My comments are in red:

All essays should be double-spaced using 10 point font. Prepare your attachments offline in separate document files and upload them individually. Please follow the instructions regarding length of each attachment, and label each page with your name.

ESSAY ONE (Required) - Limit: 750 words
A) What position do you plan to obtain upon graduation from the MBA program? Please include both industry and function in your explanation.
B) How will the combination of your past experiences and the Georgetown MBA position you for this new opportunity?
C) Please describe how you envision your career progression beyond your initial post-MBA position.

NEW- This is a goals question broken down into more specific sub-questions than last year's. It remains a straightforward, connect-the-dots MBA goals question.  Click on the link for tips on writing an essay that both distinctly reflects You and demonstrates your knowledge of Georgetown.)

 ESSAY TWO (Required) - Limit: 750 words
A) What does leadership mean to you? What are the personal characteristics and skills required to be an effective leader?
B) Provide a specific example of when you demonstrated leadership skills. Describe a challenge that you faced and the results that you achieved.
C) What areas do you wish to develop in order to become a more effective leader?

Again, similar to last year's question, but more specific.  There are several critical elements to this question: Your definition of leadership, your personal example of leadership, the challenge you faced, the impact you had, and how you would like to develop further. Don't feel compelled to respond in exactly the order given in the questions; just make sure you answer all elements.

ESSAY THREE (Required) - Limit: 750 words
How will your classmates benefit from your presence in the Georgetown MBA program?

What talents are you going to bring to Georgetown, and where to you intend to contribute them? Do your homework on McDonough before you answer the question. What clubs will you want to participate in? What initiatives will you want to take? This a great essay in which to show both self-awareness and your knowledge of Georgetown.

ESSAY FOUR: COMMUNITY CONTRIBUTIONS - Limit: one page
A) Please provide a bulleted list of your post-undergraduate involvement in the community. Indicate the nature of the activity or organization, dates of involvement, offices held, and average number of hours spent each month.
B) What motivates you to continue contributing to the community? Limit: 250 words

A is a list and not an essay, but in your description focus on achievement, contribution, and impact. If you were membership chair of a particular organization, don't just list "Membership Chair." Also note that membership increased 20% during the year that you were membership chair.

B is a short essay and you don't have a lot of room. Discuss your motivations and reference your past or ongoing community service.

OPTIONAL ESSAY ONE - Limit: 500 words
If you are not currently employed full-time, use this space to provide information about your current activities.

Please see "Laid off! How Will It Affect Your Application"

OPTIONAL ESSAY TWO - Limit 500 words
Please provide any information you would like to add to your application that you have not addressed elsewhere.

If you don't need to address any of the issues suggested above, please see "The Optional Question: To Be or Not to Be."

For help with your McDonough MBA application, please consider Accepted.com's MBA essay editing and admissions consulting or one of our Georgetown Comprehensive Packages.

Georgetown McDonough 2010 MBA Deadlines

*Students wishing to be considered for merit-based scholarships should apply no later than round 2.
**International students are strongly encouraged to apply by round 2 in order to have sufficient time to secure a student visa.

• In "My first Blog - Who am I" and Why do I want to do an MBA?, The Man Who Thinks He Can explores his reasons for pursuing an MBA. I hope he won't take offense, but he really needs to sharpen his reasons. Detesting his current and previous jobs, as described in the first post, is a terrible reason to apply to business school. The reasons he lists in Why do I want to do an MBA? are at least positive, but they are not specific enough. His post-MBA goal should detail more than "a better network" or the possibility of getting an "enjoyable and well paid job." What kind of job does he want after his MBA? In what industry? Doing what? For most programs, direction and purpose is part of the admissions evaluation. He says that blogging is helping him clarify his thinking, and I hope it continues to do so.
• At the other end of the process sits Stratcase who has been accepted to b-school and offers suggestions to consultants about the MBA admissions process. I strongly agree with this piece of advice: "try to find a speciality." If you are a "consultant," you are just like all the consultants out there. However if you are an environmental consultant, or a health care consultant, or a process improvement consultant, there are fewer of you applying to business school. That modifier distinguishes you and helps you stand out from the crowd. Obviously, your work experience has to substantiate the title, but if it does, use it. For more tips on applying from consulting to business school, please see:
  • The Consultant`s Guide to MBA Admission, an ebook.
  • "Application Advice for Management Consultants."

