To be clear, if you purchase a 3 schools, you will receive a fourth. If you purchase 4 schools, you will receive a fifth. In lieu of providing the next in the series, we hope you recognize the sequence.

We had some amazing experiences with clients last year who started early, allowing us to plan and go much deeper than a compressed consulting engagement allows. For example, some successful clients even submitted weeks after Columbia rolled out their new questions.
Further, we are a boutique firm and all of our small team of consultants will reach capacity long before the summer, so signing up early is the best way to lock down your preferred expert – even if the work doesn’t start right away.

Get started, get a discount, get into your school.  Email us at mba@amerasiaconsulting.com to inquire or simply set up a free initial consultation online.

New Kellogg Dean Sally Blount, who spearheaded this year-long attempt to create a slogan, believes that this stated philosophy is truly unique.  It has been drummed into several information sessions this fall and has become a touchstone of the Kellogg marketing message.  Here is one quote where Dean Blount breaks it down, from a fairly recent interview on the website Poets and Quants:

“There is no other business school I think that can say we believe that business can be bravely led, passionately collaborative and world changing,” insists Blount. “But that is what Kellogg is about. Kellogg got on the map because we were different. We cared deeply about how you build a strong organization and how you get people to work together more effectively. We’re all about hard work and ambition but doing it with low ego. It’s all about pushing the agenda of the organization forward. It’s about reclaiming that and reexamining how do we teach that in the 21st century. There is no other school in the world that can claim that as readily as we can because of our history and our culture.”

Before we give our advice on how to handle this in your Round 2 applications, we should look at the bigger picture for a minute.  There are more than a few business schools that will not doubt take exception to the claim that “no other business school” can say these things.  Does any other school have that same exact motto?  Of course not.  For starters, “passionately collaborative” … that sounds like something a 15-person project team came up with and barely makes sense.  Wharton’s mantra of “innovation through collaboration” makes sense to us.  It means the best innovating takes place when you work hand-in-hand with others.  Got it.  What is passionate collaboration?  We have no idea.  Maybe hugging each other really tightly?  Toasting a mug of beer with a little more gusto?  Smiles for everyone at the coffee shop?  You get the idea.

How about being “world changing”?  Well, every top business school thinks of themselves that way.  Harvard has it in its own slogan (“We educate leaders who make a difference in the world”), as does Stanford (“Change lives.  Change organizations.  Change the world.”).

Leading bravely?  I guess that’s a new one, but Chicago neighbor Booth has displayed a fond appreciation of risk and courage for years.

To be brutally honest, there’s nothing “new” or “revolutionary” about Kellogg’s new slogan.  More importantly, there’s nothing that is yet new <u>about Kellogg</u>.  Just because a business school dean, in her first major push, has put a task force together to create a branding hook, that does not mean that decades of culture creation, faculty building, and alumni spawning goes right out the window.  Kellogg is still a place that puts a premium on soft skills.  It is still a place that prizes teamwork (it’s just “passionate” now!).  It’s still a place that features a “play hard” dynamic of people having fun and enjoying the experience outside the classroom (as does Stanford, as that cultural aspect of GSB did not just vanish the minute they got a fancy motto).

So where does this leave us?

For applicants who want to nail the DNA of Kellogg, our advice is simple: do not throw out all the evidence we have of what Kellogg is and has been for years.  Do not sacrifice your passion for teamwork, your stories of helping others, and the showcasing of a well-rounded personality (social, fun, kind, engaging), all in favor of “thinking bravely.”  Can you throw the motto in somewhere?  Sure, why not.  Specifically, Kellogg has provided an Essay 4 “choice” essay option for this.  It can also be a strong aspect of a leadership example in Essay 2.  It can also be the theme of Essay 3, in terms of who you are.  But try to keep it to one of those uses, and then bring the rest of “you” to the table in the other spaces.

Just remember that Sally Blount will not be reading your essays.  Turning in a four-essay soliloquy on how much you love the new marketing slogan is not going to impress a reader in the Kellogg admissions office.  Telling a Kellogg alum in an interview that you have “bravely led” teams is going to evoke nothing more than an eye roll (not outwardly, of course, and not even aimed at you – rather aimed at the fancy new marketing slogan).

