Anderson has two required essays this year for first time applicants, and two optional essays meant for candidates who would like to provide more information to the admissions committee. The optional essays are truly optional, so evaluate your application strategy carefully to make sure you need to answer the questions. The first optional question provides the option to record audio, video or write a 250 word essay. If you are going to use the unconventional media options, we recommend taking a look at these tips Anderson provided for the essay last year.

Anderson has several unique attributes as compared to other MBA programs and has posted myth busters for the application process. The close knit UCLA Anderson class is diverse and international, though Anderson is often most attractive to Los Angeles based applicants. Anderson is probably the most prestigious local MBA program, and attracts many applicants interested in Entertainment and Real Estate, some of Los Angeles’ more popular industries. Anderson has a focus on innovation and entrepreneurship, and it will be important to be familiar with the many UCLA research center programs and electives when preparing your essays.

For applicants who prefer the part time option, UCLA FEMBA is an excellent executive MBA for anyone in the Los Angeles area. Make sure to check the deadlines carefully before starting your application process.

The two required essays for first-time applicants are:
1. What event or life experience has had the greatest influence in shaping your character and why? (750 words)
Starting this set of essays with a personal question about your background establishes Anderson’s interest in seeing the genuine person you are. When approaching this question, keep your overall application strategy in mind, and make sure you are presenting a holistic view of yourself. Much like Stanford’s “what matters most” essay, brainstorming an overall theme that can take you from the personal tone of Essay 1 to the career goals in Essay 2 could provide a thread to unite your application strategy.

Specific examples are always a smart way to demonstrate your personal qualities without sounding generic. In this essay you are invited to tell a personal story. You are unique and a vivid personal memory can be an effective way to set the tone for your application holistically. If you choose effectively, your personal memory will support the overall theme of your essays and support what you say about your career, community and personal development.

2. Describe your short-term and long-term career goals. What is your motivation for pursuing an MBA now and how will UCLA Anderson help you to achieve your goals? (750 words)
A fairly typical career goals essay, UCLA is asking for a clear set of career goals that will demonstrate the need for an MBA from UCLA Anderson. Since you are not directly asked to explain your entire career path, focus on the high points that are most relevant to your career goals. When did you face a turning point or make a big decision about your career? What were some of your proudest accomplishments? If you are a management consultant now and want to become an entrepreneur, what have you learned and experienced that will help you with those plans?

Because you have effectively set the stage with question one, you have likely established your passions and personal interests, which will back up your career goals. Briefly explain what you plan to do immediately after graduation, and then what you want to accomplish over the long-term with your career.

It will also be important to demonstrate your fit with UCLA and why it is the right program to pursue your MBA. Having you’re your research on UCLA’s unique academics and resources will help you demonstrate your fit with the school. Choose specific classes, professors and programs that fit into your career goals. Think about clubs and conferences that are unique to UCLA Anderson and will advance your career goals.

Optional Essays
1. You may respond to the following question via written essay, audio, or video clip: What is something people will find surprising about you?
In a continued effort to learn more about you as a person, UCLA would like to hear you speak or watch you speak and gesture on video. If you do pursue the video or audio option, it will be most effective to write out what you plan to say ahead of time and have someone help you by providing feedback and recording for you.

The video response may require some editing expertise, though most PCs have basic video editing software you can use. Speaking with poise will be especially important for either the video or audio essay. If you choose video you also need to consider what you wear, and where you decide to record the file. You may submit a written response if you think that will present your thoughts and personality more clearly to the admissions committee.

If essay 1 did not provide an opportunity to differentiate yourself from others in the applicant pool, this may be your opportunity. This question is entirely open ended, which could be a gift. Try to remain focused, consider your overall application strategy, along with your strengths and weaknesses when answering this question. Think of a specific example of what you will be discussing, and explain why others would find it surprising.

2. Are there any extenuating circumstances in your profile about which the Admissions Committee should be aware? (250 words)
Focusing on explanations in this essay, rather than excuses, is very important. Potential extenuating circumstances may be a very low GPA, academic probation or using a recommender other than your current supervisor. Clearly explain the situation, and if it is a situation from the past, explain why you have changed. Providing evidence that you will not repeat the actions in question will be very important.

