Waitlisted candidates at the Chicago Booth School of Business may be feeling some uncertainty regarding the next steps in the process right about now.  Associate Director of Admissions Carrie Lydon urges such applicants to take heart—the waitlist is a good place to be, she says—and attempts to clarify matters while highlighting some changes Booth has made to the process this year.

In the latest update to the MBA admissions blog, Lydon reveals that the school has introduced a waitlist enrollment form which allows candidates to immediately opt in or out of the waitlist. “This allows you to decide what is best for you,” Lydon says, “and helps us better understand who is genuinely interested in remaining on the waitlist.” The enrollment form isn’t binding and you can withdraw from it at any time by emailing admissions@chicagobooth.edu.

Those candidates who accept a place on the waitlist will have their application considered for admission again in Round 2 and will receive an updated decision on March 21, 2012, the final decision date for that round. Most applicants will hear a definitive answer by that point, though it’s possible to remain on the waitlist through Round 3, Lydon notes.

Chicago Booth invites candidates to submit relevant updates regarding their candidacy should these additional materials provide insight into their qualifications and strength of fit with the school. Another new, optional feature this year is the ability to upload a 90-second video for the admissions committee.

“In the age of digital media, we recognize that video is a common tool of communication, and want to provide any interested candidate with the opportunity to use it,” Lydon explains. This medium is ideal for candidates who would like to create a personal connection in lieu of visiting campus, and is completely open in terms of content.

While the waitlist may be a frustrating place to be, applicants should view it as a positive sign of the strength of their application. With patience, such candidates may be fortunate enough to receive final admission from their chosen program.

The updated Chicago Booth Essay Questions are posted for this admissions season, along with the deadlines . The admissions committee has provided some tips to make sure you approach the questions as they would prefer. The overall goal of this application is to evaluate you on clear criteria around your ability to handle curriculum, contribute to the community, and your career potential. Curriculum refers to your demonstrated academic ability, and will largely be communicated through your GPA/GMAT, transcripts and other fixed data points, though intellectual curiosity can be demonstrated in essays and the interview. Community focuses on your demonstrated leadership, team building skills and community involvement, as well as your fit with Chicago Booth and the perspective you will share with your classmates. All MBA candidates are ultimately looking for a degree that will enhance their career. Chicago Booth wants to know about your track record of success, expectations for the MBA, and plans for the future.

Chicago Booth’s famous power point question is back this year, and confounds many candidates. Take a step back from the unique format and think about the question as if it was an essay. The power point format simply gives you the freedom to express that answer in words, images, graphics or some combination. The best presentations will be simple, evocative and expressive. Remember, content is far more important than creativity of presentation.

Chicago Booth 2011-2012 essay questions
Essay One: What are your short and long-term goals, and how will a Chicago Booth MBA help you reach them? (600 words)

Re-applicant Essay:
Upon reflection, how has your thinking regarding your future, Chicago Booth, and/or getting an MBA changed since the time of your last application? (300 words)
As you explain what your goals are and incorporate your background into that discussion, make sure you describe both why you made the choices you did, and think about why you didn’t make other choices. Self-awareness about your career and goals will go far to distinguish you in this essay.

When you address how a Chicago Booth MBA will help you reach your short and long-term goals, think about the specific classes and programs at Chicago Booth that appeal to you. Are you looking for flexible program? International experiences? How will these aspects of the program fit with your future career goals?
If you are reapplying, make sure you have done the work to evaluate your candidacy and have made changes this time around. The word reflection is explicit in the question, and the admissions committee will be looking for your revised thinking as well as any new accomplishments you can describe. This is your opportunity to show the adcomm why Chicago is a great fit for you and your refined career goals.

Essay Two:
At Chicago Booth, we believe each individual has his or her own leadership style. How has your family, culture, and/or environment influenced you as a leader? (750 words)
This question is the ideal place to describe what sets you apart from every other applicant, and to address the “community” part of the Chicago Booth Criteria. Leadership is often a result of your own personality and background. Think about your early experiences that may have shaped the way you approach leading others. If you have worked or lived across cultures that is always a strong leadership attribute that could be described. If your experiences have been more typical, think about what your family and cultural background has contributed to your approach in key interpersonal situations.

Leadership is very much about self-awareness and your relationship to others. If you can provide one or two examples that clearly show your own leadership style and how it was forged, this essay will be successful.

Slide Presentation
Essay Three:
Considering what you’ve already included in the application, what else should we know about you? In a maximum of four slides, tell us about yourself.
The power point question offers you a blank slate to express yourself with any content you choose. When approaching the question focus first on content, and then on delivery.

