As the NYU Stern MBA website states, “we seek students with strong intellectual ability and superior interpersonal skills (IQ + EQ)” The individual components of your application will be academic ability, professional achievements and career aspirations, and personal characteristics. While your academics will be evaluated mainly through your GMAT and GPA, the essays are a crucial part of your application strategy.

NYU has traditionally required a personal expression essay, but this year allows you to choose between the options. Either essay will tie back to your fit with NYU Stern. Option A is a great choice if you want to discuss your drive and motivation, while Option B allows a more personal expression of who you are.

Essay 1: Professional Aspirations (750 word maximum)
Why pursue an MBA (or dual degree) at this point in your life?
What actions have you taken to determine that Stern is the best fit for your MBA experience?
What do you see yourself doing professionally upon graduation?

Why MBA, why now, is an important question to answer. While many people seek the degree, NYU wants to invest in those who can use it most effectively. Perhaps you’re seeking an MBA for networking or professional credibility, or maybe you want an MBA to learn specific skills to change careers. Whatever your own personal reasons may be, make sure you can point to specific aspects of the MBA education both generally and specifically at Stern that are necessary to achieve your goals.

Note that this question specifically asks about your interest in pursuing an MBA at this point in your life. Why is now the right time for you, both personally and professionally? What will an MBA add to your already successful career trajectory to get you to the next level? If you are an older applicant you will need to spend time carefully communicating that you realize what an MBA can and can’t do for you at your professional level, and that you have a plan to leverage the MBA professionally in your next job.

This essay also offers an opportunity to demonstrate your fit with NYU Stern and describe why NYU Stern is the right place for you to spend the next two years of your life. Certainly personal experience of the campus through visits or student touch points would be ideal, but even if you are halfway around the world you can illustrate the many ways in which you learned about the NYU Stern experience.

The activities that most excite you academically should be logically related to your career goals explained in essay 1. The activities you are involved with might be professional, or could be personal hobbies or interests. This essay is your opportunity to describe who you are outside of work, and discussing the hobbies and extracurricular interests you have pursued thus far will be an important data point.

Your post MBA goal should be both achievable and demonstrate the need for an MBA. An MBA from NYU Stern will open professional doors for you, and you should demonstrate that you are ready to take advantage of those opportunities. Think about a logical sequence that starts with your past work experience, then your MBA education and ends with your immediate post MBA goal. Ideally your goal pulls from both your current work experience and the skills you will gain in the NYU MBA program.

Essay 2: Choose Option A or Option B

Option A: Your Two Paths (500 word maximum)
The mission of the Stern School of Business is to develop people and ideas that transform the challenges of the 21st century into opportunities to create value for business and society. Given today’s ever-changing global landscape, Stern seeks and develops leaders who thrive in ambiguity, embrace a broad perspective and think creatively about the range of ways they can have impact.

Describe two different and distinct paths you could see your career taking long term. How do you see your two paths unfolding?
How do your paths tie to the mission of NYU Stern?
What factors will most determine which path you will take?

Option A asks you to exercise a thought exercise about your future career goals. After identifying your immediate post-MBA career goal in Essay 1, where can you see your long-term career evolving? Again, both trajectories should be logical. For example, if you worked as an analyst in finance prior to your MBA, and plan to work in private equity post MBA, perhaps you see yourself as a partner in your PE firm as your first path, or operating a company as your second path. Each could unfold depending upon the choices you make or opportunities you see as you engage actively with your career.

The second part of this question asks you to tie both paths to the NYU Stern mission, which is to “develop people and ideas that transform the challenges of the 21st century into opportunities to create value for business and society.” Almost any career goal can reflect this mission, though infusing an element of leadership into your plans can help maximize your impact beyond the career of one individual. Developing people who can transform challenges could multiply your impact and create tremendous value.

In the third section of the question you should consider all of the factors you might use as criteria to evaluate future career goals. This is a great time to consider what has motivated you in the past – do you thrive on achievement? Relish accomplishment of a difficult goal? Desire to help others? This question is one that demonstrates your ability to evaluate your own decision-making process, as well as revealing the values you hold most closely. Answer this question strategically to ensure you are intentionally revealing personal attributes that are most representative of your values and potential.

