 words or less.)
THINK WIDELY and don’t just tell big picture leadership story here, instead think about a situation where your actions lead to positive improvement in a group or organization. Don’t feel obligated to provide a work related answer to this question even though you may have developed such an answer for another school. A few questions to think about:
1. How did you add value?
2. What skills or qualities did you demonstrate in the process?
3. What does this story reveal about the way you interact with organizations or groups?
Essay 2: Please tell us about a challenging interaction you had with a person or group. Describe in detail what you thought, felt, said, and did. (500 words or less.)
If Essay 1 is in primarily about the way positively impact groups or organizations, Essay 2 is clearly about the way you interact either individuals or groups. Clearly think about what “challenging” means to you. We have all had challenging situations that ended badly and that we wish we had handled better, but that is not what you should write about here. Instead focus on a difficult interaction that ultimately shows you positively. They are not asking for a failure story here, so don’t provide one.
Essay 3: Please tell us about a time when you defended your idea. Describe in detail what you thought, felt, said, and did. (500 words or less.)
MIT is about the joining together of Mens et Menus (Mind and Hand), so it should come as no surprise that they ask about your ability to champion an idea. I use the word champion because defending, sounds merely reactive and ultimately you must show your ability to serve as the champion for an idea whether you were acting on the offensive or the defensive. The idea might be an abstraction (“honesty”) or a specific analysis (“My calculations were simply better because…”), but in either case be very specific about you defended the idea. Clearly this question is tailor-made for showing linkages between thoughts, interactions with others, actions, and means of communication. You need to show MIT that you have the ability to get other people to accept your ideas. This may involve a compromise, but should not involve failure. Think about what this essay reveals about your ability to work with other students at MIT Sloan.
Essay 4: Please tell us about a time when you executed a plan. Describe in detail what you thought, felt, said, and did. (500 words or less.)
DO NOT WRITE ABOUT YOUR PLAN TO APPLY TO MBA PROGRAMS! Hopefully no one will do that, but I know someone will. If there is one essay in the MIT set of questions that is well suited for a big story, this one is it. You can of course tell a small story here, but if you want to write about your biggest accomplishment that involved a significant amount of planning that is great. This essay is clearly about the joining of mind (plan) and hand (implementation). Focus on the execution of the plan, not its initial conceptualization. While there are now hard and fast rules, I would try to expend at least two-thirds of your word count focused on showing how you realized your plan.
Entrepreneurship and Innovation (E&I) applicants only: Essay 5: Tell us about a time when you shared your talents or expertise with a group or organization. (500 words or less.)
While you should try to use STAR here as well, I think the important thing is to focus on one to three aspects of yourself that added value to a group or organization. The emphasis should be one linking these specific aspects of who you are to the outcome. Obviously many applicants will write about situations that directly involve prior experience with entrepreneurship and innovation, and it is fine to do that. On the other hand if you can showcase talents or expertise that reveal your potential to be an entrepreneur in a situation that is not obviously entrepreneurial that may very well have a greater impact on your reader.
STANFORD GSB ESSAY C FOR 2007/2008
Last year Stanford followed MIT by introducing Essay C. In the process, Stanford applicants now have the opportunity to write on their accomplishments, failures, difficulties, impact, and other characteristics without direct reference to either what matters to them most (Essay A) or their goals (Essay B). See here for my analysis of the other essays. This has made the Stanford Essay Set a more balanced set of questions. If Essay A is ultimately about what you value and B is about what you want, C is about what you can do.
Before looking at the specific questions, lets look at the instructions:
Essay C: Short Essays—Options 1-4
Answer two of the questions below. In answering both questions, tell us not only what you did, but also how you did it. Tell us the outcome, and describe how people responded. Describe only experiences that have occurred within the last three years.
If you are applying to MIT SLOAN, I think it is best if you can write the MIT essays first because this will likely help you select topics for Stanford. Having four or five behavioral essays to choose from would certainly help. The only constraint on this suggestion is that Stanford specifically requires that these experiences come from the last three years. That time constraint is important to keep in mind. If you consider that you can focus on the past and future in Essays A and B, Essay C is clearly the space to focus on the present. In C, Stanford is trying to get a sense of who you are now.
