Applying to MBA programs in the fall? If so, then you’re probably planning to meet with MBA admissions committee members at various types of events – school visits, MBA fairs, school receptions, and so one – as part of that process. Adcom members are preparing for you as well. Before they meet with you, they…
Optional and Open-Ended Essay Questions: What’s the Best Strategy?
Many business schools ask open-ended questions, many of which are variations of, “I wish the admissions committee had asked me…” or, “What is a question that you wish we had asked?” The most common among these open-ended questions is the optional essay, where you really have free rein to discuss anything you feel is important…
Full Scholarships Based on Financial Need Now Available at HBS
Harvard Business School is now offering full scholarships based on financial need for approximately 10% of its MBA candidates, according to an August 16 article in the Wall Street Journal. The article also quoted Accepted founder and CEO Linda Abraham, who noted that scholarships covering the entire cost of tuition and fees for the neediest…
Writing a Powerful Leadership/Achievement Essay [Sample Essay]
Essays that ask you to write about significant achievements fall under the category of what are known as behavioral or experiential questions. The basic assumption behind these questions is that past behavior is a great predictor of future behavior. They are all varieties on the theme of “Tell us about a time when you…” These…
Summarizing Your Activities on the Common Application
If you want your Common App to stand out from the crowd, your short activity descriptions must reflect the same thought and care you give to your personal essay. If you thought that a 280-character limit on Twitter was tough, get ready to deal with the short answer questions on your activities on the Common…
5 Mistakes To Avoid In A Cover Letter
You only have one chance to make a first impression. If the first impression you need to make is through a cover letter to a prospective employer, school admissions office, or internship sponsor, make sure it shines a light on your qualifications and displays your enthusiasm for the position or that seat in the class….
What We Learned Visiting Wharton: Report from Day 2 of the AIGAC Conference
Wharton generously hosted the second day of the AIGAC conference on campus. In addition to giving us a tour, we met admissions directors, program directors, professors and members of the career services staff, whose content-rich panels got us all up to speed on what’s new and notable in Wharton’s curriculum, community, programs and admissions. By…
What’s New in MBA Admissions? A Report from the 6th Annual AIGAC Conference [Part 1]
Change and innovation are vital in nearly every industry today, including in graduate school admissions consulting. Five Accepted.com editors, including company president and founder Linda Abraham, attended the 6th annual conference of Association of International Graduate Admissions Consultants in Philadelphia June 12-15. We were graciously hosted by Wharton on day two, and on day one,…
MBA Programs Host Coffee Dates Worldwide
Wherever you are in the world, chances are that a current MBA student from a top school is waiting to have coffee with you. In London, Delhi, Tel Aviv, Toronto, New York, San Francisco, Singapore, Rio de Janiero, Zurich, Houston, and a host of other international cities, schools are dispatching current students to chat you…
MBA Admissions:The Cure for “Final Application Fatigue”
The blogger known as Eternal Enthusiasm has a problem – namely, he is running nearly on empty in the Department of Enthusiasm as he faces his last MBA application. “I approached this last first-round application as a simple task. I knew exactly how to sum up my candidacy and the points I wanted to hit….
5 Tips for Essay Writing: Plan With a Calendar, Not an Egg Timer
The blogger of MBA on the Horizon recently noted the irony of her situation: after devoting months to prepare for her MBA applications, including attending information sessions, reading blogs, and researching through other means, she ended up cramming all her essay writing for Wharton into a single weekend. A Saturday marathon writing session produced a…
What Does It Mean to Write from the “Inside Out”?
After devoting many days and countless revisions to his 250-word Stanford GSB Reliance Fellowship essay, the blogger at MBAdreamz concludes: “The mantra for writing essays should be bringing one’s ‘INSIDE OUT.’ The more one knows and reveals (about himself) in the essays, the more comfortable and confident he would be with the essays.” Having worked…
Accelerated Two-Year JD Program at Northwestern University Launches in 2009
Northwestern University will offer an accelerated two-year JD degree program beginning in 2009, hoping to attract highly motivated students who might otherwise have considered a two-year MBA program or others interested in fast-tracking a law degree. The two-year program will require the same number of credits as the traditional three-year program, relying on a compressed…