Option B: Personal Expression
Please describe yourself to your MBA classmates. You may use almost any method to convey your message (e.g. words, illustrations). Feel free to be creative.

Open-ended essays like this one can be intimidating. You are allowed any method to introduce yourself to your classmates, and you’re probably wondering what the best medium for your message is.

However, your content is king in this essay. The best first step is to brainstorm the information you want to convey. Reflect upon your unique personal qualities and what is valued most by your friends and family. How would you want your classmates to see you? What are some of the personal stories you would share with a new friend?

Once you have established the content you want to use for the NYU Stern essay 3, it’s time to consider the medium. If you are a visual person you may chose a drawing, painting or photo series. If you are a creative writer perhaps it’s a poem or short story. If none of the “creative” approaches feel right to you, feel free to write a standard essay where you explain who you are and introduce yourself to your classmates. The medium is not the most important aspect of this essay, rather the message and content of your composition will demonstrate who you are to the admissions committee.

Essay 3. Additional Information (optional)
Please provide any additional information that you would like to bring to the attention of the Admissions Committee. This may include current or past gaps in employment, further explanation of your undergraduate record or self-reported academic transcript(s), plans to retake the GMAT, GRE and/or TOEFL or any other relevant information.

NYU Stern provides the optional essay as an opportunity for you to explain a low GPA, GMAT or TOEFL. If you are in that situation, avoid excuses. Focus on the facts, and explain why this performance is not indicative of your future performance at NYU Stern.

If you are not submitting a recommendation from your current employer, this is the place to explain the situation. A few valid reasons may include a brief tenure working for your current boss, that you are not sharing your MBA plans with your supervisor, or that you work more closely with other members of the team.

Stacy Blackman Consulting has helped countless aspiring NYU Stern MBA students to showcase personal and professional stories that cut through the clutter. Contact us to learn more.

Beginning in January 2014, the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business will offer a flexible online MBA program that allows students to earn their degree with minimal on-campus requirements. Courses offered through the online program format are taught by the same faculty and adhere to the academic rigor of the Smith School’s other MBA programs.

Modeled after the school’s executive MBA program, students begin and end the program with structured, in-person residencies at the University of Maryland’s campus in College Park and the remainder of the program is completed online.  GMAT or GRE entrance exams will be required for admission, and students can earn their degree in 21 months.

The online MBA program offers a broad base of knowledge on a wide range of business concepts, such as entrepreneurship, managerial economics, information systems and global economic development to prepare students with a strong business background. Students select one of four specializations — accounting, information systems and analytics, finance or marketing – to focus on their own particular area of interest, or they may choose the general track, which allows course selection in each of the areas.

Courses will include two “live,” approximately hour-long sessions per week, where students will log on at a specific time to interact with faculty and fellow students. Other coursework can be completed at times that work best for each student.

The Smith School’s MBA curriculum is focused on experiential learning opportunities for students, and the online MBA program will also offer these experiences. Students will work together in groups on action learning projects, using knowledge gained in courses to tackle a real challenge or opportunity faced in a team member’s organization. Students will self-select teams, conduct remote project meetings and deliver presentations virtually.

These team projects and online group discussions give students many opportunities to create relationships with business professionals in the program across the nation and the world. The two residencies also provide the chance to establish strong professional connections with peers and professors.

“Different educational formats work best for different kinds of learners – this program is best for working professionals who can learn within a rigorous, structured program, but more-so on their own time,” says G. “Anand” Anandalingam, dean of the Robert H. Smith School of Business.

“The elements that make our MBA degree programs so successful will still be in place with this program, but the key difference will be the level of flexibility.”

The Fuqua School of Business has announced its upcoming application deadlines for the Duke MBA program.

