The concise set of Duke MBA essays for the 2011-2012 application season will require solid focus and a presentation of your best application material. With two questions on the Duke Fuqua MBA program, it will be very important to demonstrate that you know the school and are a strong fit. Starting your research and personal networking now will put you in a solid position to prepare the most specific and effective essays. Duke’s word limit is a flexible 2-pages per question, which gives you enough space to offer solid evidence to support your admission.

A clear application strategy is crucial to approaching these essays. Duke’s mission is to “identify, engage, and foster the development of future leaders of consequence,” and you will want to demonstrate you are the kind of leader the admissions committee is looking for. Don’t forget the personal, as Duke says on the website, “the Admissions Committee would like to get to know our applicants in a more holistic manner.”

Essay 1: Describe your vision for your career and your inspiration for pursuing this career path.
This career goals essay asks for your vision and inspiration, not just a recap of your resume. As a starting point, you may want to think about the choices that have led you to your current career path. Focus on the inflection points that have inspired you – whether coursework in college, early exposure to running your own business, or watching a family member pursue their dreams – and clearly outline why you have made the choices in your life thus far. You are not required to follow a sequential path in this essay, and you can choose the important moments in your career to highlight.

Career visions can be either long-term or a combination of long-term and short-term goals. Think big picture and focus on the overall story, not just the job you hope to land immediately after school. When you look back at your career later in life, what do you want to have accomplished? What will make you proud, engaged and satisfied after twenty years in your career?

Essay 2: How will your background, values, and non-work activities enhance the experience of other Duke MBA students and add value to Fuqua’s diverse culture?
Being an active part of the Fuqua community is paramount to your application, and you will need to strongly make the case for your place in the class through this set of essays. While you should be personal in this essay, make sure you are strategic about what aspects of your application strategy cannot be covered in the other essays. In some ways this essay is very open ended – topics can be background, values or extracurricular. If you have a particularly interesting story in any of those three areas, this is the place to tell that story.

While you should not forget that you are applying to an MBA program and that leadership, teamwork and management potential are always important to adcomm, this essay may be an opportunity to follow the admissions committee’s advice to share “what makes you a dynamic, multi-dimensional person.”

Tie everything together into a case for your contribution to the Duke MBA program. While many candidates will have the grades, GMAT and work experience required for admission, great numbers are not enough. You want to show how you are unique and will contribute to Duke to present the best case for admission.

Essay 3: Why Duke? (If you are interested in a specific concentration, joint degree, clubs or activities, please discuss how you would contribute to these in this essay.)
This essay is entirely focused on why the Duke MBA program is the right place for you specifically. This may be another opportunity to demonstrate your multi-dimensional personality as you explain which classes, clubs and community activities most resonate with you.

The best essays will be both specific and personal. While everyone benefits from a diverse alumni network, what specifically do you want to give and receive from your classmates? If you describe clubs and classes you are attracted to, also offer specific examples from your past experiences to show your consistent personal or professional passions.

When researching schools it is ideal to seek personal touchpoints. Speak with current students, alumni, and other members of the community to see a wide range of perspectives on the program. When you speak to those affiliated with the Duke MBA program ask them to tell you what most surprised them about the program, or what they like the best and dislike the most. Asking probing questions with surprising angles can help you unearth what is truly special about the program.

While the focus of the essay is the Duke MBA program, you are also being asked to talk about yourself. Your fit with the program is crucial, and therefore you must exhibit the qualities Duke is seeking as well. The Duke MBA program is especially interested in your role within the community, and will place significant weight on this factor. If you research thoroughly and are specific, you should be able to clearly demonstrate why you are going to be strong contributor and teammate.

Especially because the career essay does not ask specifically how the Duke MBA fits into your career goals, it’s important to clearly outline the role of your Duke MBA in your plans. What do you know now that will be enhanced through your MBA education? And what crucial aspects of the skill set required for your future career will be augmented by attending Duke?

