UNC Kenan Flagler 2010 MBA Essay Questions

My comments are in red. The essay questions are identical to last year's, as are my comments, with the exception of one new question for essay 4.

Some applicants seek the MBA as a career enhancing tool to accelerate advancement in their current field. Career switchers want the MBA to help launch new career paths. UNC Kenan-Flagler recognizes each of these motivations as legitimate reasons to pursue the MBA, and we encourage both types of candidates to apply.

UNC Kenan-Flagler encourages you to assess your known talents and potential skills, understand your personal style, and confirm your values and interests. If you do this prior to beginning your MBA studies, you will be better equipped to navigate the many options the MBA program will provide. There is not enough time to do all the activities and take all the courses that will be available to you. It is important, therefore, to make your choices based on your own development plan. Think of the UNC Kenan-Flagler MBA application as a first step toward uncovering the unique attributes and goals that will inform your development plan. Please be thoughtful and reflective in your answers.

Essay One (Required)

What are the 2 or 3 strengths or characteristics that have driven your career success thus far? Do you have other strengths that you would like to leverage in the future? (500 words maximum)

Rather than list Strength 1, Strength 2, and Strength 3, I recommend you start with an anecdote that illustrates ideally 2-3 or your strengths and then analyze how they have contributed to your career success. Remember to describe your achievement in terms of impact and quantify as much as possible. Another approach: Describe the accomplishment anecdotally and then go into the characteristics that contributed to it.

In both cases, also include a paragraph about a trait that you would like to use in future projects and successes.

Essay Two (Required)

Briefly describe the career path you intend to pursue immediately after b-school. Explain why this career option appeals to you and why an MBA is appropriate at this time. (500 words maximum)

What do you see yourself doing immediately upon graduation and for the first five years after you graduate? Based on UNC's instructions, you need to have a clear direction and goal when you arrive or you will be lost. Describe why this path attracts you. What experiences have convinced you to pursue it? Why do you need an MBA, especially one with UNC's approach to business education, to proceed down your chosen path.

Essay Three (Required)

What personal qualities or life experiences distinguish you from other applicants? How do these qualities or experiences equip you to contribute to Kenan-Flagler? (500 words maximum)

Everyone has a story. What's yours? What makes you unique? What hobbies and experiences will differentiate you from the IT guy, consultant, real estate developer, or banker that the adcom just read about? How will your perspective contribute to the classroom and community at Kenan-Flagler?

Essay Four (Required)

Kenan-Flagler has five core values: excellence, leadership, integrity, community and teamwork. If you could add one value what would it be and why? Be sure to explain how you have lived this value.
(300 words maximum)

New Question. This excellent question gives you the chance to show what is important to you. The question is very clear. What do you value that is not listed as one of Kenan-Flager's core values? Why do you feel it is important. And finally, when have acted -- invested time and toil-- as a result of this value you hold dear. Feeling and opining strongly are not enough. Action counts.

Essay Five (Optional)

If your GMAT quantitative score is low, or if you have not had coursework in calculus, microeconomics, statistics and financial accounting, please tell us how you plan to prepare yourself for the quantitative MBA curriculum. (300 words maximum)

This is pretty straightforward. Just answer it. You may also want to highlight professional preparation that you have already had in quantitative areas.

Essay Six (Optional)

Is there anything else you think the Admissions Committee should know about you in order to evaluate your candidacy?
(300 words maximum)

My favorite: The optional question. A gift allowing you to give the adcom one more reason to admit you.

If you would like help with UNC's Kenan-Flagler essays, please consider Accepted.com's MBA admissions consulting and editing services or our UNC Kenan Flagler Comprehensive Packages.
 

UNC Kenan Flagler 2010 MBA Deadlines

*Parts I and II must be received by midnight EST

Duke Fuqua 2010 MBA Essay Questions

My comments are in red.

Three essay questions must be completed before submitting your application. Prepare your essays carefully. The Admissions Committee considers your responses to the following questions important in the selection process. Please respond fully and concisely using 1.5 line spacing. Your response to each question should be no more than 2 pages in length, with a font size not smaller than 10-point.

Candidates who applied to The Duke MBA between September 2008 and April 2009 are considered re-applicants. All re-applicants are required to complete the Re-applicant Essay in addition to the Applicant Essays.

All applicants have the opportunity to submit an optional essay to explain any extenuating circumstances of which the Admissions Committee should be aware.

Duke is very proud of its community: Team Fuqua. Consequently, it carefully chooses team members. The questions below are an opportunity for you to introduce yourself as an individual, a member of your community or team, and a professional and future leader. As the questions show, all facets are important to Fuqua.

Duke has once again re-shuffled the essay deck this year. It is asking for three long essays (as opposed to one last year) and no short essays (as opposed to three last year). Last year's long essay question introduction is now the introduction for the three required questions.

