“Amazingly addictive” is one Darden student’s description of Charlottesville, Virginia. With a mix of city attractions that include fine arts and celebrity chef-owned restaurants, the feel of suburban living and easy-to-reach outdoor activities such as hiking, bird watching and even skiing—not to mention a low cost of living and a dollop of historical appeal—Charlottesville has it all. “Living in Charlottesville is a delight,” remarked another student. “The city is a particularly good place to raise children because of the scenery, the quality of life and the cost of living.” Darden students tend to feel that while a big city offers many activities that can pull students outward, in a smaller community, students end up spending more time together, thus establishing deeper bonds and creating interactions with special character and depth. Most of the business school’s students choose to live in two complexes located only seconds from campus, but even those who choose to live downtown are never more than ten minutes away, and that is in the worst of traffic.
Are you in the New York City area and concerned about the harrowing MBA interview process? Would you like to take advantage of a free mock interview session with an mbaMission consultant? Is your schedule flexible enough that you are available from 1:30 p.m. to 3 p.m. on Monday, May 2? If you are indeed interested, available and prepared to complete two mock interviews, then we just might choose you as one of our “clients” during a FREE mock interview session with several mbaMission Senior Consultants. We are trying something new, and you can help us out (while getting the chance to practice for free)!
If you are interested, please send your resume and a few sentences on why you are a deserving candidate to [email protected]. In the subject line, please write “Free Mock Interview Session.” We will select five lucky MBA applicants and will notify the winners ASAP. Our deadline for submissions is April 25.
Recently, a prospective candidate emailed mbaMission with the following question: “What is the most basic stylistic error that candidates make when writing their essays?” Our answer: unnecessary repetition. Although repeating a word within a single sentence or in consecutive sentences does not constitute a grammatical mistake, it can still be grating to a reader’s “ear.”
Consider this example:
“During my time at XYZ Sales, I increased productivity by 31% and increased revenue by 21%. Meanwhile, I increased my client base by an industry-leading 81%, bringing increased prestige to my firm.”
Although this example above—which uses the word “increased” four times in just two sentences—may seem like an exaggerated case, it is actually not as rare as you might think. However, the repetition can be easily eliminated and the sentences made “increasingly” reader friendly with just a few simples changes:
“During my time at XYZ Sales, I increased productivity by 31% and revenue by 21%. Meanwhile, I grew my client base by an industry-leading 81%, enhancing my firm’s prestige.”
The key to eliminating repetition is to first become aware of the potential problem and then gain distance from your work. By stepping away from your essay drafts for a day or two and then going back to reread them, you will gain the objectivity necessary to catch—and correct—this easily avoidable mistake.
Mission Admission is a series of MBA admission tips; a new one is posted each Tuesday.
As admissions decisions continue to be released, many candidates suddenly, and possibly unexpectedly, find themselves with options for the next year. How does one choose between two or more schools? Well, if you cannot determine a definitive “winner” based on specific academic or professional criteria, you may now need to make a campus visit or, for some, another campus visit. For those of you who have not yet had a chance to visit your target school(s), we strongly advise that you get to know those programs better before deciding where to invest two years and $100K+ in your education. However, even if you have already visited your target campuses, this may be a good time for a second, more focused visit.
Many candidates go on marathon tours of MBA campuses in the fall but have only a limited window in which to get to know each school they visit. Now that the MBA admissions committees have defined your choices and shifted the decision power back to you, you have the opportunity to really spend some time getting to know your target schools and completing diligence that may not have been possible before. For example, as a nervous prospective student, you may not have truly pushed current students to define a program’s weaknesses, or you may not have felt that delving deeply into the recruiting situation on campus was appropriate during your initial visit. Similarly, you may not have experienced the social environment on campus, preferring to maintain a strictly professional profile. Although attending “welcome weekends” will help you get to know your potential future classmates, visiting campuses now—while classes are in session and the schools are operating as they will next year—will provide valuable insight that will facilitate one of the most important choices of your life.
Are you in New York City and beginning to think about applying to MBA programs? Would you like to take advantage of a free brainstorming session with mbaMission? Is your schedule flexible enough that you are available from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Sunday, May 1? If you are indeed interested, available and prepared to complete a questionnaire in depth, then we just might choose you as one of our “clients” during a FREE group brainstorming session with several mbaMission Senior Consultants. We are trying something new, and you can help us out (while getting free advice)!
If you are interested, please send your resume and a few sentences on why you are a deserving candidate to [email protected]. In the subject line, please write “Free Brainstorming Session.” We will select two lucky MBA applicants and will notify the winners ASAP. Our deadline for submissions is April 25.
A first-of-its-kind, on-demand MBA application experience that delivers a personalized curriculum for you and leverages interactive tools to guide you through the entire MBA application process.