As a member of the Association of International Graduate Admissions Consultants (AIGAC), we are conducting a survey to help us better understand MBA applicants’ goals and needs.  If you are or will be an MBA applicant, we invite you to share your priorities and views on the MBA application process. 

This online survey should take just 10 minutes to complete.  We would love to receive as many responses as possible before the closing date of Friday, March 20, 2009 - and AIGAC will be giving away an iPod Touch and two iPod Shuffles as a token of our gratitude! 

Thanks in advance for your participation!

Simply click here to begin. 

Well, first you can try to weigh it by the numbers.  MBAs from Georgetown and UNC make about $94,000-95,000 right out of school, whereas Wake Forest MBAs pull in about $79,000. So right off the bat, some of the tuition money Omne is saving may well be sacrificed in lower income. BusinessWeek recently looked at MBA’s pay 20 years after earning their degrees at the top 45 schools. Georgetown and UNC MBAs were making about $161,000. Though Wake Forest does not appear in BusinessWeek’s study, it seems reasonable to assume that Wake Forest MBAs generally make less than the lowest-ranked schools in BW’s study, which ranged between $108,000 and the mid-$120,000s. Complicating this numbers analysis is the cost-of-living factor—some regions pay more than others, but then they cost more to live in too. Still, by this financial barometer, the income gap between Omne’s Wake Forest MBA and an MBA from UNC or Georgetown will only widen over his career—overwhelming whatever he may have saved by getting a free ride at Wake Forest.

And earning his MBA from higher-ranked B-schools like Georgetown and UNC may offer brand advantages—such as better name recognition in job markets outside these schools’ region—that Wake Forest can’t compete with. By that same token, if Omne’s ideal job market is Winston-Salem, NC, then Wake Forest and it’s free MBA may be his best all-round choice. But there are other complexities to consider, such as Omne’s preferred employer post-MBA. If he wants to join Bank of America, both UNC and Wake Forest are good choices, but Georgetown’s arguably the better bet if he wants to join Citigroup. And you can bet there will be local employers in Winston-Salem for whom a Wake Forest MBA will give Omne the inside track.

Omne needs to run the numbers, ask himself where he wants to spend his career geographically, which industry he’s set on and which employers he most wants to work for. When he does that, Wake Forest could pull closer to UNC and Georgetown in overall “payoff” (both material and personal). But strictly in terms of salary, an MBA from UNC and Georgetown with a partial scholarship looks like the better choice than a free-ride MBA from Wake Forest.

At this point in time to maintain flexibility, it may make most sense for Omne to pay the deposit at Wake Forest and keep his spot. If he is accepted at UNC or Georgetown and determines that the benefits of a UNC or Georgetown education are so great that he will forgo the full ride, they are probably great enough also to lose the deposit. Just chalk it up to the cost of an MBA education.

Paul Bodine is Senior Editor at Accepted.com and author of “Great Application Essays for Business School” and “Perfect Phrases for Business School Acceptance.”

1. Give yourself a break. Put the application away for a day, overnight, several hours, or at least a coffee break. (More is better, but don't miss the deadline.)
2. Print out the essay or any document that you want to proof. For some reason, changing the medium helps to restore your critical perspective.
3. Change your location when you proof. Move to an easy chair or to the kitchen table. Anywhere but where you have been writing and editing forever.
4. Read the essays out loud. E-nun-ciating. Reading aloud will automatically slow you down and prevent you from skimming. Additionally, your ear will catch awkward sentences and errors that your eye alone may miss.

If you want professional editing that saves you time, please check out Accepted.com's professional personal statement and application essay editing.

Looking ahead to 2009, we plan to make this web site and our services even better. We will roll out changes on the site throughout 2009.