Consider this blog post a Public Service Announcement.  Don’t play to the sound bite, play to the full, rich culture of Kellogg.  Most importantly, be yourself and let your natural and appealing qualities come through without trying to package them into a slogan that sounds like the Two Bobs from “Office Space” wrote it.

And, not that they are asking, but we would give Kellogg the same advice.

- The Amerasia Consulting Group

If you are interested in our help on your Kellogg application, please email us at mba@amerasiaconsulting.com.  We are currently offering late-stage essay evaluation options for any remaining Round 1 programs and we are now taking free consults for interested Round 2 applicants.

By the Amerasia Consulting Group

MIT Sloan is one of “those” schools – the ones that seem to slip into the nooks and crannies of the admissions process. People don’t talk about Sloan as much as its elite counterparts. Nobody immediately thinks about it in terms of being a top 5 program until you start digging and realize, wow, this program is insanely good. Most importantly, because of its unique end-of-October deadline and equally unique two-round admissions process, we would wager that application quality on Sloan apps is far lower than on other top programs (which is a massive problem if you want to be admitted there). Candidates often don’t even start on their Sloan apps until after the October 3-12 gauntlet of deadlines and then they race to finish because they fear waiting until the “last” round.

With those things in mind, we are breaking out another of our 5 Tips posts, with an eye toward improving the quality of Sloan applications.

1. “Be quick, but don’t hurry.” The late, great UCLA basketball coach John Wooden had many fantastic, quotable expressions (“never mistake activity for achievement” is our favorite), but this is one of the best for business school applications. Getting something done in a timely fashion is important, but not if you are hurrying through the process. Just because Sloan only has two deadlines does not turn Round 2 into a de facto Round 3. It’s still Round 2, which is the most popular round of admissions at pretty much every MBA program. If it is going to be a fire drill to get your application done, don’t rush it. Wait. If you are just trying to throw one more Round 1 dart, don’t. Wait. It’s okay to be quick and efficient and certain in your efforts, but don’t hurry. This is especially important because…

2. Know that MIT Sloan is an execution-dependent application. There are two dreaded words in Hollywood when a producer or executive hears your movie pitch: “execution dependent.” It means that the concept alone isn’t enough to start making plans around; you are going to have to write the script. And it’s going to need to be good! Well, in the b-school environment, these words don’t carry the same negative connotation. In fact, it’s often a good thing, because it rewards excellence. But what do we mean by this phrase? When you are an expert trying to break down various applications, there are pretty much two ways of viewing an essay set. One is strategy-dependent, where just knowing how to attack the questions – where to put X and where to put Y – is half the battle. To us, Wharton is this way. We have a very specific strategy for how to get all of the “right” content into the tricky Wharton questions, which takes the pressure of the actual execution. With Sloan, there’s nothing magical about the questions. It’s all about how you execute the answers. So take the time to do it right! Surely you can just copy and paste though, right? Not so fast…

3. Understand that MIT wants a different kind of answer. By the time you get to Sloan, you might have 3-4 sets of essays in the bag. Lots of cut and paste opportunities, right? Nope. MIT Sloan is a different animal than these other programs. They want to know how you think. They want to know what you feel about things. It’s not just Situation, Complication, Action, Results as so many stories are. That accomplishment essay from HBS probably isn’t going to be nearly deep enough. It might get there, once you go from 200 words to 500, but that’s no cut and paste. The leadership story you used for Tuck 2 better be really deep and focused on thoughtful examination, or it’s going to read like a pure cut-and-paste (which it is). We could go on and on, but you get the idea. MIT requires that you step back and really put some thought into this. There’s going to be some trial and error. You are going to want to have someone really smart on the other end of an email connection or phone line so you can bounce ideas off them and search for the right stories. We don’t often put a lot of stock in school branding slogans (wait until you read our thoughts on Kellogg’s new Frankenstein marketing slogan), but MIT Sloan has always had a great way of summing up their approach: “Thoughts, Feelings, Words, and Actions.” Notice that actions come last, meaning that equal or greater value is given to the ability to think, feel, and articulate. Most applications are loaded with brute force actions that drive the narrative forward. Not MIT Sloan.