Early Action
Deadline: September 18, 2013
Notification: October 30, 2013

Round 1
Deadline: October 21, 2013
Notification: December 20, 2013

Round 2
Deadline: January 6, 2014
Notification: March 13, 2014

Round 3
Deadline: March 20, 2014
Notification: May 9, 2014

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The school notes that the new application will be available in mid-to-late July, so stay tuned!

The Yale School of Management has posted its MBA application deadlines for the upcoming admissions cycle.

Round 1

Deadline: September 25, 2013

Notification: December 9, 2013

Round 2

Deadline: January 9, 2014

Notification: April 4, 2014

Round 3

Deadline: April 24, 2014

Notification: May 22, 2014

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According to the school, the application for the Class of 2016 will be live in mid-July. For more information, visit the Yale SOM admissions website.

The Johnson School at Cornell University has announced the following application deadlines for both the two-year and accelerated MBA programs.

Also, in a recent update to the admission’s blog, Christine Sneva shares that Johnson will be changing the essay portion this year by requiring applicants to submit a candidate profile, so stay tuned for more details, coming soon.

Round 1

Deadline: October 2, 2013

Notification: December 11, 2013

Round 2

Deadline: December 4, 2013

Notification: February 5, 2014

Round 3

Deadline: February 12, 2014

Notification: March 26, 2014

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Applications need to be submitted by midnight EST on the day of the deadline. The new application is set to go live August 1, 2013.

“Do MBA admissions consultants open doors?” is the question posed in a recent article in Canada’s Globe and Mail, which features my thoughts on the topic. I think you can already guess my answer, which is: absolutely! After all, since launching Stacy Blackman Consulting in 2001, my company has helped thousands of MBA applicants reach their business school goals.

Aimee Steen‘s article gives a good overview of what the consulting process looks like, including the different services available—from comprehensive, to hourly, to editing only—depending on the particular applicant’s needs. As I point out, the consultancy process can take anywhere from several weeks to several years. Our comprehensive package typically takes 25 to 100 hours.

Hiring an MBA consultant is not a magic bullet, however. If you don’t have the test scores, undergrad GPA, work experience or compelling personal characteristics to gain a seat at Harvard, no amount of coaching from my team is going to change that fact. I can recommend you take a class to improve a skill, or suggest a way to deepen your community involvement to improve your extracurriculars, but the candidate needs to put in the grunt work.

Part of our job is managing expectations, and my consultants “get real” with applicants when it comes to school selection, encouraging a broader look within the top 15, rather than top 5, for example. Using a consultant is like getting advice before a job interview. Just because someone gets extra coaching doesn’t mean they aren’t qualified for the job.

Steen makes the point that applicants using consultants should be wary of pitfalls, such as when prospective students use the same consultant and apply to the same school. She also quotes the director of admissions at Harvard Business School, Dee Leopold, who notes that “Our role is to select the most interesting class. If everyone did the same thing, that would defeat the entire process.”

I can only speak for my firm, but I know this isn’t a problem for our clients. I’ve created a huge stockpile of client case studies to illustrate exactly how we approach each individual applicant’s strengths and potential problem areas. We aren’t in the market of creating carbon copy applicants; we’re drawing out the unique characteristics of the person we want to introduce to the admissions committee.

There may be some skepticism among a few admissions teams, but I can assure you that the vast majority view us as partners and work closely with us to keep us informed about their programs and admissions process so that we can direct the best students their way.

In fact, I’ve just returned from France, where I was a guest of HEC Paris for this very reason. They were introducing me to their school and their admissions process. I was extremely impressed by the school and their faculty, curriculum, facilities and career management process.  Interestingly, every Friday at HEC is career management day, where students work on skills that will help them secure their dream jobs.  The resources and support that they provide are similar to what we provide at SBC – the very type of support with which the school representatives in the article take issue.

In the end, it’s up to the individual to decide whether consulting services are the way to go. If you’d like to learn more about what it would be like to work with us, we would love the opportunity to get to know you! I invite you to get in touch for a free consultation to find out more about who we are and how we work to help clients achieve their most ambitious b-school dreams.