We are currently wrestling with a question:  Whether or not to continue publishing recent posts from this blog on the Accepted.com home page.  What do you think?

We would really appreciate your taking a minute to answer a quick, 3-question survey and help us design this site in a way that suits you -- or at least a majority of you. Thank you very much for your time.

Best wishes for a Happy, Healthy, and Prosperous New Year!

Georgetown McDonough 2009 MBA Deadlines

 *If you are applying to a Full-Time Joint Degree program you must submit your MBA application by the deadlines stated above. Applications to the other schools (Law, Foreign Service, Medical or Public Policy)must be submitted by the deadlines set by the respective school. Please note that admissions decisions are made independently by each school.

** International applicants are encouraged to apply by the Second Round (Scholarship/Priority) deadline. If you do not meet this deadline, apply as soon as possible thereafter.

***Applications should be submitted by midnight Eastern Standard Time (EST) on the deadline date. However, an earlier submission is encouraged as it may allow candidates the opportunity to contact technical support should any issues arise during the online submission process.

Georgetown McDonough 2009 MBA Essay Questions

 My comments are in red.

1. Briefly state your short-term and long-term career objectives. How have your prior professional, academic, and personal experiences influenced your career plans? Specifically, how will your participation in Georgetown's MBA Full-Time Program contribute to your career objectives? (Limit: 750 words)

This is a straightforward, connect-the-dots MBA goals question.  Click on the link for tips on writing an essay that both distinctly reflects You and demonstrates your knowledge of Georgetown.

2. In your own words, how do you define leadership? Please provide a specific example (professional or personal) of a time when you embodied the characteristics of a leader. Be sure to highlight the challenges you faced and the results you achieved. What areas do you wish to develop in order to become a more effective leader? (Limit: 750 words)

Interesting leadership questions! There are several critical elements to this question: Your individual example of leadership, your definition of leadership, the challenges you faced, the impact you had, and how you would like to develop further. Don't feel compelled to respond in exactly the order given in the questions; just make sure you answer all elements.

3. What is the most significant change you have made to any organization with which you have been recently affiliated? Please describe how you identified the need for change and how you managed the process of implementing change. What were the results? (Limit: 750 words)

This question asks "the most significant change," not many changes or even two changes. It is asking for another example of your impact on an organization. It is probably going to be another leadership example. Again, make sure you answer all elements of the question. A great answer would take an entirely different situation than that discussed in #2.

4. COMMUNITY CONTRIBUTIONS, PERSONAL INTERESTS, AND AFFILIATIONS (REQUIRED)
List in order of importance all community and professional organizations and extracurricular activities in which you have been involved during or after university studies. Indicate the nature of the activity or organization, dates of involvement, offices held, and average number of hours spent each month. (Limit: one page)

5. OPTIONAL ESSAY
Please feel free to provide a statement concerning any information you would like to add to your application that you have not addressed elsewhere. For example, you may comment on your academic record as an indication of your potential for graduate management education, or you may explain any gaps in your work history. If you are not submitting a letter of recommendation from your current supervisor, use this space to explain why. Similarly, if you are not currently employed full-time, use this space to provide information about your current activities. (Limit: 500 words)

If you don't need to address any of the issues suggested above, please see "The Optional Question: To Be or Not to Be."

McDonough MBA application, please consider Accepted.com's MBA essay editing and admissions consulting or one of our Georgetown Comprehensive Packages

Frankly, don't pay too much attention to the absolute ranking or even slight movement. Take advantage of BW's rich, informative database and fantastic resources for applicants. Then choose what's important to you and do your own ranking.

