How can you write essays that grab the attention of MBA admissions committees? Mili Mittal, mbaMission Senior Consultant, will use this basic but often perplexing question as the starting point in a workshop for prospective business school applicants. Attendees will complete a series of exercises that will challenge them to uncover their personal and nuanced stories, craft compelling opening statements, develop meaningful goal statements, connect their goals to their target school’s resources and more.
A Q&A session will follow the presentation and after that, Mili will remain online to respond to additional inquiries.
Date: Thursday, October 14, 2010 Time: 6:30-8:00 p.m. EST Location: 1327 14th Street, NW Suite 350, Washington, DC 20005 Price: Free!
We all know that the GMAT is a difficult test and a significant factor in establishing your academic competencies in the eyes of the admissions committees. However, the GMAT is not the only factor used to evaluate your candidacy, but is in fact just one of several. Although a high GMAT score can enhance your overall competitiveness at top-tier schools, it alone cannot secure your admission. Meanwhile, a low or average score on the GMAT by no means precludes your admission. Remember, the average scores listed on admissions Web sites, are, after all, averages! The nature of an average is such that some people are above and others are below— meaning that roughly half the class at your target school will be below the stated average and will, lo and behold, still get in!
You may have read our previous entry in this series, Well, I Had My Chance on the GMAT, which stresses that there is no risk in retaking the GMAT if you are unhappy with your initial score. However, if you have already taken the test a few times and have scored similarly each time, you should consider whether continuing to retake the test is truly worth the effort. Rather than attempting to take the test again (and again), you should probably focus your energies on bolstering the other components of your application: your essays, short answers, resume, recommendations, etc. A strong application is not a guarantee of success, but is your best shot at overcoming a low GMAT score.
Many MBA candidates struggle as they try to define their long-term goals. Although your short-term goals should be relatively specific, your long-term goals can be broad and ambitious. Regardless of what your short- and long-term goals actually are, what is most important is presenting a clear “cause and effect” relationship between them. The MBA admissions committee will be confused by a long-term goal that lacks grounding. Still, you should not interpret this to mean that you need to choose one industry and state that you will stay in it for your entire career. You can present any career path that excites you—again, as long as you also demonstrate a logical path to achieving your goals.
For example, many candidates discuss ambitions in Management Consulting. Could an individual with such aspirations justify any of the following long-term goals?
A) Climbing the ladder and becoming a partner in a consulting firm
B) Launching a boutique consulting firm
C) Leaving consulting to manage a nonprofit
D) Leaving consulting to buy a failing manufacturing firm and forge a “turnaround”
E) Entering the management ranks of a major corporation
The answer is yes! This candidate could justify any of these long-term goals (and many others), as long as he/she connects them to experiences gained via his/her career as a consultant. With regard to your goals, you need not feel constrained—you just need to emphasize and illustrate that your goals are logical/achievable and ambitious.
Recently, mbaMission Founder Jeremy Shinewald discussed Kellogg’s essays as part of Beat the GMAT’s “Write Like an Expert” Series. Check out the video from that presentation below. To see the video alongside the presentation slides, visit Beat the GMAT:
Kellogg’s essay questions have changed very little this year, with primarily just a few tweaks to the options offered in essay four. Kellogg is among the most demanding of the top business schools, requiring that applicants write four essays, three of which are 600 words long. A general tip for approaching these essays: keep the admissions committee learning about you. If the demands of the essay questions become too much and you end up telling the same story over and over again, you will not likely succeed in winning over the admissions committee.
1. a) MBA Program applicants – Briefly assess your career progress to date. Elaborate on your future career plans and your motivation for pursuing an MBA. (600-word limit)
b) MMM Program applicants – Briefly assess your career progress to date. How does the MMM Program meet your educational needs and career goals? (600-word limit).
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, via our online store. Please feel free to download your copy today.
How can you write essays that grab the attention of MBA admissions committees? Jeremy Shinewald, founder of mbaMission, will use this basic but often perplexing question as the starting point in a workshop for prospective business school applicants. Attendees will complete a series of exercises that challenge them to uncover their personal and nuanced stories, craft compelling opening statements, develop meaningful goal statements, connect their goals to their target school’s resources and more.
A Q&A session will follow the presentation and after that, Jeremy will remain online to respond to additional inquiries.
Date: Wednesday, October 6, 2010 Time: 8:30-10:00 p.m. EST Location: Online Price: Free!
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.
