The latest Chicago Booth Admissions Insider newsletter offers the admissions committee’s Top Ten Tips on how to get first-rate recommendation letters…letters that can solidify–or improve–a perspective the reader already has about you.

After browsing this list, check out yesterday’s Booth Insider post on the biggest mistakes Chicago Booth admissions has seen when it comes to recommendation letters…don’t let these happen to you!

1. Your first letter should be a professional recommendation from a supervisor. If it’s not feasible to ask your current supervisor to formally write a letter on your behalf, find a professional contact that can speak to your strengths and your weaknesses, such as a past supervisor or client.
2. The second letter is up to you. The purpose of the second letter is to give us a different perspective of your skill sets and provide you with an opportunity to add a new voice to your application. There is no preference on who supplies your second recommendation; our only guideline is that it should add new and valuable insights to the application.
3. Choose people who know you well. Make sure your recommenders are close enough to provide specific and relevant examples of your work for Chicago Booth’s admissions.
4. Meet with your recommenders beforehand. Take this opportunity to refresh their memory on your past projects and goals. Recent connections can make for richer and more powerful letters of recommendation, which is important in making a great impression.
5. Provide recommender with background information. In addition to meeting with your recommender, you might want to consider providing a packet of materials to help him/her have a better idea of why business school is the next step for you. This could include an updated resume, your application essay question responses, and information about the program you hope to attend.
6. Don’t rush your recommender. Be mindful of a recommender’s time. You want them to feel they have enough time to write a great letter, not just a good one. We suggest a month notice at minimum if possible. Plus that gives you time to meet with him/her before they write the letter and for a follow up meeting.
7. Don’t write your own letter. In today’s busy world where everyone is multi-tasking and overscheduled, it’s not uncommon for a recommender to suggest that you write your own letter. But take our advice – please don’t do it!  Since the committee can usually recognize your writing style from other parts of the application, it’s best that the recommender draft the letter.
8. Submit names of recommenders online. Once you access the online application system, you will be asked to provide the names and email addresses of your recommenders. The system will then send them an email message providing the link to the online form where they should submit their letters. If you have any problems with the online system or questions about this process, contact us at [email protected].
9. Monitor the progress of your letters.  You can see if your letters have been submitted by logging into the online application.  If the application deadline is approaching and a letter has not been submitted, then you might want to send a friendly reminder to the recommender.
10. Send a thank you note.  Your recommenders took time to write letters on your behalf so it’s important that you follow-up with a thank you note or card.  They’ll know that you appreciated their help.

The updated Chicago Booth essay questions have been posted with commentary from Admissions. Chicago Booth Business School evaluates candidates on three core elements: Curriculum, Community and Career. 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 2010-2011 essay questions
1. The Admissions Committee is interested in learning more about you on both a personal and professional level. Please answer the following (maximum of 300 words for each section):
a. Why are you pursuing a full-time MBA at this point in your life?
b. Define your short and long term career goals post MBA.
c. What is it about Chicago Booth that is going to help you reach your goals?
d. RE-APPLICANTS ONLY: Upon reflection, how has your thinking regarding your future, Chicago Booth, and/or getting an MBA changed since the time of your last application?

These three short essays make up your entire career goals essay. 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.
Why Chicago Booth and Why Now are explicitly asked this year. 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. Reflecting upon why you want to go to Chicago Booth and the MBA process will certainly be part of that work. This is your opportunity to show the adcomm why Chicago is a great fit for your and your refined career goals.

2. Chicago Booth is a place that challenges its students to stretch and take risks that they might not take elsewhere. Tell us about a time when you took a risk and what you learned from that experience (maximum of 750 words).

