Many law schools invite applicants to share more about themselves through optional essays. For example, the University of Pennsylvania Law School provides the following optional essays prompts: Describe how your background or experiences will enhance the diversity of the Penn Carey Law community (e.g., based on your culture, race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity,…
3 Tips for Writing the Optional Essay in Medical School Secondary Applications
Many medical schools include an optional essay in their secondary applications. Obviously, this “optional” essay is not required, and the essay prompt sometimes emphasizes this point. Often, the question will include the stipulation that you cannot include anything that was already mentioned in your primary application or other essays. Some schools even state that most…
“I Wish the Admissions Committee Had Asked Me…”
“What is a question that you wish we had asked?” A number of business schools have variations on this question, and clients regularly ask what they are supposed to do with a topic like this. The answer: It depends. The role of the optional essay Ask yourself: Does the application offer an optional essay space…
Add-Ons and Extras: Supplements to Your Law School Application
If your law school’s application offers optional or extra opportunities for submitting supplementary materials, you are wise to take advantage of them and give the admissions committee more information about you, more reasons to admit you. When writing these supplemental materials, choose your topics carefully and write an essay that will make the admissions committee…
When the MBA Optional Essay is No Longer Optional
You’ve already written the required essays that most business schools ask for – do you really need to write the optional essay? If you’re a strong applicant who doesn’t need to explain weaknesses, low stats, or application inconsistencies, then you may be able to skip the optional question. But the optional essay is NOT AN…
How to Choose X Essay Questions to Answer from Y Choices
If you face multiple essay questions on an application, how are you going to choose which one(s) you should answer and which one(s) you should skip? What factors should you consider when choosing the best essays for you? Appreciate Your Options! First, options are good! But they do force you to think (a task we’re…
Law School Admissions Tip #7: The not so optional “optional” essay
The Top 15 Things Every Law School Applicant Should Know is a series that will teach you the ins and outs of successful law school applications. Stay tuned for the remaining elements. This week we’ll discuss the not so optional “optional” essay. Almost every law school will ask for a personal statement as part of…
Making Your MBA Essays Do “Double Duty”
With the new MBA essay questions coming out, you may be starting to sketch out your answers. Of course first and foremost answer the given questions thoroughly and thoughtfully. But how can your essays work for you to the max, especially when the questions don’t seem to provide opportunities to portray experiences, skills, qualities, or…
Optional Essays: When and How to Write Them
In this short video, Linda Abraham explores the two kinds of optional essays, who should write them, and what should go into them. Don’t miss the crucial warning at the end. Related Resources: • 5 Fatal Flaws to Avoid in Your Application Essays, a free guide • How to Edit Your Application Essays, a podcast…
MBA Admissions Tip: Approaching the Quant Aspects of Your Application
A low GMAT score or a low GPA is not necessarily an MBA deal breaker. No adcom is going to admit or dismiss a candidate based solely on one semester’s poor GPA or a low verbal GMAT score without also reflecting on other numbers as well as the rest of the non-quantitative parts of the…
CEIBS Application Essays, Tips, and Deadlines
This CEIBS 2012 MBA Application tip post is one of a series of posts providing MBA application and essay advice for applicants to top MBA programs around the world. You can access 2011’s series at https://blog.accepted.com/acceptedcom_blog/tag/2011-mba-application-tips. CEIBS (China Europe International Business School), located in Shanghai, is the longest-running MBA program in China, boasting the largest…
Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University 2012 MBA Application Questions, Deadline, and Tips
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Georgetown McDonough 2010 MBA Application Questions, Deadlines, Tips.
UPDATE- THE TIPS FOR GEORGETOWN MCDONOUGH’S 2011 MBA APPLICATION ARE NOW AVAILABLE ONLINE. PLEASE POST COMMENTS OR QUESTIONS TO THE NEW POST. Georgetown McDonough 2010 MBA Essay Questions 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…
Chicago Booth 2010 MBA Application Questions, Deadlines, Tips.
Chicago Booth 2010 MBA Essay Questions My comments are in red: Essays 1. How did you choose your most recent job/internship and how did this experience influence your future goals? What about the Chicago Booth MBA makes you feel it is the next best step in your career at this time? (750-1000 words) This question…
Chicago Booth 2010 MBA Essay Questions
The tips for the 2011 Chicago Booth Application Tips are now available online. Please post questions or comments to the new post. Chicago has published its 2010 MBA deadlines and essay questions. Chicago has changed questions 1 & 2 and added a short reapplicant question. My tips will follow, but in the meantime, here are…
USC Marshall 2009 MBA Application Questions, Deadlines, Tips.
UPDATE: THE TIPS FOR USC MARSHALL’S 2010 MBA APPLICATION ARE NOW AVAILABLE ONLINE. PLEASE POST QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS TO THE NEW POST. USC Marshall 2009 MBA Application Deadlines Deadline Notification *Early Nov 1, 2008 Dec 15, 2008 Round 1 Dec 1, 2008 Feb 2, 2009 Round 2 Jan 15, 2009 Mar 30, 2009 Round 3…
Duke Law School 2009 Application Tips
Most law schools will ask for a personal statement that reflects who you are and why you want to go to law school. Resist the temptation to make this a one-essay-fits-all-schools personal statement. The more specific you can be about each school, the more interested your admissions readers will be in your application. For Duke,…
Duke Fuqua 2009 MBA Application Questions, Deadlines, Tips
UPDATE- The tips for Duke Fuqua’s 2010 MBA Application are now available online. Please post questions or comments to the new post. Duke Fuqua 2009 Deadlines Deadline Notification Early Action Oct 15, 2008 Nov 14, 2008 Round 1 Oct 27, 2008 Dec 19, 2008 Round 2 Jan 7, 2009 Mar 10, 2009 Round…
Columbia 2008 MBA Essays, Deadlines, & Tips
UPDATE- THE TIPS FOR COLUMBIA’S GSB 2009 MBA APPLICATION ARE NOW AVAILABLE ONLINE. PLEASE POST QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS TO THE NEW POST. Columbia has made changes to it application for the class entering in September 2008. Specifically #2 is an entirely new question. In addition, #4 last year allowed you to choose one of two…