Option 1: Tell us about a time when you empowered others. (Recommended length is 1 page, double-spaced)
As a Californian, I can’t help but find something essentially regional about the wording of this question. “Empowering others” is California-speak for motivating other people or for providing them with resources that make it possible for them to take action. I can’t imagine an East Coast school asking this question. That said, this is actually a question about your ability to generate the multiplier effect that leaders are capable of. This is not the place to write about your leadership in general, but to show how you provided resources or motivations to others that allowed them to take action. Establish a clear chain of causality between your impact on others, their actions, and the outcome.
Option 2: Tell us about a time when you had a significant impact on a person, group or organization. (Recommended length is 1 page, double-spaced)
This is the same question as MIT SLOAN 1 except that it also includes individuals.
Option 3: Tell us about a time when you tried to reach a goal or complete a task that was challenging, difficult, or frustrating. (Recommended length is 1 page, double-spaced)
This may very well be a failure story. See my post on failure essays. It is possible that the topic of this question is the same as MIT Essay 2 above.
Option 4: Tell us about a time when you went beyond what was defined, established, or expected. (Recommended length is 1 page, double-spaced)
This may very well be the same as MIT SLOAN Essay 3. Going beyond something defined, established, or expected may involve breaking the rules. It certainly may involve innovation, so it is possible that this could be on the same topic as MIT Sloan Optional Essay 5. Stanford GSB is place for those who are not traditional and are flexible in their thinking. If you are maverick, a risk-taker, or simply unconventional in your approach to adding value, this essay option is for you.
IN CONCLUSION
Behavioral questions are not necessarily harder than other types of questions, but they do have their own underlying logic: Past behavior is a guide to future behavior. Keep that in mind, so that Stanford and MIT see what you want them to see and believe in your future potential.
Questions? Write comments or contact me directly at adammarkus@gmail.com.
-Adam Markus
アダム マーカス
ビジネススクール カウンセリング MITスローン コンサルティング 大学院 合格対策 エッセイ スタンフォード MBA留学
October 26, 2007
MIT Sloan MBA Essays for Fall 2008 1st of 2 posts
CLICK HERE FOR FALL 2009 MIT SLOAN CLASS OF 2011 ESSAY QUESTION ANALYSIS.
This is the first in a series of two posts about MIT Sloan's MBA Essays for Fall 2008. In this post, I will review the entire set of essay questions and provide analysis for the cover letter and supplemental information. The second post is here.
MIT Sloan is very direct about its core values:
Sloan's application process is, in fact, very much focused on determining whether you share and can contribute based on your own unique background to their "core idea." This does not mean that there is only one way to write great essays for MIT Sloan. Nor does it mean that they are only looking for one type of student. That said, I think you can say that there are some right ways and wrong ways to approach their questions.
MIT Sloan School of Management MBA Essays for Fall 2008:
Cover Letter
Prepare a cover letter (up to 500 words) seeking a place in the MIT Sloan MBA Program. Please comment on your career goals and those factors which influenced you to pursue an MBA education at MIT Sloan. The cover letter provides a chance for you to discuss your passions, values, and interests. Through what you write we hope to discover whether you will thrive at MIT Sloan and how you will contribute to our diverse community. Address your cover letter to Mr. Rod Garcia, Director of MBA Admissions.
If you have attended SLOAN ON THE ROAD or visited the campus, you probably heard from admissions that MIT does not ask for the sort of standard goals essays that almost all other schools ask for. Honestly this one of the things I love about this school. Admissions knows applicants are going to figure what they want to do when they go to an MBA program, so they think the question is absurd.
Based my experience seeing what happens to my clients once they graduate, I can say that MIT is absolutely right about this: Most never do what they write in their essays. This is in no way intended as a criticism of my past clients. I tell this to all my clients so that they can relax and just simply concentrate on making sure that their goals are solid without having to think that these must be their goals. Just as long they are comfortable with their goals as one possible future, that is enough.