This is the ideal opportunity to bring in any aspect of your overall story that does not fit in any other essay. Think about the aspects of leadership, team work and intellectual curiosity you have already presented in the previous essays, and where the gaps are. If you wrote about your professional leadership in essay 2, consider a personal or community story in essay 3.

To present the content effectively in a power point or pdf slide, refine your story to its key elements. Four slides is limited space to communicate a lot of detail, and you are discouraged from simply pasting an essay into the slides. Can you use photos? Drawings? If you use words, keep them clear and focused. Take every point up a level, so you are communicating a vision rather than a thesis.

The Chicago Booth School of Business has announced the deadlines and essay questions for the upcoming MBA application season. The school’s MBA admissions blog has also provided additional comments and insights as to what Booth is looking for in the essays to help guide prospective applicants.

Deadlines

Online Application Release: Early August 2011

Round One Deadline: October 12, 2011

Round Two Deadline: January 4, 2012

Round Three Deadline: April 4, 2012

Essay Questions and Explanations

Essay One:
What are your short and long-term goals, and how will a Chicago Booth MBA help you reach them? (600 words)

In this essay, we hope to better understand your path and plan, vision for your career, and why an MBA – specifically a Booth MBA – is necessary to help you achieve your goals.  In responding to this question, you’ll need to spend some time thinking about your career, your passions, and what you really hope to get out of the entire MBA experience.

Re-applicant Essay:
Upon reflection, how has your thinking regarding your future, Chicago Booth, and/or getting an MBA changed since the time of your last application? (300 words)

For our re-applicants, this question gives you the opportunity to tell us what is different from the time of your last application.  What has occurred in your life or career that has either reinforced or changed your goals?  What lessons have you learned or how have you grown since you last applied to Chicago Booth?

Essay Two:
At Chicago Booth, we believe each individual has his or her own leadership style. How has your family, culture, and/or environment influenced you as a leader? (750 words)

The goal of this essay is to better understand who you are, how your past has influenced you, and your underlying motivation and values surrounding leadership and business. A significant part of the Booth experience is helping each student define and strengthen their personal leadership style. Understanding yourself and your motivations is the first step in that process, and our hope is that this essay will help you start down that path. We are not looking for a prescribed answer – we hope that you will share your story.

Essay Three:

Considering what you’ve already included in the application, what else should we know about you?  In a maximum of four slides, tell us about yourself.

During our last live chat in June, many of you were wondering if the presentation would be part of the application. Since we feel that it is such a valuable opportunity to learn about you, we have decided to include it again this year. We have framed the question to specifically address what you haven’t already told us in the rest of the application.

We encourage you to look at your application holistically. Are there messages, topics, or activities that are important for us to know?  If so, then the presentation will be an opportunity for you to provide us with this type of information. Also, it is important to note that this is not a design contest!  We care most about the content, but the way in which you deliver that is up to you.

*Stay tuned for my Chicago Booth essay tips, coming soon!*

Today is the round three deadline at Chicago Booth School of Business. If you’re scrambling to gather everything you need to hit the submit button today, take a moment to glance over these words of advice from the Booth Insider blog.

While round three is more competitive due to fewer slots available, admissions says they are still continuing to shape their class and are looking for applicants who would be wonderful additions to the Booth community.  If you’re wondering whether it’s better to apply now or wait until next year, remember the advice of all programs: it’s better to apply when you can submit the best possible application.

“It’s important to submit an application that is the best representation of who you are and that clearly communicates your goals for pursuing an MBA,” the school advises. “The Admissions Committee can tell when an application has been rushed, so take your time and make sure you have an application strategy in place that leverages each aspect of your application to tell your story.”

Chicago Booth calms concerns of international students in this post, explaining that there will be time to process visas for round three applicants. Applying earlier makes your life easier, but since round three decisions are released in mid-May and orientation doesn’t begin until the first week of September, international students will have enough time to process their visas throughout the summer.

“If you know that Booth is one of your top choices, and you’ve put together a strong, thoughtful, and engaging application that lets your personality shine through, then we definitely encourage you to apply in Round 3,” says the school.

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Here are some great upcoming events for MBA women attending Forté sponsor schools in the class of 2013.

2011 Forté Financial Services FAST Track Conference
June 8-9

Interested in a career in financial services? Get on the fast track and gain valuable insight into this exciting industry. The Financial Services FAST Track Conference provides an opportunity to explore the exciting world of Finance and the diverse careers opportunities available in this industry.  This exclusive conference will provide an overview of specific industry tracks and connect you to senior professionals currently working in the challenging and rewarding world of Financial Services.

