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Our friends at Manhattan GMAT are kicking off their annual Pre-MBA Boot Camp, designed for recently admitted business school students who want to level the b-school playing field.  If you are rusty on or new to the core b-school topics or are not coming from a “typical” business background, this boot camp will sharpen your acumen and get you ready for day one. In this class, you will

• learn the MBA fundamentals of statistics and data modeling, finance, micro economics and marketing, valuation, accounting, pricing and strategy.

• leave with critical tools such as Manhattan Prep’s Case Mapper tool, quick reference sheets, an advanced Excel primer, and Case Studies & Cocktails, a b-school survival guide.

• receive insider know-how from top MBA alumni on how to maximize your potential in b-school (including landing those big-ticket MBA jobs).

This event will also allow you to network with recent admits from other top schools, such as HBS, Stanford, Wharton, MIT, Kellogg, Columbia, NYU Stern, Duke and more.

Cost:
Manhattan Prep’s Pre-MBA Boot Camp in NYC – $295*

Dates:
Weeknight Session:  June 20, 21, 27, 28 (6:00-9:30)
Weekend Session:  June 30 to July 1 (9:00-5:00)

Registration:
Click here to reserve a spot or to get more information.

*Manhattan Prep will refund you $100 when you share your feedback on the boot camp after your first semester.

When it comes to the GMAT, raw intellectual horsepower helps, but it is not everything. In this weekly blog series, Manhattan GMAT’s Stacey Koprince teaches you how to perform at your best on test day by using some common sense.

My friends at mbaMission have very helpfully provided me with a list of common GMAT questions that their clients ask. Today’s post addresses a frequent question: how does this “sending scores” business actually work?

How do I send scores?
When you go into the testing center to take the exam, you’ll be allowed to select, for free, up to five schools to which you can send your scores. If you choose to send a score report after the exam is over, however, you have to pay a fee of $28 per school.

Seems like a no-brainer: I can save $140 by selecting the schools while at the test center! A lot of people pass on this opportunity, though—they don’t select any schools for free while at the exam center. Why? In a word, psychology. We have to make this selection before we take the test, and many people think, “I don’t know my score yet. What if I don’t do well?”

Can I send only my best score to my schools?
No, unfortunately, you can’t. A GMAT score report is like a university transcript: the schools will see it all. GMAT scores are valid for five years, so scores from any tests taken within the past five years will be on your score report.

On the bright side, though, you might as well select five schools for free while you’re in the testing center. If you end up applying to any of these schools, they will see your entire score report anyway, so it doesn’t matter whether you don’t end up getting the score you want today.

But I don’t want them to see a bad score first!
It’s useful to know how this “sending scores” process actually works. Nothing is mailed to the schools; rather, the schools have access to an online database, and they’re simply given permission to view your record.

You’re thinking, “Well, that doesn’t change anything. I still don’t want them to view my record until I have the score I want!” I completely agree. Here’s the key point: the schools aren’t going to bother to check your record unless and until you submit an application. They don’t care how a bunch of random people did on the exam. They care about verifying your score if they think they might want to admit you. As a result, they verify your score report after they receive your application. At that point, someone verifies that your self-reported GMAT score is actually valid according to your official score report. Remember, it is also in the schools’ best interest to consider your highest score the “valid” one, because higher scores help boost their averages. Improving your GMAT score can actually be a positive thing, because it demonstrates tenacity and a commitment to achieving a goal.

The moral of the story: pick five schools for free when you’re in the testing center. If you’re not yet sure where you’re going to apply, pick five likely schools. If you take the test again a few months later, pick five different schools. (If you don’t take the test again for several years but still plan to apply to the same schools, then you may want to select them again, just to make sure.)

Let us be very clear, high scores and high percentiles are great. We are not a firm of Polyannas, but applicants need to look past superficialities and statistics to understand the bigger picture, in context. We are always happy to provide that context through a free 30-minute consultation.

Since 2008, we at mbaMission have literally been writing the book on the top business schools with our Insider’s Guide series. An MBA program is far more than just a name and a brand, and each of our 16 Insider’s Guides goes beyond the stereotypes to provide you with powerful insight into the true character of your target business school. We break down defining characteristics of each profiled school’s location, class size, curriculum, teaching methods, facilities, alumni base/involvement and rankings, and discuss the primary resources each program offers in the professional areas most popular with today’s MBAs. We even tell you about notable professors, classes and social events, plus admissions and employment statistics, and much more.

Our 2012-2013 Insider’s Guides—including Harvard Business School, the Stanford Graduate School of Business, Chicago Booth and 13 other top programs—are now available for purchase in our store. Check them out, and we hope they help you pinpoint the right MBA program for you.