Still goals questions are useful if you are trying to determine someone's vision and their ability to actually put together a plan (think business plan). Of course, goals essays are simply the standard sort of essay that all kinds of graduate programs require. Think of them as a formal requirement that simply has to be met.
While I have written elsewhere about goals essays (see here, here, here, and here) and recognize their importance for some degrees, for a couple years, I have been wondering why other business schools don't simply copy MIT. Actually this year, HBS did. While an applicant to HBS would certainly need to say something about their motivations, they need not write a goals essay. Like MIT, HBS has recognized the standard short-term/long-term goals essay is simply a formal exercise that can be dispensed with unless someone has something really important to write about that topic.
Unlike HBS, MIT specifically requires that you write a 500 essay in the form of a cover letter that will convince them why you belong at MIT Sloan. Goals in some way need to be there, but it is clearly not the focus, instead focus on your passions, values, and interests to show why you belong at Sloan. If you can answer the following questions in a convincing manner you will be on the right track:
1. Why do you fit at Sloan?
2. What motivates you and how does this relate to what you can learn at and contribute to Sloan?
3. Can you briefly state what your values are? That is to say, what are your core beliefs that are likely to leave Rod Garcia and his colleagues with a better understanding about what kind of person you are?
4. What do you want to learn at Sloan? Why? The more specific, the better.
This is not easy to get into 500 words, so don't put too much emphasis on the professional goals aspect.
Keep in mind that great cover letters result in job interviews. Assume the same about this one. How will your cover letter standout? If you don't know how to do a US style cover letter, you need to learn. Here are two good sites for that purpose:
http://www.vault.com/nr/ht_list.jsp?ht_type=9
http://www.rpi.edu/web/writingcenter/cover_letter.html
Keep in mind that a cover letter needs to be convincing. That does not mean making it into pure marketing copy, instead you need to come across as a highly motivated person ready to fully embrace what Sloan offers.
Essays
Use the essays to tell us more about you and how you work, think, and act. For each essay, please provide a brief overview of the situation followed by a detailed description of your response. Include what you thought, felt, said, and did.
More than that, the essays are a chance for you to discuss your passions, values, interests, and goals. Emphasize those experiences that were most important and meaningful for you — which may not necessarily be those that were most outwardly prestigious. Be sincere and be specific. There is no one “right” kind of MIT Sloan student; in fact, MIT Sloan deliberately builds each class to unite varied strengths and perspectives. Tell us what particular experiences and expertise you will bring to the mix. The essay instructions and questions are included below.
We are interested in learning more about you and how you work, think, and act. For each essay, please provide a brief overview of the situation followed by a detailed description of your response.
All applicants:
Essay 1: Please tell us about a time when you had an impact on a group or organization. Describe in detail what you thought, felt, said, and did. (500 words or less.)
Essay 2: Please tell us about a challenging interaction you had with a person or group. Describe in detail what you thought, felt, said, and did. (500 words or less.)
Essay 3: Please tell us about a time when you defended your idea. Describe in detail what you thought, felt, said, and did. (500 words or less.)
Essay 4: Please tell us about a time when you executed a plan. Describe in detail what you thought, felt, said, and did. (500 words or less.)
Entrepreneurship and Innovation (E&I) applicants only:
Essay 5: Tell us about a time when you shared your talents or expertise with a group or organization. (500 words or less.)
There are also essays for LFM, but I don't plan to cover them. E&I is obviously extremely popular with applicants, so I will cover it. My analysis for these behavioral questions as well as the MIT interview can be found here.
In addition to these essays and the cover letter, there are actually more essays:
Supplemental Essay 4 is an opportunity to explain the strengths and/or weaknesses of your academic record. You don't need a high GPA to get into MIT, but they are looking for applicants who have demonstrated intellectual curiosity, so utilize this space to help convince them of that. If you have to explain a weakness feel free to do so. It is better to provide an explanation for why you had a bad GPA in your second year of university than to make Rod Garcia and his team try to guess.
Supplemental Essay 5 is NOT AN OPTIONAL ESSAY. You should instead treat this essay as the same as I wrote for HBS 3f:
What else would you like the MBA Admissions Board to understand about you?
