Steve Green's NYU Stern Admissions Event Report

My guest blogger Steve Green has submitted the following post.

-Adam 

Steve Green's Report on the NYU Stern Admissions 9/15/2009 Event in Tokyo

I have just returned from the NYU Stern Admission Event in Tokyo.  There were about 70-80 people in attendance tonight. 

The main points covered:

1. Stern students love Stern:  The entire first-third of the video presentation consisted of students emphasizing how great their classmates, clubs and social lives – including socializing with professors- were at Stern.  The presenter tonight (Chris Gaeta, Senior Associate Director, MBA Admissions) expanded on the topic of the Stern community in detail:  He emphasized the popularity and success of Stern students in national case competitions, and the presence of 40+ clubs.  My advice:  If you are applying to Stern, be sure to demonstrate exactly how you will contribute to the Stern community, be sure to sound like someone your future classmates would love to have on their teams.
   
2. Stern loves Stern students: Stern faculty do things like play flag football with students and respond to student emails at 2:00am and 3:00am. Stern supports students actively through its career center and 20+ career counselors. Stern provides merit-based scholarships to “nearly 30% of students.  Note: Round 1 candidates get priority for scholarships as well as for graduate fellowships, which are worth up to $21, 000.
3. Stern is in New York City:  Stern’s “extended classroom” consists of access to companies based in NYC as well as “exclusive Stern NYC Case Studies” and the Stern Consulting Corps (SCC) that dispatches students to serve as consultants to NPOs in the Big Apple. My advice is NOT to mention that you want to go to Stern because its in NYC but to describe the specific access points between Stern and particular things in the city that attract you. 
4. Stern has a lot of teachers and they’re really smart:  The 300 professors at Stern are the 3rd most productive group of faculty (Chris did not qualify if this is national or global) and this group includes Nobel Prize winners. His Power Point presentation mentioned over half a dozen professors by name, so if you are applying to Stern you should know who is teaching what.
5. Stern’s curriculum is customizable:  Only two of seven first-year classes are mandatory, accounting and statistics.  Students choose their other courses from nearly 200 electives.  Stern offers 22 specializations and 40+ global learning options that take students overseas for up to two weeks in a term. Furthermore, Stern students may take up to 25% of their classes from other NYU schools.
6. Optional Essay #4 is not really optional (Just as I tell my clients every year!)  This was actually highly useful advice that will save applicants time otherwise spent fretting about whether or not to write this essay. Chris urged everyone to write something here that could not be included in the rest of the set, including explanations of any weak spots (e.g. bad grades in university) or why a supervisor would not write a recommendation letter.  He pointed out the this essay does not have to be as long as the other ones and said, in fact, that something as curt as 3 sentences or bullet points would be acceptable.
7. “Be bold on your resume!”  Just as I advise clients, Chris urged applicants to produce a resume that is a “brag sheet,” a list boasting their greatest accomplishments. 
   

For questions regarding this post, please contact me at h.steven.green@gmail.com. To learn more about my graduate admissions consulting services, please click here.
- H. Steven ("Steve") Green, グリーン・ハロルド・スティーブン

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