This situational essay question is seeking to understand how you think about risk, and what you do in a situation that challenges you. Though the admissions committee says there is endless latitude about the type of risk you describe, it will be useful to you’re your story based on the entire application strategy you have mapped out. What are the personal qualities you want to highlight in this set of essays? Do you have a story from work that can also demonstrate teamwork or leadership, or is this essay an opportunity to showcase your activities outside of work.
While your risk does not have to be something that ultimately paid off, it should be a situation that was defining for you, taught you a valuable lesson or otherwise can reveal a bit about how you think, act and approach life.
Spend a significant amount of time in this essay describing how you felt, what you said, and what you did. Be truthful and introspective here.

Slide Presentation
3. At Chicago Booth, we teach you HOW to think rather than what to think. With this in mind, we have provided you with “blank pages” in our application. Knowing that there is not a right or even a preferred answer allows you to demonstrate to the committee your ability to navigate ambiguity and provide information that you believe will support your candidacy for Chicago Booth.

The power point is back, though the question has changed. This time Chicago Booth offers you “blank pages” that will allow you 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 a professional situation 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.

Almost 170 alumni of the University of Alberta School of Business have donated C$20 million to prevent the school being re-named after a corporate donor or wealthy alumnus, bucking the recent renaming trend at business schools that, most notably, includes Chicago Booth, renamed after David Booth’s $300 million donation.

Three years ago, a fundraising committee at Alberta School of Business thought it could set up a rich endowment by changing the name and joining the ranks of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management or Calgary’s Haskayne School of Business, a piece in the Edmonton Journal reveals.

Although the committee found interested buyers, members had a change of heart, and the alumni driven pledge has resulted in a signed certificate saying the current name will be preserved in perpetuity.

“This school is owned by its alumni. It’s owned by its community,” says Mike Percy, dean of the business school. “Always has been, always will be.” Preserving the name is a way of thinking for the future, he adds. The school could have chosen one of its most famous alumni, and “at the end of the day, after one generation, no one knows who they are.”

Alberta is not the first business school to resist the naming trend, The Economist reports. In 2007, Wisconsin School of Business alumni raised $85m to prevent renaming at their school. And in 2008, Imperial Business School dropped the name of major benefactor Gary Tanaka so that it could re-emphasise its links to Imperial College.

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If you are feeling stumped by your application essays and need some additional guidance, check out our NEW series of essay guides for MBA applications. Columbia, Harvard, Kellogg, Stanford and Wharton available now. They are seriously terrific and we are proud to say that almost every person who has ordered one has come back for more!

While its true that both men and women seek an MBA education to broaden their skills and seek credentials that will lead to a better job and more money, the end result is often quite different, Andy Holloway wrote recently in Canada’s Financial Post.

In What Women Want…From an MBA, Holloway examines some of the motivational and practical differences between male and female MBAs, the number-one distinction being that women are more conscious of family and achieving a work-life balance than men.

“In some ways, male C-suite execs haven’t progressed much beyond the dinosaurs: They pass on their genes and figure they’re done,” Holloway writes.

The author cites several studies which support the notion that, on average, women choose post-MBA careers which allow for better work life balance. One such study, led by the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business in 2008, found that many female MBA students were already thinking about how children fit into their professional lives.

Furthermore, when asked what they would like to see from their MBA programs, 34% said childcare, 30% said events that showcased alumnae mothers, 34% wanted career programming about addressing work/life balance and 40% wanted information on how to solicit work/life balance information from recruiters.

For a closer look at some of the stereotypes and realities of women in business, including salary disparities and gender mix at schools, follow the link to the full article.

If you are feeling stumped by your application essays and need some additional guidance, check out our NEW series of essay guides for MBA applications. Columbia, Harvard, Kellogg, Stanford and Wharton available now. They are seriously terrific and we are proud to say that almost every person who has ordered one has come back for more!

The Chicago Booth School of Business has some advice on what to look for and how to plan for anyone gearing up to apply for an MBA program this fall. Below you’ll find excerpts from Booth on this topic; follow this link for the in-depth article.

What’s Important to You?