Top 30 U.S. Programs
1 University of Chicago
2 Harvard University
3 Northwestern University (Kellogg)
4 University of Pennsylvania (Wharton)
5 University of Michigan (Ross)
6 Stanford University
7 Columbia University
8 Duke University (Fuqua)
9 MIT (Sloan)
10 UC Berkeley (Haas)
11 Cornell University (Johnson)
12 Dartmouth (Tuck)
13 NYU (Stern)
14 UCLA (Anderson)
15 Indiana University (Kelley)
16 University of Virginia (Darden)
17 UNC - Chapel Hill (Kenan-Flagler)
18 Southern Methodist (Cox)
19 Carnegie Mellon (Tepper)
20 University of Notre Dame (Mendoza)
21 Texas - Austin
22 Brigham Young (Marriott)
23 Emory University (Goizueta)
24 Yale University
25 University of Southern California (Marshall)
26 University of Maryland (Smith)
27 University of Washington (Foster)
28 Washington University (Olin)
29 Georgia Tech
30 Vanderbilt University (Owen)

Top 10 Non-U.S. MBA Programs
1 Queens University
2 IE Business School
3 INSEAD
4 Western Ontario (Ivey)
5 London Business School
6 ESADE
7 IMD
8 Toronto (Rotman)
9 IESE
10 Oxford (Saîd)

BW bases its rankings on employer and student surveys as well as school research output or "intellectual capital."  This year for the first time, in a nod to the economic crisis, it is also including a ranking based on ROI and years to recoup the MBA investment. Not surprisingly, European schools, which tend to be one-year programs, are at the top of the chart. More surprising: HBS ranks 50 out of 50 in this chart. I guess assumptions matter.

• Assistant Dean at Arizona State University's W P Carey School of Management.
• Director of Admissions and Financial Aid at Cornell's Johnson School
• Director of MBA Student Affairs and Enrollment Management at the University of Michigan (where she also earned her MBA).

Twenty-six graduate admissions consultants representing 15 consultancies from six countries and four continents gathered to improve skills, talk shop, and share best practices on Wednesday and Thursday of this week. I am proud to say that seven Accepted editors participated in the conference, the largest contingent from any consultancy.

On Wednesday morning we toured Chicago GSB, met with Rose Martinelli -- who addressed us and took questions -- and other Chicago staff. In the afternoon, we traveled to the other end of Chicago, and met with Kellogg staff, a student in Kellogg’s 1Y program, and then heard from Beth Flye.

On Thursday we had three presentations. I served on a panel discussing “Best Practices in Admissions Consulting.” Later that morning, directors of admission from Anderson, Haas, Kenan-Flagler, London Business School, and Tuck, participated in a panel discussion hosted by AIGAC. In the afternoon we had a chance to speak to additional admissions directors including representatives of Michigan Ross, Georgetown, Cornell, Indiana Kelley, Haas, Anderson, Tuck, Kenan Flagler, INSEAD, and Yale. It was a wonderful learning experience for all who attended.

OK. Enough about us.

A few points of interest to you:

• Chicago plans to release the 2009 questions in roughly two weeks. There will be changes in the questions. The PowerPoint question will return.
• Kellogg plans to release its question in two weeks.
• We discussed the current high interest in CSR. The panelists emphasized that interest in CSR has to be substantiated by previous behavior. They also emphasized that while idealism is wonderful, they are teaching business skills. Show that your goal requires what they teach.
• Although HBS has made the goals essay optional and other schools may move away from it, these panelists stressed the importance of goals. While acknowledging that goals do change, they unanimously believed that direction and a good reason for pursuing an MBA are valuable. Furthermore, if you don’t know what to do after your MBA and are in “self discovery” mode, you will suffer from stimulation overload and an inability to prioritize among the many activities and recruiting events that begin as soon as classes start.
• Christie St. John of Tuck emphasized the importance of refreshing or acquiring quant skills before you arrive on campus. The others agreed. If you haven’t had or aren’t comfortable with accounting, calculus, and statistics, take courses either at a local community college or online.
• We asked about trends: Their response: Increased applications last year and this year.

A couple of pictures:

Accepted Editors at the AIGAC Conference (from left to right) Linda Abraham, Cydney Foote, Sonia Michaels, Sachin Waikar, Tanis Kmetyk, Robbie Walker, Katherine Kidd (non-staff ), and Judy Gruen.

The Best Practices in Admissions Consulting Panel and Discussion with (from left to right) Jeremy Shinewald, Linda Abraham,  Anna Ivey, Chioma Isiadinso, and Maxx Duffy.