Who Can Attend:  Forté Fellows and MBA women that are attending Forté sponsor schools (in the 2013 class).

Registration Fee:  Complimentary. Please note:  Participants will be given a stipend (maximum of $250) to help cover travel and lodging.

Location:  Kimmel Center at NYU, New York City

Learn more and register at:  http://www.fortefoundation.org/fsft

2011 Forté MBA Women’s Conference
June 10-11

Strong leadership doesn’t just happen. It takes gumption and grace to make it to the top. It’s in you. But it means finding your voice, discovering what excites you, and taking the risk to go after what you really want.

Join us for the Forté Foundation’s 2011 MBA Women’s Conference June 10 and 11 in New York City and discover the strategies that will take your career from successful to extraordinary. Uncover what’s holding you back and the keys to unlocking your breakthrough-potential.

Who Can Attend:  Forté Fellows and MBA women that are attending Forté sponsor schools (in the 2011, 2012, and 2013 classes).

Registration Fee: $50 before May 20.  The fee will increase to $75 after May 20.

Location:  Kimmel Center at NYU, New York City
Learn more and register at: http://www.fortefoundation.org/mbaconf

Though the labor protests in Wisconsin have focused our nation’s attention on state budget woes, many other organizations have been adversely affected by budget shortcomings, including top business schools.

In the article “Business Schools Get Lean,” BusinessWeek‘s Francesca Di Meglio reported that many b-schools have been forced to reduce spending, due to decreased endowments and state cuts to higher education in the wake of the recent recession. Avoiding layoffs has been a priority for most schools, but could not always be avoided. Here are a few of the cutting-back strategies employed by the b-schools featured in the article:

Tuck School of Business – Reorganized existing tasks, such as centralizing the school’s recycling system, which saved labor hours. Also reduced travel in favor of technologies such as videoconferencing.

Chicago Booth School of Business – While Booth didn’t lay off existing faculty, the school held off on filling openings and has reduced its temporary and contract workers. Like Tuck, Booth has also cut its travel budget and implemented a policy requiring approval from the dean’s office for travel.

Wharton School of Business – One round of layoffs in executive education department. Renegotiated contracts with vendors and cut down on travel and entertainment expenses.

Harvard Business School – Turned off heating and cooling systems during non-business hours. According to Meghan Duggan, assistant director of sustainability and energy management at HBS, this simple action resulted in six-figure savings.

Program cuts aren’t the only concern for potential b-school students. As businesses also struggle with their budgets, many of them are cutting back on tuition assistance programs, another BusinessWeek article reports. In “Tuition Benefits Drying Up,” Erin Zlomek writes, “In 2010, 56 percent of employers offered graduate school assistance, down from 69 percent in 2003, according to annual benefits data collected by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM).”

Recently, Businessweek reporter Francesca Di Meglio conducted a live chat event with Kurt Ahlm, senior director of admissions at the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business, as well as a second year Booth student. The live chat participants raised concerns that I see every day working with clients: Am I too old for b-school? Am I too young? Is it even worth applying in the third round? Here are some highlights from Ahlm’s responses that are worth keeping in mind whether you are applying to Chicago or elsewhere.

Know yourself.
Applying to business school is a long process of introspection, and Ahlm points to the importance of taking this hard work seriously, saying, “The best advice I can provide is to know yourself and have a strategy on how you want to convey that sense of self through the application.”

Apply at any age, but know why you’re applying now.
When a 36-year-old marketing professional asked if he “stood a chance” getting into Booth’s full-time program, Ahlm answered, “We recruit people of all different ages and experiences. What is more important for us is why now is the best time in your career to pursue an MBA.”

On the other end of the spectrum, Ahlm said that the number of students applying directly after completing their undergraduate degrees is on the rise. He encouraged these students to have “some familiarity with the professional world, be it through internships, starting your own business, etc.”

Don’t be afraid to apply in the third round.
Some applicants believe that waiting until the third round is a surefire path to rejection, but according to Ahlm, “The rule of thumb is to apply when you are most prepared. If you need to apply in the third round, that is fine.”

Be honest.
Applicants are often tempted to mold their career goals to what they think the admissions committee wants to hear, usually to the detriment of their application. For example, one live chat participant wanted to know if admitting he was interested in private equity in the current economic environment would put him at a disadvantage, as he thought this sounded less realistic than other career goals.

Ahlm’s answer: “No. We want you to be honest about what it is that you want to achieve…. The important thing for you in the application process is to help us understand why PE is your goal and what it is about Booth that can help you realize it.”

The discussion also tackled the unique attributes of the Booth community, the classroom experience, and lots of other great advice that is well worth checking out.