What is the diversity question in a school application, and more importantly, why does it matter when applying to leading programs and universities? Many applications now include a question – sometimes optional – that encourages applicants with minority backgrounds, unusual education, distinctive experience, or unique family histories to write about how these elements will contribute…
MBA ADMISSIONS
Bloomberg Businessweek Announces Best U.S. Business Schools
Bloomberg Businessweek conducted its 2018 survey of 10,473 MBA students, 15,050 alumni, and 3,698 recruiters about their business school experiences and their goals. Their answers, in addition to information about salary and job-placement data from each school, combined to create each school’s rank. The ranking of non-U.S. programs will be released in December 2018….
Why Do You Need an MBA? [MBA Interview Questions Series]
This blog post is part of a series of articles analyzing some of the most popular MBA interview questions and offering tips on how to best respond to them. In this post, we’ll address “Why do you need an MBA?” “Why do you need an MBA?” This is one of the most common questions asked…
What Exactly Are Goals?
“I want to move from the buy side to the sell side.” “I want to shift from technology consulting to investment banking.” Not goals. An engineer once said to me, “I want to go into either finance or consulting.” Not goals. A goal isn’t something you want, it’s something you do, something you want to…
What’s New at INSEAD? [Episode 285]
What’s New at INSEAD? [Show Summary] No school exemplifies the trend global business quite as much as INSEAD, which was founded in France, but has campuses in Europe, Asia, and the Middle East as well as partnerships with Wharton in the U.S., Tsinghua in China, and the Sorbonne. Virginie Fougea, Director of MBA Admissions at…
HKUST MBA Application Essay Tips & Deadlines
Applicants seeking an MBA with high placement rates throughout Asia may find HKUST the perfect fit for their needs. HKUST offers two options for its MBA: a 16-month option that offers hopeful career switchers the opportunity to hold an internship in their target industry and even an experience in an exchange program abroad, and a…
How to Project Professionalism & Positivity in Your Statement of Purpose
In my previous post, I discussed the importance of maintaining an appropriate tone in your admissions essay, and provided tips for checking your tone, specifically for finding a confident tone and avoiding arrogance. Once again, “tone” refers to a writer’s attitude toward their subject (and their reader). Your tone comes across in your choice of…
Are You Selling Yourself Short?
“I founded a small candy company,” said Roberto.* I could see in the faces of my fellow admissions committee members that they were not that impressed with the candidate; none of them had ever heard of “Del Sol Candy,”* and Roberto’s modest description did not make it sound all that impressive an accomplishment. Many times…
Cambridge Judge MBA Essay Tips & Deadlines
The Cambridge Judge MBA program is a one-year program with a small class of around 200 students from 40+ countries. The Judge MBA is a very experiential program, with three required team projects engaging students with external companies or organizations. Judge is seeking applicants with proven academic abilities, ambition, the ability to thrive under pressure, international…
Writing Tip: Understanding the Fine Line Between Confidence and Arrogance
“Tone” is often one of the aspects of writing that applicants find most difficult to pin down. And yet, when you’re writing, it is also one of the most important to control so that you maintain an appropriate tone for your purpose. One way to think about “tone” is to understand it as conveying your…
MBA Admissions Tip: Explaining Frequent Job Switching
You’ve got a strong transcript, a solid GPA, and you aced the GMAT. You know you’re a strong candidate for pretty much any top MBA program. There’s just one thing standing in your way…your resume. You’ve had some good jobs—that’s not the problem. The problem is that you’ve had too many of them, very close…
We Can Help You Pay for Graduate School!
While we’re not offering to foot the bill for you (sorry!), we are more than happy to share advice on how you can pay for graduate school abroad. Check out the recording of our recent webinar, How to Fund Your International Graduate Degree, during which Prodigy Finance’s Zack Hirschfeld discusses the steps you need to…
Tell Me About Your Weaknesses [MBA Interview Questions Series]
![Tell Me About Your Weaknesses [MBA Interview Questions Series]](https://blog.accepted.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Tell-Me-About-Your-Weaknesses.jpg)
This blog post is part of a series of articles analyzing some of the most popular MBA interview questions and how to best respond to them. In this post, we’ll address “What is your weakness?“: Reason for asking the question: To ensure the applicant is humble enough to recognize that nobody is perfect, and to see…
Why Write a Series About MBA Goals?
A few years ago, in the good old days when Wharton still offered feedback to rejected applicants, I talked with a potential client who was reapplying to Wharton. I asked him whether he’d obtained feedback on his application, and he said yes. Well? “Actually they said they really liked my application. They said I was…
Last Call! Get Accepted to Columbia
There are still a few seats available for Get Accepted to Columbia! In this not-to-be-missed one-hour webinar, Accepted founder Linda Abraham will share a proven strategy for application success, and guide you through each part of the CBS application. When you’re applying to a program as competitive as CBS, it’s easy to be intimidated. But…
Harvard MBA Class Profile [Class of 2020]
Here’s a look at HBS’s Class of 2020 taken from the Harvard Business School website: Number of Applications: 9,866 Enrolled: 930 Countries Represented: 69 U.S.: 64% Asia: 14% Europe: 8% Mexico, Central & South America: 6% Canada: 5% Africa: 2% Middle East: 2% Oceania: 1% Women: 41% International (including U.S. permanent residents): 37% U.S. ethnic…
4 Tips For Team Interviews
“4 Tips For Team Interviews” is part of our series Navigate the MBA Maze. Since so much of b-school life and learning includes team discussions, the adcom needed a tool for assessing how applicants will fit in the team-based discussion culture of their programs. Thus, the Team-Based Discussion (TBD) was born. In team-based interviews, applicants…
Learn How to Answer Columbia Business School’s First Essay Question
Are you looking for expert tips on how to approach Columbia Business School’s first essay? Learn what the 5 components to a successful CBS essay are and what you need to do to ensure that your application essay checks off each one. View this short video for more information. Full video transcript Are you struggling…
Application Essay Tip: The Devil is in the Details
You can argue about the devil, but certainly the substance, distinctiveness, and success of your essays depends on the details. Bringing Out Your Uniqueness in the Details Many applicants tend to bury their uniqueness and success under vague assertions. You don’t want to hide your achievements; you want to trumpet them loudly and clearly. For…
Columbia Business School: Do You Have What it Takes?
An MBA is a serious investment in your future – it’s two years out of your career, sure, but it’s also training, a credential, and a network that you’ll have for the rest of your life. That’s why your application strategy is so important: choosing (and getting accepted to) the right school for your goals…
