MIT Sloan Application Essays for 2008-2009

Attention, MIT Sloan applicants! Sloan has released its application deadlines and admissions essays for the 2008-2009 season. Our comments are in italics:

MIT Sloan Application Deadlines

Round 1: October 28, 2008
Round 2: January 13, 2009

(These dates are virtually the same as last year's. Note that Sloan has just two rounds of admissions, while most other top programs have three.)

MIT Sloan Application Essays

All applicants:

• Prepare a cover letter (up to 500 words) seeking a place in the MIT Sloan MBA Program. Describe your accomplishments and include an example of how you had an impact on a group or organization. Your letter should conform to standard business correspondence and be addressed to Mr. Rod Garcia, Director of MBA Admissions.


(Yes, the MIT Sloan cover letter is back. Note that the question is a little different this year. While last year's cover letter asked you to "discuss your passions, values, and interests," this year's cover letter wants to see how you've made an impact on an organization -- this used to be a standalone essay question.)


• Essay 1: Please tell us about a challenging interaction you had with a person or group. (500 words or less, limited to one page)



• Essay 2: Please tell us about a time when you defended your idea. (500 words or less, limited to one page)



• Essay 3: Please tell us about a time when you executed a plan. (500 words or less, limited to one page)



• Essay 4: Please tell the Admissions Committee whatever else you would like us to know. (250 words or less, limited to one page)

(The biggest change is that last year's "Tell us about a time when you had an impact on a group" question has been replaced by the "whatever else you would like us to know" question. Also interesting is that each of last year's questions asked the applicant to "Describe in detail what you thought, felt, said, and did," while that has been dropped from this year's application.)

LFM applicants only:

• Essay 5: Why do you wish to pursue the LFM Program? How does this fit into your future plans? (250 words or less, limited to one page) You are welcome to copy and paste text directly from your cover letter.



• Essay 6: Why do you wish to pursue the engineering field and specialty area you have selected? (250 words or less, limited to one page) You are welcome to copy and paste text directly from your cover letter.

For more information about application strategies for MIT Sloan, visit our MIT Sloan information page.

Wharton Application Essays and Deadlines for 2008-2009

Wharton has released its application deadlines and admissions essays for the 2008-2009 season. Here they are, taken from Wharton's site. Our comments are in italics:

Wharton Application Deadlines
Round 1: October 9, 2008
Round 2: January 8, 2009
Round 3: March 5, 2009

(No big changes from last year... All deadlines are within a week of the 2007-2008 season's respective deadlines.)

Wharton Application Essays

First-Time Applicant Questions:

1. Describe your career progress to date and your future short-term and long-term career goals. How do you expect an MBA from Wharton to help you achieve these goals, and why is now the best time for you to join our program? (1,000 words)
   
   
2. Describe a setback or a failure that you have experienced. What role did you play, and what did you learn about yourself? (500 words)



3. Where in your background would we find evidence of your leadership capacity and/or potential? (500 words)


(Question #3 isn't new, but it's new that it's a mandatory one. Interesting question... It doesn't get much more explicit than this that they're looking for leadership.)


4. Please respond to one (1) of the following questions:
   
   a. Describe an experience you have had innovating or initiating, your lessons learned, the results and impact of your efforts. (500 words)
   
   (Question 4a is new.)
   
   b. Is there anything about your background or experience that you feel you have not had the opportunity to share with the Admissions Committee in your application? If yes, please explain. (500 words)
   
   
5. OPTIONAL: If you feel there are extenuating circumstances of which the Committee should be aware, please explain them here (e.g., unexplained gaps in work experience, choice of recommenders, TOEFL waiver request, inconsistent or questionable academic performance, significant weaknesses in your application). (250 words, maximum)

Reapplicant Questions:

1. Describe your career progress to date and your future short-term and long-term career goals. How do you expect an MBA from Wharton to help you achieve these goals, and why is now the best time for you to join our program? How has your candidacy improved since the last time you applied? (1,000 words)



2. Describe an experience you have had innovating or initiating, your lessons learned, the results and impact of your efforts. (500 words)


(As it is for new applicants, Question 2 is new. Clearly more emphasis on innovation from Wharton this year.)


3. Please respond to one (1) of the following questions:
   
   a. Where in your background would we find evidence of your leadership capacity and/or potential? (500 words)
   
   b. Is there anything about your background or experience that you feel you have not had the opportunity to share with the Admissions Committee in your application? If yes, please explain. (500 words)
   
   
4. OPTIONAL: If you feel there are extenuating circumstances of which the Committee should be aware, please explain them here (e.g., unexplained gaps in work experience, choice of recommenders, TOEFL waiver request, inconsistent or questionable academic performance, significant weaknesses in your application). (250 words, maximum)

For more information about Wharton, visit our Wharton MBA information page.And for more information on business school application deadlines, visit our MBA admissions deadlines page.