The mother of all choice questions! Here you can write about anything that you think the Board really needs to know. While I will discuss this one in greater detail, I would say that you should avoid using this as a typical optional question like Chicago GSB's optional question. Instead use this question as another way to help HBS understand you and to become convinced that you belong there.
This is a standard balance question. What part of you that Rod Garcia really should know about is missing from or not emphasized enough elsewhere? Use this essay to give him a more complete perspective on who you are. My suggestion is to make sure you are comfortable with the content for your other essays before deciding what should be discussed here.
Questions? Write comments or contact me directly at adammarkus@gmail.com.
-Adam Markus
アダム マーカス
ビジネススクール カウンセリング MITスローン コンサルティング 大学院 合格対策 エッセイMBA留学
This is the first in a series of two posts about MIT Sloan's MBA Essays for Fall 2008. In this post, I will review the entire set of essay questions and provide analysis for the cover letter and supplemental information. The second post is here.
MIT Sloan is very direct about its core values:
Mind and Hand
MIT is a school well know for transforming theory into practice and this is certainly true of its business school. In my experience those who can effectively demonstrate how and why they share this "core idea" are most likely to be accepted. (For those who can read Japanese, I suggest looking at MIT MBA留学日記 to see the daily blog of one such successful applicant who is now in his first year.)Sloan's application process is, in fact, very much focused on determining whether you share and can contribute based on your own unique background to their "core idea." This does not mean that there is only one way to write great essays for MIT Sloan. Nor does it mean that they are only looking for one type of student. That said, I think you can say that there are some right ways and wrong ways to approach their questions.
MIT Sloan School of Management MBA Essays for Fall 2008:
Cover Letter
Prepare a cover letter (up to 500 words) seeking a place in the MIT Sloan MBA Program. Please comment on your career goals and those factors which influenced you to pursue an MBA education at MIT Sloan. The cover letter provides a chance for you to discuss your passions, values, and interests. Through what you write we hope to discover whether you will thrive at MIT Sloan and how you will contribute to our diverse community. Address your cover letter to Mr. Rod Garcia, Director of MBA Admissions.
If you have attended SLOAN ON THE ROAD or visited the campus, you probably heard from admissions that MIT does not ask for the sort of standard goals essays that almost all other schools ask for. Honestly this one of the things I love about this school. Admissions knows applicants are going to figure what they want to do when they go to an MBA program, so they think the question is absurd.
Based my experience seeing what happens to my clients once they graduate, I can say that MIT is absolutely right about this: Most never do what they write in their essays. This is in no way intended as a criticism of my past clients. I tell this to all my clients so that they can relax and just simply concentrate on making sure that their goals are solid without having to think that these must be their goals. Just as long they are comfortable with their goals as one possible future, that is enough.
Still goals questions are useful if you are trying to determine someone's vision and their ability to actually put together a plan (think business plan). Of course, goals essays are simply the standard sort of essay that all kinds of graduate programs require. Think of them as a formal requirement that simply has to be met.
While I have written elsewhere about goals essays (see here, here, here, and here) and recognize their importance for some degrees, for a couple years, I have been wondering why other business schools don't simply copy MIT. Actually this year, HBS did. While an applicant to HBS would certainly need to say something about their motivations, they need not write a goals essay. Like MIT, HBS has recognized the standard short-term/long-term goals essay is simply a formal exercise that can be dispensed with unless someone has something really important to write about that topic.
Unlike HBS, MIT specifically requires that you write a 500 essay in the form of a cover letter that will convince them why you belong at MIT Sloan. Goals in some way need to be there, but it is clearly not the focus, instead focus on your passions, values, and interests to show why you belong at Sloan. If you can answer the following questions in a convincing manner you will be on the right track:
1. Why do you fit at Sloan?
2. What motivates you and how does this relate to what you can learn at and contribute to Sloan?
3. Can you briefly state what your values are? That is to say, what are your core beliefs that are likely to leave Rod Garcia and his colleagues with a better understanding about what kind of person you are?