Update: Click here for the 2015-2016 Columbia Business School Essay Analysis 

Applicants to Columbia Business School (CBS) this year must complete one short-answer question and two essays. Perhaps CBS is returning to the mind-set that “less is more” by getting rid of the third full essay from last year and adding a 200-character, career goal mini essay instead.

Short-Answer Question
What is your immediate post-MBA professional goal? (200 characters maximum)

Oh, how generous—CBS has given you a whole two sentences in which to thoughtfully articulate your post-MBA career goal! Be careful not to consider these two sentences a throwaway, however, believing that this question’s character limit prevents you from saying anything interesting. In just 200 characters, you can still very effectively grab the admissions committee’s attention. Think carefully about what you want to say, of course, and make sure you clearly and concisely convey your aspirations. Expressing your goal succinctly and directly shows the school that you have a clear idea of where you want to go and have given your career plan a good level of thought and attention.  Those candidates who put the appropriate amount of effort into this challenging portion of the application could ultimately have an advantage over other applicants, because we suspect that at least some will cynically downplay, gloss over or even ignore this question.

One thing to keep in mind is that whatever goal you present, it has to be both credible and ambitious—and that is not a paradox. The school wants to know that you are a driven and thoughtful individual, not an unrealistic dreamer. The admissions committee wants to know that CBS can help you get where you are determined to go in your career.

Essay 1:
A. Why are you pursuing an MBA at this point in your career, and how do you plan to achieve your immediate and long term post-MBA professional goals? (Maximum 500 words)

Because the CBS admissions committee is asking you “why” you are pursuing an MBA, you can justifiably delve into your professional career and explain how you identified your need for this particular advanced degree. However, just because you are allotted 500 words for this essay, be very careful not to overwhelm the admissions committee with an unnecessary level of detail about your career history. We cannot emphasize this strongly enough—the admissions committee does not want a recap of your entire resume. Approximately 200 words on your past should be plenty.

You could perhaps offer an anecdote that reveals an academic or experiential void on your part, or you could maybe explain that now is the right time for you because you have just completed a lengthy assignment and are ready to transition to the next phase of your career. There are a number of good reasons for wanting to earn your MBA now—just make sure that in your essay, you tell a clear story of your progression and show the momentum and advancement that have led you to this point. Then, you will need to explain how and why an MBA will serve as a bridge to the next level of your career.

The phrasing of the second part of this question is somewhat odd—“how do you plan to achieve your … goals” is a little bit vague. Clearly, CBS is a big part of your plan, so you would be wise to discuss the applicable resources the school offers and to demonstrate a connection between these resources and your specific developmental needs within the context of your stated goals. However, in leaving this question vague, the school is also giving you the leeway to discuss continuous learning beyond your MBA. So, for example, you could reference the role that mentors might play in the achievement of your long-term goals. The key here is that you show that you have a clear plan of action.

Because personal statements are similar from one application to the next, we have produced the mbaMission Personal Statement Guide, which helps applicants write this style of essay for any school. We offer this guide to candidates free of charge. Please feel free to download your copy today.

B. Please view this video, entitled Community at Columbia. Diverse, tight-knit clusters and carefully selected learning teams are defining features of the first year at Columbia Business School. Along with more than 100 student organizations and countless events each semester, the cluster system helps to create a supportive and devoted lifelong community. Describe why you are interested in becoming a part of the Columbia community. (Maximum 250 words)

The first part of this essay question is a red herring. Do not let it distract you from the core question here, which is basically “Why are you interested in becoming part of the Columbia community?” CBS is working very hard to build its community, because many students who were already living in New York before enrolling in the business school (and even some who were not) treat the MBA program as a commuter experience. CBS therefore wants to know that you have done your homework and thus are truly aware and appreciative of what the school offers beyond the pure academic experience. In responding to this essay prompt, you will need to make your choice of Columbia personal and identify some of the “softer” (i.e., not strictly academic) aspects of the program that appeal to you. Just listing the various clubs you plan to join will not be enough to make your argument compelling—you will need to explain how you intend to engage with the CBS community and how/why that community will be crucial to your experience.

For a thorough exploration of CBS’s academic program/merits, defining characteristics, crucial statistics, social life, academic environment and more, please check out the mbaMission Insider’s Guide to Columbia Business School. We also suggest that you visit the campus (a must if you live anywhere near New York) and do your best to use your network to connect with students to gain an a priori understanding of the CBS experience.

Essay 2:
Describe a personal experience and how it has influenced who you are today. This essay should have a personal rather than a professional focus. (Maximum 500 words)

In this essay question, the CBS admissions committee uses the word “personal” twice and, for good measure, expressly states that you should not write about a professional experience. Do you think they are trying to tell you something?