Optional Essay: If you feel there are extenuating circumstances of which the Admissions Committee should be aware, please explain them here (e.g., unexplained gaps in work, choice of recommenders, inconsistent or questionable academic performance, significant weakness in your application)
As with most optional essays, the Duke MBA asks that you only use this space to explain extenuating circumstances. If you have a low GPA, a non-typical recommender or gaps in work history this is the correct place to address those issues.

When approaching any concerns about your background in the optional essay it’s important to focus on recent performance, whether academic or professional, and what such performance demonstrates about your ability. Your goal is to remove questions from your application and to address in a factual manner any information the admissions committee needs to know to fairly evaluate your application.

Re-applicant Essay: All re-applicants are required to complete the Re-applicant Essay. Please limit your response to two pages. Write an essay describing how you are now a stronger candidate for admission compared to the application you submitted the previous year.
If you have a better GMAT score or a promotion since last year, you will want to highlight that tangible evidence of your improved candidacy. If nothing measurable has changed in your life since you last applied, it’s still crucial to demonstrate that you are now a stronger candidate.

Rethinking your career goals, refining your vision, or researching Duke more completely this year can all be aspects to improve your candidacy. Perhaps you visited the school and have a stronger attachment to Duke this year, or you took on a new project at work that improved your skills. Think about everything you have done to work towards your MBA plans this year, and highlight any actions that you believe will enhance your ability to contribute to Duke as an MBA student.

Many clients we work with at Stacy Blackman Consulting believe that they do not have any diversity in their background to share with the admissions committee. The truth is that even the most typical MBA candidate can find an aspect of his or her background that brings a new element to the school and fellow classmates.

Jim was a second generation Chinese-American applicant with a stellar academic background and several years of graduate school in Engineering. When we met to discuss Jim’s application strategy for Kellogg, Michigan and MIT he was convinced that he was a boring, typical candidate who was competing against every other academically oriented Chinese-American male. He was highly focused on improving his GMAT score (already a respectable 710) to make his candidacy more competitive.

Instead I suggested we think more about how Jim was different from his fellow applicants who looked the same on paper. We discussed Jim’s upbringing in Texas and the summers he spent working in the family food manufacturing business. As we discussed Jim’s summer jobs, he mentioned that he went to Hong Kong every summer during college and worked for his grandfather’s exporting business. While working he became fluent in Cantonese and built friendships with locals and expats in the city. At work he took on greater responsibility, including designing a more efficient packing system that saved the family business several thousand dollars per shipment.

Jim was surprised that I was interested in these college experiences because he dismissed them as “just helping the family business out.” I pointed out that most applicants would neither be fluent in Cantonese and English nor would have spent summers in college optimizing an international exporting business. Seen in that light, Jim agreed his experiences were worth writing about in an essay.

After exploring his own unique background along with communicating his additional post-college achievements, Jim gained admission to MIT.

To read more SBC Case Studies, click HERE.

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.

If you’re thinking about an MBA you may think it’s too late to address weak extracurricular or volunteer leadership. In our experience, even less than a year before your application you can still address a shortcoming in your involvement outside of work.

Peter first spoke with Stacy Blackman Consulting two years before he decided to apply for an MBA. Before his initial consultation he sent us his basic information and we could see that he had excellent work experience at a top tier consulting firm where he had been promoted early to a post-MBA position. Additionally, his GPA of 3.7 from UCLA and 720 GMAT demonstrated strong academics. In that first conversation with Peter we asked him about his interests outside of work. They were all related to his friends and family, and he did not have any significant community or volunteer involvements.

Our advice in his initial consultation was for Peter to take the year he had set aside for MBA preparation to develop his leadership outside of work. Peter was concerned that suddenly becoming involved in a volunteer activity would appear disingenuous to the admissions committee. That’s a real concern, and we advised that the best way to seamlessly incorporate extracurricular leadership into Peter’s story was to think about his longstanding passions and interests and build upon them. For example, Peter had played Soccer all through his childhood and high school years, but didn’t make the college team. We suggested he could volunteer at a community center playing soccer with kids after school, or as a coach of a youth team.

