Will it doom your otherwise perfect application to the great round file in cyberspace, putting the kabosh on years of effort and nixing your attempt to walk through the hallowed halls of your favored institution? No. A single, minor typo will do absolutely nothing. So don’t sweat one minor spelling mistake, a missed comma, or…
MBA Admissions A-Z: E is for Essay
Next up in our MBA Admissions A-Z series is E for Essay, a topic on which we could very easily write an entire book. (Hey – we DID write an entire book. Scroll down for details.) Here we are going to focus on 4 critical MBA admission essay mistakes. Make sure that your essays DON’T…
How to Edit Your Application Essays
In an exclusive interview with… well, herself, Linda Abraham shares some advice that she’s learned over the course of almost two decades of application essay editing. Listen to the full recording of this excellent episode to learn concrete steps you can take right now to ensure that your essays are working for –and not against…
Save $100 On B-School Editing & Consulting Services – LIMITED TIME OFFER!
B-School Applicants: Get your $100 off coupon here! Through August 31, 2012, you can save $100 on all non-rush MBA editing and consulting services (minimum order $1000) with coupon code MBA100! How’s that for some motivation to jumpstart those applications? Some services that may be of interest to you include: MBA Essay Editing Application Packages…
Athletic Appeal in Admissions
Long before Gabby Douglas flew through her floor exercise and Michael Phelps dominated the pool, admissions directors have been impressed by athletes. From stories about the perfect basket, goal, spike or serve, athletes have wonderful stories that display their endurance, strength, leadership and team skills. Fascinated by the applicant who used his marathon run as…
7 Signs an Experience Belongs in Your Application Essay
You have a lifetime of experiences. Which should you include in your application essays or personal statement? How do you choose? The more of the seven signposts of significance discussed in this video that an experience has, the more it merits a place in your critical essay. Accepted.com ~ Helping You Write Your Best
Where’s the Poetry? The Secret Ingredient in Your Graduate Application Essays
Strategy will necessarily guide your selection of essay topics, anecdotes/examples, and structure. Yet an essay built on calculation alone, even if the strategy is spot on, will often disappoint. Logically it all makes sense. But it doesn’t take flight. Poetry can be the secret ingredient to make your application essay sing – right into the…
MBA Admissions A-Z: J is for Jigsaw Puzzle
Let’s take a look at all the elements that go into creating an MBA application: There’s your GPA, your transcripts, your GMAT, a resume, your letters of recommendation, all those boxes and forms on the actual application page, and finally, your MBA application essays. Creating Your Unique Puzzle One way we like to view all…
MBA Admissions A-Z: F is for Funnel
…and what could a funnel possibly have to do with MBA admissions, you ask? Well, at Accepted.com, one of the tricks-of-the-trade essay editing techniques we use is something called the Editing Funnel. After you draft your essays, you should use it too. Here’s how it works: At the top of the funnel (that’s the widest…
MBA Admissions A-Z: E is for Essay
Next up in our MBA Admissions A-Z series is E for Essay, a topic on which we could very easily write an entire book. (Hey – we DID write an entire book. Scroll down for details.) Here we are going to focus on 4 critical MBA admission essay mistakes. Make sure that your essays DON’T…
MBA Admissions A-Z: D is for Distinctive Writing
We’ve touched upon ways in which to highlight your uniqueness in “Be Yourself” (B in our MBA Admissions A-Z series). There we talked about the importance of expressing what you’re truly passionate about rather than simply enumerating those things that you think the adcom want to hear. Writing about your passions, as well as your…
Cornell Johnson 2012 Executive MBA Application Questions and Tips
The 2012 Cornell Johnson EMBA questions are unchanged from 2011 and we have made only minor changes to the tips. Cornell Johnson Executive MBA Application Essay Questions The Cornell Executive MBA Program has three essay questions in its application, and they have remained the same for several years, indicating the program is consistent with what…
3 Treats that Will do the Trick in Your Personal Statement or Application Essay
In my meanderings on the web, I stumbled across a short video on screen writing. The presenters are two Emmy-winning screen writers, and they know a thing or two about telling a good story. They boil the story-telling stew down to three words — actually 2 do’s and 1 don’t: The do’s: Therefore But The…
Epidemic Among Applicants!
Your personal statements, application essays, and statements of purpose are suffering. It’s serious. And could be fatal to your application. This latest epidemic of vacuous, declarative sentences that either state the obvious or make non-credible claims has reached epic proportions in applicant essays, personal statements, and statements of purpose. The cure? Substance and specifics. Stories…
2012 Wharton Executive MBA Application Tips
The Wharton EMBA 2013 Tips are now available. Click here to check them out. This Wharton 2012 Application tip post is one of a series of posts providing Executive MBA application and essay advice for applicants to top EMBA programs around the world for the new admissions cycle. Check out the entire 2012 EMBA Application…
Chicago Booth Executive MBA 2012 Admissions Tips
The 2013 Chicago EMBA Tips are now available. Click here to check them out! Chicago 2012 EMBA Application Essay Questions This 2012 Chicago Booth Executive MBA Admissions tip post is the first in a series of posts providing Executive MBA application and essay advice for applicants to top EMBA programs around the world for the…
2012 Common Application Essay Tips
This post about the Common Application is part of a series of posts written to help you fill out the 2012 Common Application supplement for Ivy League schools. If you are a rising high school senior, there is a good chance that the Common Application website is bookmarked on your web browser, or printed,…
Should You Write the Optional Essay?
…it depends. (You didn’t think we’d actually give you a straightforward “yes” or “no” answer, did you?) You may be exhausted after writing the required 3-5 essays that your target business school requires, but that doesn’t give you an automatic “out” from the optional essay. The truth is, some people will get their much-needed…
2011 Chicago Booth Executive MBA Admissions Tips
Chicago 2011 EMBA Application Essay Questions This 2011 Chicago Booth Executive MBA Admissions tip post is one of a series of posts providing Executive MBA application and essay advice for applicants to top EMBA programs around the world. You can access the entire series at https://blog.accepted.com/acceptedcom_blog/tag/2011-executive-mba-admissions-tips. My tips for answering Chicago’s EMBA essay questions are in…
Tips for Completing Your Application to Princeton University
This is part of a series of posts providing advice you can use when completing The Common Application for 2011. You can find the entire series, including tips for the Common App’s required essays and advice on completing the activities section at https://blog.accepted.com/acceptedcom_blog/tag/2011-common-application-tips. To me, Princeton has one of the more interesting applications. Like Harvard, they eliminated early action/early decision,…