Applicant Essays: Answer all 3 essay questions.

Today, companies must navigate through complex and interdependent issues. They must deal with health and security matters, environmental impact questions, and diversity and cultural concerns. Leaders need adaptability, imagination, emotional intelligence, as well as business acumen. Thus, Duke is in the midst of an ambitious global venture that will embed and connect us around the world, and we are seeking future leaders of consequence, those who value diversity and collaborative leadership, and who aspire to impact the companies and communities of which they are a part in a lasting and positive way.

In an effort to identify, engage, and foster the development of future leaders of consequence, the Admissions Committee would like to get to know our applicants in a more holistic manner. We would like to know who you are, what has shaped you into the person you are today, and how you hope to impact both Duke and the communities of which you will be a part in the future. The essays are your opportunity to convey that to us. Please be open, genuine, and passionate. Share with us what makes you a dynamic, multi-dimensional person. 

What role in the world would you like to assume? Where would you like to have impact? What cause is important to you? Where have you contributed in the past? When answering the essays below, keep in mind that this is more about vision, values, and life goals than strictly professional goals. Also keep in mind Duke's "globally distributed" campus and its emphasis on the connections between business and non-business disciplines.

1. Describe your vision for your career, your inspiration for pursuing this career path, and the role of The Duke MBA in achieving your goals. If you are interested in a specific concentration or joint degree program, please discuss in this essay.

Similar to last year's first short question, Duke is asking you to connect the dots between your past experiences your future goals and show how their MBA program will bridge the gap between the two. (For different ideas on structuring goals essays, click on the link).

I don't think I can overemphasize the importance of this essay in establishing your credibility as a serious candidate. I know I have harangued you regularly about the importance of goals in MBA admissions, and I am doing it again. Just keep in mind that this essay will reveal whether you have done your homework -- personal introspection, career networking, and school research -- or not, as the case may be.

2. Discuss a person, event, or experience that has significantly shaped your life and explain why.

Almost identical to last year's 3rd short essay question, but now you have more room to elaborate. What or who has had profound, lasting impact on you? Describe the person or event and its impact. Please don't limit your description of impact to the emotional or intellectual. How does this person or event influence your behavior?

This essay probably will reflect a non-professional facet of your life. Although not specified this year, the question originally appeared with the following caveat: The goal of this essay is to get a sense of who you are, rather than what you have achieved professionally.

3. Individuals choose a business school for many different reasons. Through your research, what attributes or characteristics of The Duke MBA program have most resonated with you and why? How do you plan to contribute to the strengthening and enhancement of those attributes and characteristics during your time at Duke and beyond?

This is a more detailed version of last years 2nd essay with the added request regarding your research on Duke.  Based on your research, what are you going to add to Team Fuqua? Is it an enthusiastic commitment to Habitat for Humanity, a local environmental cause, your church, or a hobby, sport, or art form? Is it an unusual personal background? Perhaps, overcoming distinctive challenges? And then how will this unique facet cause you to contribute at Duke? Will it lead to involvement in a specific club or Fuqua project? Interest in a particular program? Again show your knowledge of Fuqua as well as fit between you and the program.

Optional Essay (not required)

If you feel there are extenuating circumstances of which the Admissions Committee should be aware, please explain them here (e.g., unexplained gaps in work, choice of recommenders, inconsistent or questionable academic performance, significant weakness in your application) 

Why isn't your current supervisor writing your rec? Why did your grades dip during the first semester of your senior year? Why is there a six-month gap on your resume? What are your responsibilities while working for a family business after having left a prestigious investment bank and why did you make the change? Answering any of those questions (but not all) could be the topic of your optional essay. And of course an infinite number of similar subjects could be worthwhile discussing in the optional essay.

Re-applicant Essay

All re-applicants are required to complete the Re-applicant Essay. Please limit your response to two pages. Write an essay describing how you are now a stronger candidate for admission compared to the application you submitted the previous year.

This is the question that adcoms want MBA reapplicants to answer. It is self-explanatory and critical.

If you would like help with your Duke Fuqua MBA application, please consider Accepted.com's MBA essay editing and admissions consulting or a Duke Fuqua Comprehensive Package. Purchase before August 31, 2009 to take advantage of our August MBA special.

Duke Fuqua 2010 MBA Deadlines

*The Duke MBA Early Action option is ideal for applicants who have completed their MBA research and have decided that The Duke MBA is the best program for them. Applicants admitted in the Early Action round must submit the non-refundable $3,000 tuition deposit along with official transcript(s) by December 10, 2009. In addition, any applications submitted to other schools must be withdrawn upon an offer of admission from The Duke MBA.