Re-applicant Essay
1. Please describe your career progress since you last applied and ways in which you have enhanced your candidacy. Include updates on short-term and long-term career goals, as well as your continued interest in UCLA Anderson. (750 words)
The reapplication essay requires demonstrating significant strides since your last application. Keep in mind that the admissions committee will have access to your previous application. UCLA Anderson specifically asks for an update on your career progress since your last application. You may not have been promoted or taken a new job, so think about the areas in your career that have been improved since last year. Did you take on new responsibility? What about projects or leadership opportunities? While refining your goals is progress and can enhance your application, make sure your story is consistent with your last application and that you have thoroughly explained any changes in your thinking since the last time you applied.

Soul searching and feedback from others likely set you on the path to improve one or more areas that may have been weak in your last application. This essay is your opportunity to outline your better GMAT score, classes you took, additional extracurriculars, or a significant increase in responsibility at work.
The third part of this essay is to demonstrate how you will contribute to UCLA Anderson. If you are a reapplicant you have likely had the time to learn even more about the school since your last application, and your research will pay off in this essay. Be specific about your skills and how you will contribute, along with the aspects of UCLA Anderson that will be of benefit to your goals.

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In evaluating candidates, Tuck looks at several criteria: demonstrated academic excellence, demonstrated leadership, demonstrated accomplishments, interpersonal skills, diversity of background and experience, and a global mindset. Note that many of these criteria specify that Tuck is looking for “demonstrated experience.” Aside from the raw data in your application, your essays are the best place to demonstrate what you will bring to the school.

If you are targeting the Round One deadline on October 13th, you may be thinking about how to approach this set of Tuck MBA essay questions.
Setting strategy is your best first step. Clearly assess which of the desired traits are ones that you can demonstrate through your own experience. What are the areas you want to communicate to the Tuck admissions committee? Which essays work best for a work example or a community service example? Be sure to provide specific examples for each essay. Real life examples provide the best evidence of your leadership qualities, teamwork skills and management potential.

While Tuck does not require a certain word limit, the 500-word guidance should be adhered to. Generally 10% plus or minus the word limit suggestion is reasonable when there is no formal limit.

1. Why is an MBA a critical next step toward your short- and long-term career goals? Why is Tuck the best MBA program for you? (if you are applying for a joint or dual degree please explain how the additional degree will contribute to those goals.)

This standard career goals question requires you to clearly outline your short- and long-term career goals. Your short term goals are the aspirations you have for your job immediately after graduation, while your long-term goals may be 10 or 20 years after you complete your MBA. In this relatively short essay you will need to explain what you have been pursuing in your career thus far, and why you need an MBA at this point in your life, along with your career goals.

“Why Tuck” is an important aspect to this essay, and your opportunity to demonstrate fit. Make sure you have researched the school’s programs and determined your education will suit your plans. By reaching out to current students and alumni you will gain crucial insights that will provide a personal perspective on the culture of the school.

Essay 2: Discuss your most meaningful leadership experience. What did you learn about your own individual strengths and weaknesses through this experience?

This essay is similar to Kellogg’s leadership essay. As in the Kellogg essay, you will want to define your strengths and weaknesses as a leader. What are you good at, and what do you hope to develop at Tuck? Unlike the Kellogg essay, this version requires that you describe one specific example that illustrates your leadership challenges and strengths. When you contemplate your most meaningful leadership experience, it may not be the most impressive example. Think about the leadership opportunities that led to a deeper understanding of yourself and others, and may have resulted in definition of your strengths or an improvement in your weaknesses.

The example you choose can be from work or community involvement, as “great leadership can be accomplished in the pursuit or business and societal goals.” You will need to adhere to the Tuck definition of leadership and include a team-based aspect to your example. As you describe your leadership experience, make sure you explain how you were able to inspire and enable others to accomplish.

3. What is the greatest challenge or hurdle you have overcome, either personally or professionally, and how did you manage to do so?

This question is somewhat similar to the classic mistake essay, and it’s your opportunity to show how you handle challenging situations. Everyone faces challenges at work or in personal life, and it is how you decide to react that creates learning and growth. Revealing your emotions and thought process in this essay will provide a window into how you process difficult experiences and emerge from them with a new direction. Think back to Tuck’s criteria, and consider using this essay to either demonstrate your interpersonal skills (if your challenge was of the interpersonal variety) or to show something from your background or experience that is unique.

When brainstorming for this essay think first about what you learned from the situation, and then work backwards to describe the circumstances and the initial challenge or hurdle, that will help you see the whole situation from a more optimistic viewpoint. Is there a learning from the experience that impacted your life or carried a thread through your character, goals or accomplishments?