4. What do you want to learn at Sloan? Why? The more specific, the better.
This is not easy to get into 500 words, so don't put too much emphasis on the professional goals aspect.
Keep in mind that great cover letters result in job interviews. Assume the same about this one. How will your cover letter standout? If you don't know how to do a US style cover letter, you need to learn. Here are two good sites for that purpose:
http://www.vault.com/nr/ht_list.jsp?ht_type=9
http://www.rpi.edu/web/writingcenter/cover_letter.html
Keep in mind that a cover letter needs to be convincing. That does not mean making it into pure marketing copy, instead you need to come across as a highly motivated person ready to fully embrace what Sloan offers.
Essays
Use the essays to tell us more about you and how you work, think, and act. For each essay, please provide a brief overview of the situation followed by a detailed description of your response. Include what you thought, felt, said, and did.
More than that, the essays are a chance for you to discuss your passions, values, interests, and goals. Emphasize those experiences that were most important and meaningful for you — which may not necessarily be those that were most outwardly prestigious. Be sincere and be specific. There is no one “right” kind of MIT Sloan student; in fact, MIT Sloan deliberately builds each class to unite varied strengths and perspectives. Tell us what particular experiences and expertise you will bring to the mix. The essay instructions and questions are included below.
We are interested in learning more about you and how you work, think, and act. For each essay, please provide a brief overview of the situation followed by a detailed description of your response.
All applicants:
Essay 1: Please tell us about a time when you had an impact on a group or organization. Describe in detail what you thought, felt, said, and did. (500 words or less.)
Essay 2: Please tell us about a challenging interaction you had with a person or group. Describe in detail what you thought, felt, said, and did. (500 words or less.)
Essay 3: Please tell us about a time when you defended your idea. Describe in detail what you thought, felt, said, and did. (500 words or less.)
Essay 4: Please tell us about a time when you executed a plan. Describe in detail what you thought, felt, said, and did. (500 words or less.)
Entrepreneurship and Innovation (E&I) applicants only:
Essay 5: Tell us about a time when you shared your talents or expertise with a group or organization. (500 words or less.)
There are also essays for LFM, but I don't plan to cover them. E&I is obviously extremely popular with applicants, so I will cover it. My analysis for these behavioral questions as well as the MIT interview can be found here.
In addition to these essays and the cover letter, there are actually more essays:
Supplemental Information
You may provide additional information about any of the following topics that you consider relevant. Please tell us anything that will round out our impression of you as a unique individual.
As far as the Supplemental Information goes, as with any application, take this part seriously because it really matters. Some applicants consider such information to be an afterthought. While questions 1-3 are certainly not essays, put some solid time into providing complete information and remember to proofread your answers!5. Whatever else you would like the Admissions Committee to know (up to 500 words).
Supplemental Essay 4 is an opportunity to explain the strengths and/or weaknesses of your academic record. You don't need a high GPA to get into MIT, but they are looking for applicants who have demonstrated intellectual curiosity, so utilize this space to help convince them of that. If you have to explain a weakness feel free to do so. It is better to provide an explanation for why you had a bad GPA in your second year of university than to make Rod Garcia and his team try to guess.
Supplemental Essay 5 is NOT AN OPTIONAL ESSAY. You should instead treat this essay as the same as I wrote for HBS 3f:
What else would you like the MBA Admissions Board to understand about you?
The mother of all choice questions! Here you can write about anything that you think the Board really needs to know. While I will discuss this one in greater detail, I would say that you should avoid using this as a typical optional question like Chicago GSB's optional question. Instead use this question as another way to help HBS understand you and to become convinced that you belong there.
This is a standard balance question. What part of you that Rod Garcia really should know about is missing from or not emphasized enough elsewhere? Use this essay to give him a more complete perspective on who you are. My suggestion is to make sure you are comfortable with the content for your other essays before deciding what should be discussed here.
Questions? Write comments or contact me directly at adammarkus@gmail.com.
-Adam Markus
アダム マーカス
ビジネススクール カウンセリング MITスローン コンサルティング 大学院 合格対策 エッセイMBA留学
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