**Scholarship and Visa Recipients must deposit by April 16, 2010.

I just finished reading The Chosen: The Hidden History of Admission and Exclusion at Harvard, Yale, and Princeton by Jerome Karabel. This book's 557 pages plus 100+pages of footnotes tells the story of admissions at these elite institutions since the beginning of the 20th century, when frankly they were more like male finishing schools than rigorous academic institutions. Mark Twain's line "I've never let my school interfere with my education" comes to mind.

Throughout, The Chosen presents a consistent theme. The Ivy League administrators have known that their institutions are producing the leaders of tomorrow. They have created classes reflecting their  beliefs as to who would and should lead professions, the country, and the world in the future. They knew and know they are creating a leadership class.

While societal views on diversity, inclusion, and exclusion have evolved over the last 100 years, the elite schools are elite because they produce leaders. To paraphrase Harvard Business School, it's easier to develop leaders than create them. Consequently, if you want to attend a program dedicated to producing leaders, you need to show leadership in your essays.

The need to demonstrate leadership in applications isn't really news, but it does present a problem: If you show you are leaders and write and talk about leadership, you all sound the same. Kind of boring. Furthermore that homogeneity butts up against another major admissions value: diversity.

In contrast, if you write about different aspects of leadership, then suddenly your essays will not sound like all other essays. You will choose different qualities to write about and focus on those elements of your experience that reveal those qualities as opposed to the overarching principle of "leadership."

I listened this morning to a Businessweek podcast called Leadership Lessons from Top CEOs , in which special guest Jason Jennings, author of the new book, Hit the Ground Running, discusses the leadership qualities he discovered after studying top business CEOs. For example:

• The importance of transparency and integrity. In Jennings' words, "You reap what you sow."
• Humility. The value of seeking help.
• The ability to "select a destination," or determine a goal, and inspire.
• A drive to simplify.
• Desire to balance long-term and short-term interests.
• Willingness to share strategy with your followers.
• Good listening.

You probably can't discuss all of these attributes, but by portraying one or two in an essay, you can reveal qualities valued by admissions committees, and you will distinguish yourself. Help them see you as a mover and shaker whom they may just want as a member of their class.

Over the weekend I read an article by Rabbi David Lapin, author of the forthcoming book Lead By Greatness, in which he argues, "It is true that most leaders need the power of status to support their effectiveness, but great leaders do not rely on that status to lead, they lead by their own greatness."

Rabbi Lapin explores the differences between status and stature:

"People of stature do not compete with one another, there is an endless supply of stature for anyone willing to invest in acquiring it.

Influence by means of status however, is a zero-sum game: one person's gain of status is generally the other person's loss. There is not an unlimited supply of status. Status has value because it is rare: there can only be one president, CEO, or [dean] for if titles were to be dished out liberally they would lose their value. 

I am frequently asked questions reflecting confusion over the difference between stature and status, character and captions, leadership and labels. While titles and awards may reflect stature, character, and leadership, they are also sometimes given out like trinkets or cheap rewards. They can be meaningless. Alternatively, one can handle responsibility well beyond what is expected of most people with a given title and not receive an elevated title. In that case one's stature has garnered trust and informal recognition -- the foundation of leadership -- but not a formal designation.

Admissions committees know that titles can be flawed measures of leadership, responsibility, and character. In your essays, whether you have the title or not, you want to show the leadership that flows from stature, not status. It is an attribute based on trustworthiness, a bigness of character, and a focus on group goals; it leads to change and impact.

The uber-attribute of admissions is leadership. Yes schools want to see intelligence and achievement, but when discussing personal qualities, leadership is at the top of every admissions professional's Most Wanted List.

You can read volumes about leaders and leadership -- good and bad. I just finished reading Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln by Doris Kearns Goodwin. In it, Lincoln comes alive as a consummate leader.

According to Goodwin what qualities made Lincoln into one of the most admired if not the most admired president in United States history? Here are a few:

1. Willingness to turn to rivals if he felt they were best qualified for a position. It didn't matter to him whether they had hurt or helped him previously. The man simply refused to bear grudges. "With malice toward none; with charity for all" was not just a nice phrase; it was a way of life. And that bigness of spirit propelled him to heights of leadership.
2. Patience with others. While Lincoln could forgive rivals, those around him nurtured their peeves, disagreements, and grudges. Lincoln deftly navigated a hornet's nest of egos and rivals.
3. Willingness to share praise when things went well and shoulder responsibility when things went wrong. He garnered trust from subordinates as a result.
4. Combination of principles and shrewdness. He didn't seek fights he couldn't win, but he kept his eyes on the values that were truly important to him and pursued them with consistency.
5. Gift for using humor and stories to make his point and defuse tension.

In your essays, when can you show a bigness of character -- a willingness to reach out to competitors or rivals? Can you show a principled approach to leadership? Can you discuss a time when you told a joke to score points and release tension, and then turned the tide toward your point of view?