When Peter was ready to sign up with Stacy Blackman Consulting a few months before his first round deadline, we asked for the update on his activities. Along with a promotion to a post-MBA position at work, Peter had become active in an organization that promoted building playgrounds in low-income areas that lacked play space. Peter volunteered with the organization once a month and had even recruited his company to organize volunteer team building with the non profit. Peter’s involvement and leadership now helped him stand out from his fellow applicants with similar numbers and work experience.

Peter’s application process was very successful, with two admissions out of the four schools he applied to. He ultimately decided to attend Kellogg, where he continued his involvement with the playground non-profit.

To read more SBC Case Studies, click HERE.

Rahul signed up with Stacy Blackman Consulting for a two-hour feedback session on his unsuccessful application from the prior year. With a 760 GMAT and a near perfect GPA from an Ivy League school, Rahul was surprised that he failed to receive even a single interview invitation from his applications to HBS, Stanford, Columbia, and Chicago. With better-than-average numbers, I had a feeling that Rahul needed to focus on the qualitative factors to make his case for admission.

When I read through Rahul’s application to Stanford it was clear that there was room to improve his essays and his recommendations. Rahul’s career goals were a logical extension of his current job in consulting – he planned to return to the firm and advance to partner, ultimately specializing in the technology side of the firm and focusing on developing that side of the business. However, he never explained WHY technology was a passion for him, or WHY he was so devoted to his firm that he wanted to make his career there. Though in conversation Rahul was passionate about his path, it came across as a default answer in his essay.

“What Matters Most” is a tough essay topic for every candidate. In Rahul’s case he focused on his family and particularly his relationship with his grandparents who had immigrated to the United States from India and embraced a new culture and way of life. Again, Rahul’s admiration for his family and forebears was captivating in speech, but did not translate in writing.

As for Rahul’s recommenders, they praised his work, but did not advance his cause. None of them addressed Rahul’s career goals in any depth, and they did not highlight his exceptional work as compared with his peers. Overall it seemed as if Rahul was a strong contributor to his firm, but he didn’t come across as the next generation of leader and superstar there. When we discussed this issue, Rahul explained he had not shared his career goals or any of his other essay topics with his recommenders. As a result, I guessed his recommenders were not as invested in his success and may have lacked direction in writing the letters.

Rahul was receptive to my feedback and continued to work with us to reapply to HBS and Stanford, while adding Wharton, Michigan and Kellogg as new schools on his list. Rahul devoted himself to essay writing, and the results reflected his infectious enthusiasm for his work and his personal life. He also set up lunch meetings with his recommenders to go over his strategy and plans for re-application. With his recommenders in the loop on his overall goals they supported him with enthusiastic letters, and even helped him take on new projects related to technology at the firm in the year before he went to school.

Rahul was ultimately admitted to Wharton and the Kellogg MMM program.

We have so many client stories and each one is different. Even applicants who appear to have similar bios are unique when we peel back the layers. View more client case studies here.

*Please note that no client details are ever shared in SBC Scoop or otherwise without complete sign off from client.

On the front page of the Wharton MBA admissions website the adcomm states: “At Wharton, admissions is all about the right fit.” The questions this year continue on that theme, with several behavioral essay questions seeking to understand how you approach your life and work.

Understanding yourself and your fit with Wharton, and telling a cohesive story is key to success with this set of essays.

When contemplating the optional essays, it will be important to choose topics that will allow you to demonstrate both achievements at work and your extracurricular or personal activities. In addition, refer back to your application strategy and strengths and weaknesses to determine which personal qualities you want to highlight in your two essays.

Required Question:
What are your professional objectives?
The career goals essay is a standard MBA prompt. For this particular prompt, notice what is NOT asked. You are not asked about your professional background or your key accomplishments. To answer the question asked, you will want to focus mainly on the future and what you are planning to pursue with your MBA degree. At the same time, there is certainly room to add color by using your background information where it is most relevant to your goals. Think about the key moments of your professional life that crystallized your goals for you, and focus on illuminating those decision points rather than reciting your entire resume.