4. Embrace the Cover Letter. For many, when they think of Sloan, they think immediately of the infamous cover letter essay assignment. Like the other infamous MIT admissions tradition – the behavioral interview – the cover letter is a great way for Sloan to figure out who has dexterity of skill and intelligence, rather than just rote portrayal of those traits. Rod Garcia, the man to whom the cover letter must be addressed, has often stated that MIT Sloan is looking for that which has predictive value. End of story. If they can’t learn something predictive, it’s not worth anything. It’s part of the reason they don’t have a goals essay – they find little predictive value in you merely telling them what you plan to do. They want to know WHAT YOU HAVE DONE. They want to know WHO YOU ARE. So tell them! The cover letter is not a hard essay – it’s a gift from the MBA gods. You get to sit down and say “here is who I am and what I want.” Don’t try to turn this into your goals essay. Don’t turn it into a love letter to MIT. Can you mention your goals? Sure. Can you mention why you want to go to Sloan? Of course. But this letter should sum you up. It should tell them what you want (a spot in the class) and it should tell them who you are and what you have done (focusing on making an impact). Our rule of thumb is this: if they would not be able to admit you solely off the cover letter, you don’t have a good MIT Sloan cover letter.

5. See the big picture behind Essay 3. MIT has a new question for Essay 3 this year. It reads: Please describe a time when you had to make a decision without having all the information you needed. Translated: show us you can navigate ambiguity. This is the most beautiful essay question that any school has introduced in quite some time. Why? Because this entire process is an exercise in navigating ambiguity. There are not easy answers to everything. You can’t go on a forum and gain certainty through consensus of opinion. You can’t know for sure that you are always making the right decision. The people who succeed in this process (and I’m referring to people who work with us, so they have already added an expert to the equation) are the ones who can plant their feet, stand tall, and make a decision. They can ultimately say “yes, this is the right story for this essay” or “thank you for presenting me with X, Y, Z, now I am going with my gut here.” They are the ones who roll with the punches in an interview, understanding that it won’t be perfect, but it can still be good. They set their recommenders up for success by sitting down for coffee, sharing information, and then trusting that person to do the job (rather than getting involved and turning the rec letter into a essay with someone else’s name on it). In years of doing this, what we have noticed more than anything is that some people have the courage of their convictions and some people are just leaves blowing in the wind. You can guess which group does well. Embrace this essay, and this application, and this whole process with the courage of your convictions. Show that you can navigate ambiguity. Share with Sloan – and with everyone, for that matter – that you can survey the landscape, do your best to acquire info, and then charge forward with passion, confidence, and determination. It will be your gift to the school, to your consultant, and to yourself.

The Amerasia Consulting Group
mba {at} amerasiaconsulting {dot} com

This time of year we see two things from the people contacting us about Round 1: panic about the deadlines October 18 and earlier, and some planning for the later Round 1 deadlines.  It\’s a little late for the former (although we can take people on for late-stage essay editing), but there is still plenty of time to do a fantatic job on an MIT, UCLA, Texas, Duke (round 1, not early action, obviously), or NYU application.  

We\’re going to try to get the blog up and running here in time to help people navigate these \”late stage\” schools and we\’ll start with NYU Stern as we pass along 5 tips that should prove helpful as you attack this application:

1. Understand the applicant pool. It is important to be aware of the fact that Stern gets saturated with “I guess I’ll apply to Stern” applications. You may be one of these people. Given the unique deadline, a lot of round one applicants get antsy when they don’t hear back right away from HBS, Wharton, Booth, Stanford, etc., and they don’t want to wait until Rd 2, so they decide to fire off a dart to NYU. This puts more pressure on you to have an authentic portrayal of your interest in Stern, which means it is also an opportunity to stand out from other applicants.

2. Make it personal. The implication of the above fact, coupled with Stern’s very personal approach to the process (requiring an on-campus interview), means that nailing “Why Stern” is probably more important here than any other school to which you apply (Tuck is the only school that might put more emphasis on this). It is part of the reason that we work with so many NYU applicants – far more than other schools ranked similarly. (Hint: what makes Stern “Stern” is not New York and it’s not finance. It’s a mentality. You *have* to nail the mentality, which is a mix of “scrappy” and “collaborative” and “inventive” that is hard to explain in a short post like this.)

