The mainstream media has reported widely that the average scores on the new SAT dropped suddenly and unexpectedly for the class of 2006 despite the College Board's repeated assurances that scores for the longer SAT given for the first time last year are equivalent to those for the exam given in prior years. On average the scores dropped 7 points in total after climbing steadily for several years. The College Board, which administers the SAT, said the drop is insignificant.

 The College Board's critics say otherwise. They point to the unanticipated drop and the SAT scoring error last year, along with general College Board heavy-handedness, as evidence the SAT in particular and testing in general should go. 

And those critics are gaining followers. The New York Times today has an article, Students’ Paths to Small Colleges Can Bypass SAT, which discuses a growing number of colleges that no longer require the SAT or its mid-west cousin, the ACT. These include prestigious, smaller schools like Mount Holyoke, Middlebury, Hamilton, Union, Dickinson, Bates, and Bowdoin. The NYT reports, "Admissions officers said eliminating the testing requirement had increased both the size and diversity of their applicant pools, and bolstered their reputation as places personal enough to consider each application."

UCLA Anderson's MBA essay questions are available now. I'm posting the questions here and will post advice later.

The Admissions Committee considers your responses to the following essay questions extremely important in the selection process. We endeavor to admit an interesting and diverse group of students who will both benefit from and contribute to UCLA Anderson. Therefore, you are encouraged to prepare your essays with great care. Any personal insights you can offer us concerning the qualities and experiences you believe distinguish you from other applicants would be especially helpful.

All applicants must answer questions 1 through 3; question 4 is optional.
(Note: Uploaded essays should be double-spaced.)

1. Please provide us with a summary of your personal and family background. Include information about your parents and siblings, where you grew up, and perhaps a highlight or special memory of your youth. (Limit to 2 pages.)

2. Discuss a situation, preferably work related, where you have taken a significant leadership role. How does this event demonstrate your managerial potential? (Limit to 1 page.)

3. Discuss your career goals. Why are you seeking an MBA degree at this particular point in your career? Specifically, why are you applying to UCLA Anderson? (Limit to 2 pages.)

4. (Optional) Is there any other information that you believe would be helpful to the Admissions Committee in considering your application? If you feel the application already represents you well, do not feel obligated to answer this essay question.

If you would like help with your UCLA Anderson MBA application, please consider Accepted.com's MBA essay editing and admissions consulting or a UCLA Anderson Comprehensive Package, which includes essay editing, interview coaching, consultation, and a resume edit for the UCLA Anderson MBA application.

 

 

Yale SOM's application is now available. I am posting the essay questions now and will post tips later this week:

 Yale SOM 2007 Deadlines

Round 1:    October 25, 2006

Round 2:    January 10, 2007 

Round 3:    March 14, 2007 

Yale SOM's Essay Questions 

1. Why an MBA?
Please describe your short- and long-term goals and how your previous experience and an MBA will help you to achieve these goals. 500 words maximum
2. Personal statement
Please develop a question/topic of your choice and answer it in essay form. Please state the question/topic at the beginning of your essay. 500 words maximum

Some example questions/topics include:
• Describe a situation in which your leadership and/or teamwork had a significant impact.
• What personal achievement are you most proud of and why?
• What activities/interests do you enjoy outside the office and/or classroom and how would you integrate these activities/
interests into the Yale SOM community?
• What is the most difficult feedback that you have received and how did you address it?
• Where is the most exciting place you have ever been and what did you learn from being there?
• Describe a situation where you questioned your values and/or beliefs.
• What does accountability mean to you?
• If you are reapplying: How has your candidacy changed since your last application?

Optional essay
If any aspect of your candidacy needs further explanation, please provide any additional information that you would like the
Admissions Committee to consider. 200 words maximum

If you would like help with your Yale SOM MBA application, please consider Accepted.com's MBA essay editing and admissions consulting or a Yale SOM Comprehensive Package, which includes essay editing, interview coaching, consultation, and a resume edit for the Yael SOM MBA application.

Federal judge John P. Fullam has ruled that Multistate Legal Studies Inc., a company that prepares law school graduates for the bar in a number of states under the name "PMBR," illegally copied questions from different bar exams and  ordered it to pay more than $11.9 million to the National Conference of Bar Examiners (NCBE).

The NCBE claims that MLSI employees and principals attended bar exams solely for the purpose of learning the questions to include in material that it then sold to prepare students for the exam. Fullham wrote, ""By exposing its students to questions likely to appear on the MBE, [the defendants] undermined the integrity of the bar examination, possibly causing the admission of unqualified applicants. That the victims of this harm are impossible to identify and the injury impossible to quantify underscores the need to deter would-be copyright infringers."

This ruling has consequences beyond bar prep. It is widely believed that test prep companies have employees take tests like the SAT, LSAT, GMAT, etc so that they can "study" the questions and then draft new and better preparation materials. Currently Microsoft is suing Testking.com, alleging that it copies questions off its certification exams. AMCAS sued Princeton Review in 2003 for copying questions from the MCAT for its test prep material.

Obviously if Judge Fullam's ruling becomes precedent, test prep companies would either have to license the questions in order to use them or would be blocked entirely from using them. Life should remain interesting in the test prep space. 

Back to the Future

A participant in LAMP recently emailed me, “ Also, I understand the key to the essay is to link my past to my future and show how School X fits into the picture. However, talking about the future, in general, has no basis, and talking about School X does not make me unique.” He asked how he can deal with these issues.

These are great observations about the challenges facing applicants writing statements of purpose, goals essays, and to a slightly lesser extent, law and medical school personal statements. You need to talk about the future and keep it real. You also need to distinguish yourself from your competition and introduce yourself as a human being and individual to the admissions committee while discussing your reasons for wanting to attend School X. So how can you handle these challenges?

Talking about the future should have a basis. Your future goal should be based in your past experience. If you say you want to go into international business, ADR, or primary care medicine, then you better have international experience, dispute resolution know-how, or primary care exposure. If your goal has no basis, it is pie in the sky and won't fly. (pun intended.) Also, international business, just for example, is very broad. For MBA’s in particular, specific goals are much better, and they also help you in the other fields provided they are anchored in your past. Specificity differentiates and can reveal foresight and research. Use it to your advantage.

Talking about School X in general or spitting back School X’s marketing material and mantras does you no good. But if you can write about how specific classes or seminars with particular professors whose research or specialization is of interest to you will help you achieve your career aspirations, then you have a winner. Show – not that you have read their brochure, but that you have researched their program and given serious thought to how it will help you achieve your goals. By doing so, you will also demonstrate that you belong at School X.