Respond to 2 of the following 3 questions:
1. Reflect on a time when you turned down an opportunity. What was the thought process behind your decision? Would you make the same decision today?
This Wharton Business School essay asks about the path not taken. The opportunity could have been professional, either a job or a project you decided not to pursue, or perhaps personal. Think about the areas you have already covered in other essays and decide what situation would be best for this question. Whatever situation you describe, make sure you spend equal time on the second and third part of the question.

Be clear about exactly how you decided to turn down the opportunity and the factors you considered. Are you the kind of person who weighs pros and cons or goes with your intuition? What criteria did you consider? Why did you ultimately decide not to take the opportunity presented?

The final question is whether you would make the same decision today. Think about the outcome of turning down the opportunity – did it ultimately lead to a better job or project? Did you ultimately reach your goals, or do you think the opportunity may have led you down an interesting path? Either way, clearly articulate how you consider the decision today, and why.

2. Discuss a time when you faced a challenging interpersonal experience. How did you navigate the situation and what did you learn from it?
Behavioral questions like this one are meant to illustrate how you have acted in situations in the past, as a predictor of future behavior. Your answer should be concise but detailed, and clearly lay out both the situation and what you did and thought as you navigated the outcome.

Often a tough experience is an excellent learning opportunity and contributes to your growth and development. Think about the type of person who will be successful in an MBA program, and as a manager and a leader. What skills do you share with a strong leader, and were any formed during a challenging interpersonal situation like this?

The challenge could range from a difficult boss or coworker, to a relationship with a friend or family member. The key to a successful essay is to demonstrate how, specifically, you navigated the experience. A lesson learned or beneficial outcome to the experience would end the Wharton Business School essay well and allow you to illustrate your leadership, teamwork or social skills.

3. “Innovation is central to our culture at Wharton. It is a mentality that must encompass every aspect of the School – whether faculty research, teaching or alumni outreach.” – Thomas S. Robertson, Dean, The Wharton School
Keeping this component of our culture in mind, discuss a time when you have been innovative in your personal or professional life.
This essay is a great way to demonstrate your capacity for creativity and innovative thought. In addition, this essay can be an opportunity for you to highlight experiences in your professional or personal life that may not have been covered in the previous essay due to limited space. If your professional experience doesn’t demonstrate the innovation you would like to highlight in this essay, perhaps your extracurricular or academic pursuits offer ideas.

Along with the behavioral part of this question, there is an implied direction to show your fit with Wharton through your innovative mentality. Wharton no longer asks candidates “Why Wharton” explicitly in essay questions, but rather seeks to understand how your unique personal qualities fit with the overall Wharton culture. Doing your research on the culture and understanding exactly how you fit in will help you approach this entire set of essays, as well as navigate interviews and other interactions with the Wharton adcomm.

For Reapplicants:
All reapplicants to Wharton are required to complete the Optional Essay. Please use this space to explain how you have reflected on the previous decision on your application and to discuss any updates to your candidacy (e.g., changes in your professional life, additional coursework, extracurricular/volunteer engagements). You may also use this section to address any extenuating circumstances.

All reapplicants are required to provide information that supports your renewed candidacy. The most successful version of the reapplicant essay will provide tangible evidence that you have improved the overall package you are submitting this year. Improvements like GMAT score or new quantitative classes as especially tangible, but a promotion, increase in responsibility at work, a job change or even a change of goals and mission can apply.

A rejection or waitlist last year is a form of feedback, and may have led to soul searching for you. When you describe your changes make sure reflect your ability to take feedback and improve. Describe how you approached the reapplication process after assessing your own strengths and weaknesses as a candidate and making the appropriate efforts to improve.

Optional Section:
If you feel there are extenuating circumstances of which the Committee should be aware, please explain them here (e.g., unexplained gaps in work experience, choice of recommenders, or questionable academic performance, significant weaknesses in your application).
This question is truly optional and should only be used if you have extenuating circumstances in your background. If you do have an area of concern that is on this list, make sure you spend your optional essay space on explanations, not excuses. While you might be embarrassed to explain your D in undergrad Chemistry, better to explain that you had a difficult semester in your personal life than to leave the admissions committee to speculate.

Before you start your applications, make sure to take note of the deadlines!