The key to writing an effective essay response to this prompt is focusing on and revealing an “influence.” CBS is not asking about something you did well once or something you love doing. The school wants to hear about an experience that was so powerful, it changed you and your world view from that point forward. A strong essay will show a clear “before and after” situation, thereby illustrating the transformational effect of the experience you are relaying. You will want to demonstrate that the impact of the experience has stayed with you and, considering that you have 500 words for this essay, perhaps even show how you subsequently applied a lesson you learned from it—though “lesson application” is not mandatory in this case.

We strongly advise that you stay away from themes such as a death in the family or a trip abroad, unless you can truly own these experiences in a way that others simply cannot (this is rare but possible). As always, we recommend that you thoroughly brainstorm before you begin writing this essay. This is the one essay in which you have the opportunity to reveal the depth of your character, so you should make sure that you have seized the most powerful and effective anecdote(s) to showcase. In addition, throughout this essay, remember to tell a story and show how you engaged in this experience—do not just mention the incident and reflect on its impact. The reader needs to experience your transformative moment for him/herself, which means you will need to clearly convey your role in it.

Optional Essay
An optional fourth essay will allow you to discuss any issues that do not fall within the purview of the required essays.

However tempted you might be, this is not the place to paste in a strong essay from another school or to offer a few anecdotes that you were unable to use in any of your other essays. Instead, this is your opportunity, if needed, to address any lingering questions that an admissions officer may have about your candidacy, such as a poor grade or overall GPA, a low GMAT score, a gap in your work experience, etc. In our mbaMission Optional Statement Guide, we offer detailed advice on when and how to take advantage of the optional essay, with multiple examples, to help you mitigate any problem areas in your profile.

Reapplicant Essay

Submit one new, two-part essay:
A. How have you enhanced your candidacy since your previous application? Please detail your progress since you last applied, and address how you plan to achieve your post-MBA and long-term professional goals. (Maximum of 500 words)

B. Please view this video, entitled Community at Columbia. Diverse, tight-knit clusters and carefully selected learning teams are defining features of the first year at Columbia Business School. Along with more than 100 student organizations and countless events each semester, the cluster system helps to create a supportive and devoted lifelong community. Describe why you are interested in becoming a part of the Columbia community. (Maximum 250 words)

Whether you have improved your academic record, received a promotion, begun a new and exciting project, increased your community involvement or taken on a personal challenge of sorts, the key to success with the first part of this essay is conveying a very deliberate path of achievement. CBS wants to know that you have been actively striving to improve and that you have seized opportunities during the previous year to do so, because a CBS MBA is vital to you. The responses to this essay question will vary greatly from one candidate to the next, because each person’s needs and experiences differ. We are more than happy to provide one-on-one assistance with this highly personal essay to ensure that your efforts over the past year are presented in the best light possible.

For advice on how to respond to the second part of the reapplicant essay prompt, see our analysis of Essay 1, Part B, for new applicants.

When it comes to the GMAT, raw intellectual horsepower helps, but it is not everything. In this weekly blog series, Manhattan GMAT’s Stacey Koprince teaches you how to perform at your best on test day by using some common sense.

Recently, someone asked me: what is the most common “fatal mistake” people make when studying for the GMAT? I’ve managed to narrow it down to two.

Don’t prioritize accuracy over efficiency.

“Accuracy” = answering questions correctly. “Efficiency” = time management. Most people worry much more about getting things right than they do about managing their time well. Here’s the thing: the GMAT is explicitly testing you on your ability to set priorities and make decisions about what’s worth your time. Those are actual business skills!

In other words, expect to see questions that are too hard for you to do in the average time frame. You should actually have to choose to bail on a small number of questions—if you don’t, then you’re doing something wrong.

If you continue to try to get everything right while taking a CAT, you will almost certainly score lower (possibly much lower) than you are capable of scoring. Read the Scoring section of Manhattan GMAT’s free e-book The GMAT Uncovered Guide. (If you have any kind of account with Manhattan GMAT, even a free one, then the e-book is already in your student center.)

Don’t confuse “doing” with “learning.”

When you start the timer and tackle a set of questions or a practice test, you are not learning! You are using everything you have already learned to test yourself—to see whether you really learned what you thought you learned. Let’s call this “doing” or “testing yourself.”

The “smart” students (“smart” in a test-taking sense) know or discover that you learn by reviewing—you need to analyze your work on the problems and analyze the problems themselves. What do I mean by “analyze”? Here’s one article that talks about analyzing problems. Here’s another that talks about analyzing practice tests. These two articles are not comprehensive, but they should give you a good idea of the difference between “doing” and “analyzing.” I have spent 5, 10, even 20 minutes analyzing a single problem—and that was after I already figured out the answer.

So make sure that you’re not just doing but also learning!