Essay 1: Describe your greatest professional achievement and how you were able to add value to your organization (400 words).
When choosing what achievement to describe, be aware that you are conveying your values in your choice. You want to show Cornell that you have made a measurable impact, but consider how you define what is impact or “value add” to your organization. There are certainly non-traditional ways to add value to your organization. Think honestly about what you are proud enough to label as your greatest professional achievement. Then, be sure to write about the details of the experience succinctly and focus on WHY you view this as an accomplishment and HOW you made things happen. Show them your priorities, and leadership style by describing what you thought and did and the resulting impact.

Essay 2: What career do you plan to pursue upon completing the MBA and why? How will the Johnson School help you achieve this goal? (400 words)
Note that this essay is forward looking. They have not asked for your past career experiences. Resist the urge to get into your resume. Only mention your past experiences to show inspiration regarding your future goals, but be brief in doing so. As with the all essays of this nature, you should connect your career goals to what is important to you (this does not mean they are one and the same, but that there is some correlation). Also articulate concrete ideas, that could include both short and long term goals. Similar to Stanford, Chicago, and Wharton’s career essays, you must be specific about how Cornell will help you achieve your goals - offer up classes, clubs, etc that will help you. They want to see that you are ready to hit the ground running, that you will take advantage of Cornell and make a difference in their community.

Optional Essay: Complete this essay if there is other information you would like to add regarding your candidacy. For instance, if you believe one or more aspects of your application (e.g., undergraduate GPA or test scores) do(es) not accurately reflect your potential for success at the Johnson School (400 words).
This is only for situations like those they describe in the question — GPA, test scores, recommender choices (started a new job recently so you needed to ask a former supervisor for a rec). Explain the situation succinctly.

At MBA Tour events you can:
*Meet one on one with Admission Directors
*Participate in interactive panels with alumni
*Attend individual B-School presentations and match your interests to program options
*Mingle with business school representatives and alumni
*Identify the advantages of pursuing your MBA and creating a global network

Participating schools include:
Columbia
Cornell
Dartmouth Tuck
Duke Fuqua
MIT Sloan
NYU Stern
UVA Darden
UC Berkeley Haas
UCLA Anderson
U Michigan Ross
UNC Kenan-Flagler
Wharton
Yale

Upcoming MBA Tour dates:
Chicago, Sept 4
Houston, Sept 6
Los Angeles, Sept 8
San Francisco, Sept 9
Washington, DC, Sept 11
New York City, Sept 15
Boston, Sept 16
Atlanta, Sept 18

Register online here

For many potential MBA students, taking two years off to attend a full-time program is not ideal. In which case, consider one of the accelerated MBA programs offered by Columbia, Kellogg, Cornell, or Emory.

The Columbia Accelerated MBA takes four consecutive terms to complete. For the coming year, students would begin in Jan 2008 and complete the program in May 2009. The program is a good choice for students who do not need to complete a summer internship. Thsi would include entrepreneurs, individuals returning to a family business, students sponsored by employers, and students who want to remain in their chosen field or who already have a strong network in their chosen field.

Columbia Business School uses rolling admissions for all of their programs. They began accepting applications for the Jan 2008 accelerated MBA on April 25 and will continue to accept applications until October 10. Applicants receive notification within 10 weeks of submitting their application. Columbia encourages interested students to apply sooner rather than later.

Next Monday we’ll look at the Kellogg accelerated MBA program which has some eligibility requirements.

On Friday, US News and World Report released their 2008 rankings for top full-time business schools. The top twenty programs are:

1. Harvard
2. Stanford
3. Wharton
4. MIT
5. Kellogg
5. Univ of Chicago
7. Tuck
8. Haas
9. Columbia
10. NYU (Stern)
11. Univ of Michigan (Ross)
12. Duke (Fuqua)
12. Univ of Virginia (Darden)
14. Cornell (Johnson)
14. Yale
16. UCLA (Anderson)
17. Carnegie Mellon (Tepper)
18. UNC (Kenan-Flagler)
18. Univ of Texas - Austin (McCombs)
20. Emory (Goizueta)
The rankings are based on scores in Peer and Recruiter assessments, GPA, GMAT, acceptance rate, starting salary, etc. As such the rankings of the top schools tend not to change significantly from year to year. This year Tuck and Stern made the biggest jumps. You can read about US News and World Report’s full methodology here.

Rankings are certainly interesting to see, however you should never select schools on rankings alone. Instead research schools through websites, school visits, information sessions, and conversations with current students and alums to learn more about the specifics of their programs. Pay attention to academic specialties, size, location, teaching method, career services, and student environment. Selecting schools based on your fit with each program program will increase your chances of admissions because schools are looking to see if you are fit too and, of course, lead to a more satisfying business school experience. So use the rankings as an opportunity to find some schools that you may not have previously considered.