4. Tuck seeks candidates of various backgrounds who can bring new perspectives to our community. How will your unique personal history, values, and/or life experiences contribute to the culture at Tuck?

This question provides you with an opportunity to describe why you are different from other applicants. Do you have a unique background? Unusual work experience? Or have you demonstrated a consistent history of community involvement? The part of your application strategy that is most unique and surprising should be described here.

Once you have determined what is special about your candidacy, you need to tie your personal history, values and/or life experiences to how you will interact with your fellow students at Tuck. The most obvious approach is to outline the clubs and organizations you will contribute to. Beyond formal groups, you may contribute your unique perspective to the classroom, provide networking opportunities in your industry to your classmates, or mentor your fellow students.

5. (Optional) Please provide any additional insight or information that you have not addressed elsewhere that may be helpful in reviewing your application (e.g., unusual choice of evaluators, weaknesses in academic performance, unexplained job gaps or changes, etc.). Complete this question only if you feel your candidacy is not fully represented by this application.

This is your opportunity to discuss any perceived weaknesses in your application such as low GPA or gaps in your work experience. When approaching a question of this nature, focus on explanations rather than excuses and explain what you have done since the event you are explaining to demonstrate your academic ability, or management potential. If you do not have a weakness to explain, this may be an opportunity to address any additional facet of your application strategy you have not been able to illuminate in previous questions. There is no requirement to complete this question, and it would be wise to use the space for something truly new and important to your application that has not been addressed elsewhere.

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What’s the latest? Ross will begin accepting the GRE in addition to the GMAT starting this year, as well as the IELTS in addition to the TOEFL.  Also new this year is that interview invitations will go out in two batches each round rather than on a rolling basis, Soojin writes, promising more details about the process as the time approaches.

Meanwhile, Soojin says almost half of Ross’s incoming students are traveling with classmates on MTreks across the U.S., Latin America, Asia, Africa and Europe, or have come to campus to take optional pre-term courses before classes officially start on September 7th.

The campus visit program at Ross will start in mid-September, and the director highly encourages applicants to visit, if possible. “Visits bring to life, confirm or invalidate what you might’ve learned about schools through other sources,” she says, suggesting that prospective students may want to time a visit in conjunction with one of the many events taking place this fall, such as the Annual Net Impact Conference in October.

If you haven’t seen them yet, the full-time MBA essay questions and recommender questions are already available. We’ll keep you posted when the application goes live, and when Stacy Blackman’s essay tips for Ross School of Business become available.

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MIT Sloan recently posted the admissions essays and deadlines for this year’s applicants. Note that reapplicants are expected to apply in Round 1. For admissons essay advice for this set of MIT Sloan MBA essays, read on for this week’s Tuesday Tips.

Because Sloan does not require the standard “career goals” essay, your work background will be mainly communicated through the required resume and cover letter. The resume should be approached in a similar way to other MBA application resumes. Avoid industry lingo, communicate your measurable achievements, and focus on aspects of your job that involve leadership and teamwork.

When choosing examples for the essays, it will be especially important to return to your overall application strategy and think about the aspects of your professional, extracurricular and personal life you want to communicate. In addition, remember to choose examples from the last three years of your life, as specifically directed in the instructions, for the most relevant and recent examples.

Cover Letter
Prepare a cover letter (up to 500 words) seeking a place in the MIT Sloan MBA Program. Describe your accomplishments and include an example of how you had an impact on a group or organization. Your letter should conform to standard business correspondence and be addressed to Mr. Rod Garcia, Director of MBA Admissions.

Exactly like a cover letter you would compose for a job application, the MIT Sloan cover letter should make a strong case for your selection into the class of 2012. You will want to introduce yourself and why you are seeking admission. The cover letter is also your opportunity to make the case for your fit with Sloan. Note that the cover letter format will require a recruiting and marketing approach that focuses on key points that will make you a great Sloan student, rather than the narrative style of the typical career goals type of essay. To learn more about the school, there are resources such as student blogs, campus visits and admissions events around the world.
The instructions ask specifically for key accomplishments and your impact on an organization, which should be concise and focused examples that support your reasons for applying and why you should be accepted into the class.