3. Show comprehension. The collaborative nature at Stern is not super unique … until you consider that the school is in New York and facing the same challenges that Columbia faces (big NY population, big international population, meaning relatively few students who fit the typical “U.S. student packing bags and moving to a new city” model). Many of the extremely collaborative programs such as Tuck, Duke, Yale, Ross, and Cornell are more “socked in” because they are outside of huge metro areas. The fact that NYU can boast of such a collaborative environment while being based in NYC is amazing, something the school is rightfully proud of, and definitely something you want to keep in mind.

4. Differentiate your Essay 3. Don’t just use the PDF you submitted to Booth. It will be so obvious and will reflect a lack of effort that has major ramifications considering the points above. That said, you also don’t have to reinvent the wheel. Connect an audio essay to that slide show and make it a combined multimedia presentation. Take your four slides at Booth and blow them out to eight slides and change the thesis to “everything you need to know about me” so that it fits the NYU prompt. As long as you take the extra effort to make your Essay 3 unique from other nontraditional prompts, you will provide NYU what it wants to see.

5. Use Essay 1 and 2 to portray your career goals. Most traditional career goals essays ask you to explain what, why, how, and where (and sometimes when). That’s the formula for Columbia, Haas, Duke, and a host of others. A few schools throw wrinkles at you. Booth doesn\’t really need the \”how.\” Yale specifically asks the “when” question. Kellogg asks you to “assess” your career progress. The wrinkle with Stern – like Wharton –  is that your career goals answer isn’t contained to the career goals question. “How” is 1a (examining the choices you’ve made to date), “why” is 1b (why an MBA), “what” is 1c (short and long-term goals) … that is all pretty straight forward. But the trick is that the “where” comes in Essay 2, particularly 2b. The fragmented nature of Essay 1 and the tricky nature of Essay 2 often leads candidates to miss what is an easy opportunity to lay out the usual career goals argument – it just happens to take place over two essays. (The rest of Essay 2 can be strategically approached as well, so fear not).

There are plenty of other tricks and hints for Stern that will change this from one of the hardest applications to nail to one of the easiest, but these are the most critical.  

We hope this has been helpful – good luck to all of you as you approach your NYU Stern applications! 

If you are interested in admissions consulting services for Round 1 or Round 2, email mba@amerasiaconsulting.com to find out more about packages, prices, and options.  If you mention this post, we will offer a 10% discount on any school package.  

We\’re going to call it the Wharton Weave – the art of taking the usual tenants of a career goals question and weaving them throughout an entire (and admittedly tough) Wharton application. 

Last year we found that our clients were really stressed and somewhat confounded by the tiny Required Essay of 300 words that asked for professional objectives.  We walked them through how to use the Create a Class essay to place parts of a typical goals essay and the result was a series of really clear, strong essays.  

This year, Wharton must have decided that A) they were making their admissions officers read too many words, and B) the Create a Class concept was not being as definitely handled by the majority of applicants.  So out with last year\’s optional choices and in with a new set – from which candidates can choose two of three.  And in with even more confusion.  Not only did Wharton fail to indicate word counts when they posted the essays last week (although a bit of research seems to have to turned that up), but they presented a pretty tough series of questions from which to compose a strong application. 

Luckily, we have the Wharton Weave solution. 

It starts with understanding what must go in a traditional career goals essay.  We don\’t mind sharing the secret sauce on this because we\’ve posted it all before and share it on consult calls anyway.  But a rock solid career goals essay in a typical 600-1000 word setup will need to feature the following: 

WHAT (defined goals)

WHY (the motivator behind an MBA and especially the long-term goal)

HOW (the proof that you can get the post-MBA jobs by pointing to transferable skills – we\’ve written about this at length)

WHEN (why now is the right time)

WHERE (why School X)

For instance, a good Columbia Essay #1 includes all of that, in that exact order, in five balanced paragraphs.  In many applications though, parts of that sequence have to be farmed out to other essays.  Wharton – and its 300-word goals statement – is the ultimate example. 

So here is where everything goes: 

Required Question (300 words) – What are you professional objectives. 

Include:

WHAT – Define your goals. 

HOW – Indicate the experiences that have given rise to the necessary transferable skills to achieve them. 

WHEN – State that now is the right time for an MBA from Wharton. 

Optional Questions 1 and 2 (600 words) - 

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? 

2. Discuss a time when you faced a challenging interpersonal experience.  How did you navigate the situation and what did you learn from it? 