Wharton Director of Admissions Steps Down

On Monday Wharton announced on its blog that Thomas Caleel has vacated his role as Director of Admissions and Financial Aid, effective June 30. Anjani Jain, Wharton's Vice Dean and Director of the school's Graduate Division, will temporarily fill the role until a permanent placement is announced.

Reads the announcement: "In his role as Director, Thomas has been a passionate ambassador of the School and the MBA Program, and Wharton faculty, staff and students alike are enormously grateful to have had Thomas serve the School in this important role."

Under Caleel's leadership, the school opened up to the community even more through such initiatives as the student2student online forum (a longstanding Wharton initiative) and the Wharton Admissions Blog. Hopefully his successor will carry on with this philosophy.

From reading the announcement, Vice Dean Jain certainly seems to have enough on his plate already. With the 2008-2009 admissions season just around the corner, here's hoping that Wharton finds a suitable replacement for Caleel as soon as possible!

Fore more information about applying to Wharton, visit our Wharton information page.

Harvard Business School Application Now Available

Last month Harvard Business School released its essays for the 2008-2009 application season. This past Thursday, the HBS released its full application for the coming year.

As Dee Leopold mentioned on the HBS blog, there is no advantage to applying before the Round One deadline. According to Leopold:

"Please keep in mind that... we only begin to review applications after the October 15 Round One deadline. The Admissions Board has no knowledge of whether you submitted your application today or in October. To put it another way, we consider applications in three distinct decision rounds; within rounds, it is not a 'rolling' admissions process."

In other words, don't needlessly scramble to get your application in early. By all means, resist the urge to prcrastinate and submit your application right at 5:00 PM on October 15, but there's no reason to submit your application before it's anything less than 100% perfect.

For more information about applying to HBS, visit our Harvard Business School information page.

Kellogg Application Essays for 2008-2009

Kellogg applicants, look alive! The Kellogg School of Management has just released its admissions essays for the 2008-2009 application season. The questions are as follows, lifted directly from the Kellogg web site:

All applicants are required to answer questions 1, 2 and 3 in addition to 2 of the essays in question 4. For questions 1-3, please limit responses to 2 pages.

1: Briefly assess your career progress to date. Elaborate on your future career plans and your motivation for pursuing a graduate degree at Kellogg.

2: Describe how your background, values, academics, activities and/or leadership skills will enhance the experience of other Kellogg students.

3: Describe your key leadership experiences and evaluate what leadership areas you hope to develop through your MBA experience.

Choose two of the following three essays…

4: Applicants must answer 2 of the below essays. (Re-applicants must answer question 4D and 1 other essay). Please keep responses to two paragraphs.
- 4A - Describe a time when you had to motivate a reluctant individual or group.
- 4B - I wish the Admissions Committee had asked me…..
- 4C - What do others admire about you?
- 4D - For re-applicants only: Since your previous application, what are the steps you’ve taken
to strengthen your candidacy?

As Beth Flye told us at last week's AIGAC conference, there are no really significant changes from last year. Questions 2 and 3 have been reworded, but are substantially the same as last year's questions. Question 4A may appear to be new, but is similar to last year's "Describe the most challenging professional relationship you have faced" question.

What stands out the most to me is 4C -- "What do other admire about you?" I miss their old question that had applicants play the role of admissions officers and evaluate their own applications. While this isn't quite the same, and is much shorter, I'm glad to see this sort of "toot your own horn" question back on the Kellogg application.

For more advice about your Kellogg application, visit our Kellogg School of Management information page.

Stanford GSB Essay Topics for 2008-2009

Stanford has just released its application essays for the 2008-2009 admissions season:

• Essay A: What matters most to you, and why?

• Essay B: What are your career aspirations? How will your education at Stanford help you achieve them?

• Essay C: Short Essays—Options 1-4
  Answer two of the questions below. Tell us not only what you did but also how you did it. What was the outcome? How did people respond? Only describe experiences that have occurred during the last three years.
  
  Option 1: Tell us about a time when you built or developed a team.
  
  Option 2: Tell us about a time when you felt most effective as a leader.
  
  Option 3: Tell us about a time when you tried to reach a goal or complete a task that was challenging, difficult, or frustrating.
  
  Option 4: Tell us about a time when you went beyond what was defined, established, or expected.
  

It used to be that Stanford turned MBA applicants loose on just the first two questions, with absolutely no limits on word count. More recently, they gave applicants a total seven-page limit for all of their essays, with applicants free to choose how they used the seven pages. This year, they have given applicants a more traditional word limit, totaling 1,800 words across all four essays. While you are still free to allocate your words however you choose, it's clear from Stanford's guidelines that you should spend more words (and time) on Essay A than any other.

If you want more guidance on your Stanford business school application, visit our Stanford GSB profile page.

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