Essay 1: Please describe a time when you went beyond what was defined, expected, established, or popular. (500 words or fewer, limited to one page)
This question can be used to describe a situation when you exceeded everyone’s expectations, or one when you pursued a path that was not established or popular. This will demonstrate your ability to motivate yourself and show what drives you to accomplish above and beyond your job description or responsibilities.
All of the behavioral questions in the MIT Sloan application require you to describe your past accomplishments and experience on a very pragmatic level. A key part of the MIT Sloan set of essays is the focus on understanding how you work, think and act. The instructions ask you to provide a brief overview of the situation, and then follow the situation with a detailed description of what you did. This requires being very specific about your thoughts and actions as you respond to each essay question.

Essay 2: Please describe a time when you convinced an individual or group to accept one of your ideas. (500 words or fewer, limited to one page)
Essay 2 is the only MIT Sloan MBA essay question that is new for this year’s admissions application. A work or extracurricular example where you demonstrated emotional intelligence would be ideal here. When did you realize you needed to convince someone to accept your ideas? What was your strategy and how did you read group or individual dynamics to successfully sell in your concept? This essay will demonstrate your ability to lead from within a group, or to manage up in situations when you are not in charge.

Essay 3: Please describe a time when you took responsibility for achieving an objective. (500 words or less, limited to one page)
This essay seeks to understand your methods of setting goals and achieving them. When you accept responsibility for an outcome, you are committing yourself to the endeavor and declaring that you will achieve it. While the question does not require an outcome, the best essay will demonstrate a situation where you took responsibility for an outcome and explain why you did so, what happened, and the result. This example should typify your approach to any achievement, and demonstrate what you might commit yourself to and why.

Supplemental Information (Optional)
You may use this section to address whatever else you want the Admissions Committee to know. (250 words or fewer, limited to one page)

If there are any areas of concern, this is the correct place to address them. Strike an upbeat tone here and avoid excuses. Explain your issue clearly and focus most of the essay on the correction for the issue. For example, if you had a disciplinary issue in college, spend most of the issue demonstrating that you learned from the experience and have been an ideal citizen ever since.
If you do not have a weakness to address here, it’s an ideal opportunity to provide any information that you were unable to work into the other three essays. If you have an unusual background, hobby or extracurricular experience, this may be an opportunity to provide that information to the adcomm.

Remember to formulate your examples and answers strategically – you will want to hit upon your management and leadership experiences at work and community service as well as your fit with the unique Darden culture. If you focus on providing specific examples in the questions you will be able to demonstrate who you are and how you benefit any community you are a part of, as well as your approach to leadership.

MBA Application Essay Questions 2010-2011

1. The Darden MBA program expects students to actively participate in learning teams, the classroom, and the broader community. Please share one or two examples from your past experience that best illustrate(s) how you will contribute to this highly engaging and hands-on learning environment. (500 words)

This question is an opportunity to both describe your fit with Darden and sell yourself to the program. Starting with what you bring to the table is an effective way to approach this essay. What are your points of differentiation from other MBA candidates? Do you bring a unique leadership style or knowledge you can share? How will you contribute to the classroom and the community? Do not limit yourself to purely academic pursuits as the close-knit Darden community expects involvement.

Because you are never specifically asked about your accomplishments or even your goals, this is also an opportunity to hit some of that material as you discuss your contributions at work and in the community that highlight how you will contribute to Darden.

Thorough school research will be a huge asset to this essay. Do not forget the personal touch, speaking with current students and alumni will be invaluable.

2. Please discuss how a global event that has taken place in the past two years has impacted the way you think about leadership broadly and personally. (500 words)

Last year, Darden asked specifically about the economic upheaval in the prior 18 months. This question is more open-ended and therefore might be even more daunting to approach. Start by brainstorming about the events you can easily recall over the last two years. Were there any news stories that struck you either personally or professionally?

For example, perhaps you are interested in focusing on clean energy in your post-MBA career and the Gulf oil spill highlighted the importance of this choice for you. Or you were laid off during the financial crisis and had to learn what was really most important in your life. Once you have a list of potential events, think about the ones that have the most personal resonance and why. If the reasons are consistent with an MBA application and will inform Darden about your potential as a student and a leader, consider using that topic.

An additional layer to your topic is the second part of this question, which deals with your approach and thinking about leadership. To thoroughly answer this question you will need to establish how you previously thought about leadership and how the global event you are writing about has either reaffirmed your attitudes or completely changed them. While a personal example is not specifically called for in this question, it would enhance your essay.

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