As we’ve mentioned in our essay tips, you need to do your homework on schools and express in your essays how you will contribute to each school’s community. A great resource around this is the Businessweek.com Admissions Chats with admissions representatives from top schools. These are online Q&A’s the Businessweek.com posts regularly.

Topics covered with the Yale representatives include:
*Study abroad and international trips
*Health care sector coverage
*Consulting careers post-Yale
*Dual degrees
*New curriculum
*Yale culture
*New Haven
*What the admissions committee is looking for and trends in admissions
*Nuts and bolts of interviews, timelines, extra recommendations, scholarships

They also have admissions chats with Haas, HBS, Columbia, LBS. Here’s the link to all of them.

This week’s GMAT challenge question from PrepForTests is a data sufficiency question. You may find it helpful to sketch a diagram to help you answer this one.

In a rectangle ABCD, P is at the midpoint of AB and Q is at the midpoint of BC. What is the area of triangle PBQ?

1. Area of triangle ABD is 20
2. The length of AB is 10

1. Statement (1) ALONE is sufficient, but statement (2) alone is not sufficient
2. Statement (2) ALONE is sufficient, but statement (1) alone is not sufficient
3. BOTH statements TOGETHER are sufficient, but NEITHER statement ALONE is sufficient
4. EACH statement ALONE is sufficient
5. Statements (1) and (2) TOGETHER are NOT sufficient

Once you have tried to answer the question review your answer.

The Kellogg and Chicago admissions representatives were extremely forthcoming with their advice last week during the Manhattan GMAT panel, so we wanted to share some more of their tips.

First, both representatives emphasized being yourself in your essays. Don’t try to write essays that show who you think Kellogg and Chicago want to see. Instead show them who you are – your personality, values, sense of humor, etc. Dig deep for experiences outside of work and feel free to discuss very personal moments from your life.

The Chicago representative also underscored how diverse their class is in terms of professional backgrounds. Business school is not only for investment bankers and consultants as their recent classes have boasted a former professional cheerleader and a cop.

The Kellogg representative highlighted the school’s culture of initiative. Each year the school changes a bit because of what new students bring to it. Thus as an applicant try to show your innovative ideas for their campus – what will you start and lead?

Finally, one obvious takeaway from the panel was the value of information sessions, something we have mentioned on this blog often. Whether on campus or off campus, try to go to info sessions for your schools of interest. Hearing from admissions representatives (in addition to students and alums) gives you a good sense of each school’s culture and values. These insights will help you not only find the right schools for you but also help you demonstrate your fit with those schools in the essays.

Recently we participated in a panel for Manhattan GMAT with admissions representatives from Chicago and Kellogg. The Chicago representative brought up the topic of applicant myspace pages. Because recruiters often look at candidate myspace pages during the interview process, schools have started doing the same as part of a more thorough background check during the admissions process. He urged applicants to clean up their myspace pages (and anything else on the web) and make sure there’s nothing on there that they wouldn’t want admissions committees or future employers to see. Leave no stone unturned – take a minute to make sure you’re representing yourself well!