Think beyond school location/reputation and focus on your preferences relating to cost, lifestyle, teaching philosophy, curriculum flexibility, and whether you prefer a general management approach or one that offers majors or concentrations. Programs vary widely–the MBA is not a one-size-fits-all degree.

Research, Learn, Observe
Develop a core list of schools that meet your requirements and focus your research on how these programs can deliver on each of those attributes. Go beyond the web to get to know alumni and current students. Talk to your mentors and colleagues about their experiences or knowledge about B-schools within their industry and through their personal experiences.

Narrow Your List
Once you clearly see what makes each school different, you’ll understand better which schools may best fit your needs. This will help you write your essays in a way that clearly shows fit by linking your needs to the schools’ value system. But fit goes both ways. Schools are also seeking candidates that fit their unique culture.

Preparing To Apply
Booth suggests creating a timeline that incorporates the schools to which you will apply and in what particular round. Working backward from this timeline should help you set goals in terms of GMAT preparation, essay writing, planning to attend events, etc.

Part of preparing a strong application includes knowing yourself well by doing a self-assessment. Know what you want to get out of your MBA experience and why a particular program fits your educational and personal needs. You must be sure to demonstrate your fit between a school’s particular approach and your developmental needs.

In order to put understand the school’s culture better, plan to attend events this summer and fall. taking part in the school’s formal fall recruiting events is a great way to meet alumni and current students in those programs, Additionally, don’t forget to keep up with online chats or forums to learn more.

It’s a lot to absorb, but the sooner you hash out these details, the better prepared you’ll be to fine-tune your application and polish those essays. If you need more guidance, check out Stacy Blackman’s book, “The MBA Application Roadmap,” or any of our new essay guides to help you learn the secret for creating standout application essays!

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If you are feeling stumped by your application essays and need some additional guidance, check out our NEW series of essay guides for MBA applications. Columbia, Harvard, Kellogg, Stanford and Wharton available now. They are seriously terrific and we are proud to say that almost every person who has ordered one has come back for more!

A dearth of interested candidates, the potential pay cut and faculty management problems akin to herding cats are just a few of the challenges Financial Times’ Della Bradshaw points to for business schools looking to fill the top job.

Jennifer Bol, who leads the global education, non-profit and public policy practice for Spencer Stuart, a leading recruitment consultancy in this field, tells FT that while there are many qualified candidates for the job, too few want to do it. Women particularly have no interest in being dean, she says, either due to the 24/7 nature of the job or the big issue of salary.

Top professors tap into consultancy work, speaking engagements and non-executive directorships to round out their earnings, but the dean’s salary is tied up by university politics. Bradshaw writes that “With salaries of about $500,000 to $750,000 for a dean’s job at a top US business school, and $300,000 to $400,000 for the equivalent job in Europe, the best-paid professors would have to take a pay cut to become dean.”

“These days, deans spend only about four years in the job, meaning there are about 50 deans jobs vacant at any one time. This means some successful or high-profile deans are approached by headhunters up to once a month to consider a new appointment,” FT reveals.

Three top-ranked schools – Harvard, Chicago Booth and the Kellogg School of Management – are currently conducting dean searches. For many business schools,  finding a candidate around whom academic consensus can be built has meant that some can be without a dean for up to two years, Bradshaw writes.

What makes a great dean, you ask? Spencer Stuart explains that the winning candidate should be good at making and defining the message of the school to lure top faculty; they should be great at aligning the many stakeholders; they should have academic stature; they should be credible in the corporate world; and increasingly they need a global perspective.

Bol admits this is a tall order. “No one’s going to have it all,” she concedes. “There is no messiah candidate.”

To learn how faculty management issues, alumni relations, and commercial vs. academic experience add to the conundrum, read the original article here.

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If you are feeling stumped by your application essays and need some additional guidance, check out our NEW series of essay guides for MBA applications. Columbia, Harvard, Kellogg, Stanford and Wharton available now. They are seriously terrific and we are proud to say that almost every person who has ordered one has come back for more!

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