These questions go together because they are both \”behavioral\” in nature and get it certain thematic qualities.  #2 is probably more \”Wharton\” based on its interview questions last year, but our advice is to pick whichever of the two can help you achieve a really authentic, inspiring moment of conviction for your goals and pursuits.  Because here is where you need to include: 

WHY – Either of these essays should finish with a lesson learned from the experience and the takeaway that you are willing to devote your life\’s work to X (your Long-Term goal).  That\’s the whole ballgame here.  What do you want to do with your life and when was the singular moment when you decided to do that thing.  Normally you can pick pretty much any memory, moment, person, trip, realization, etc., so long as it supports your goals and pursuits with passion and inspiration.  With Wharton, you have to find that singular moment, but make sure it falls under the heading of either a decision to turn down an opportunity (Essay 1) or a challenging interpersonal experience that promoted growth (Essay 2).  

Optional Question 3 (600 words) – (A quote from Dean Robertson about the Wharton pillar of innovation) followed by the prompt: Discuss a time when you have been innovative in your personal or professional life. 

Include: 

WHERE – Make sure to finish this Impact Story essay with a robust paragraph devoted to Why Wharton, using the idea of innovation (and how it is prized by both applicant and school) as your transition.  Few will recognize this opportunity, but it\’s not much different from when NYU Stern asked \”what do you plan to contribute\” last year and fully expected candidates to take that prompt and use it to discuss prior involvement and commitments (and not just rattle of things they liked about Stern).  It\’s a great, great chance to transition from talking about yourself to talking about why Wharton is a fit for you based on a shared tenant.  (And if innovation is not something you prize or can display or that you feel strongly about, then you should probably not be applying to Wharton, quite honestly.) 

We hope this helps all of you aspiring Wharton candidates out there.  Good luck!

If you are interested in our services for Round 1 applications, email mba@amerasiaconsulting.com to inquire about packages, prices, or setting up a free initial consultation.  

Well, we wanted to get a quick analysis up and let all those applying to Chicago Booth that the more things change, the more they stay the same. 

This year\’s essay questions are different, but essentially the same.  

Essay One – 1. What are your short- and long-term goals, and how will a Chicago Booth MBA help you reach them?  (600 words)

Booth\’s essay one (Goals) is a shortened version of last year\’s three-part,900-word essay one.  Booth must have gotten sick of cutting up the question way too specifically — my guess is that they have to read three \”differing\” 300-word answers for essay one that pretty much said the same thing (or had significant overlap.)  That is, many applicants simply did not do a good job of bifurcating their thoughts on paper.

Essay Three – 3. 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.

Ye Ole Four PowerPoint Slides — We like how Booth specifically points outthat they want something that has not already been stated in other parts of the application.  We suspect that the Booth admissions committee has seen what we have seen. Most of the bad Booth PowerPoints that we have seen are just a rehash of already stated information, but in a sloppy graphical format.  We have even seen some failed PPT\’s that are basically all bulletpoints.  Somehow, the word has gotten out that this PowerPoint essay is supposed to be closer to MIT Sloan\’s cover letter essay.  But really, summaries (and bad ones at that) need not apply.  

Moving onto the \”real\” change …. Chicago Booth\’s new essay two.

So this post is only going to address the new coat of paint applied to essay two  It is important to note that Chicago Booth has eliminated the traditional, tried and true \”risk\” essay.  Our theory is that the program realized, to a certain extent, that they were showing their hand a bit too much.  So what did they try to do, our belief is that they tried to mask the question with a more \”personal\” bent – something that has been a trend with quite a few top programs (i.e. Two years ago Columbia essay two changed from \”Master\’s Classes\” to a more touchy-feely play.)

Last year\’s question two – 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 (750 words).

This year\’s question two - 2. 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)

Sure, at face value, it may seem like the question has completely changed.  But let us face it, there is no way that the culture of Chicago Booth could have changed markedly from one year to the next.  The school is still looking for the same types of people, and undoubtedly, will attract and types of analytical and finance oriented people.  Ultimately, what will separate the rock stars from the groupies, is the applicant\’s ability to speak to taking smart risks.  So while this may seem like an exercise in talking about your mom and dad, perhaps your family pet or crazy Uncle Larry or Auntie Uma, it is really about defining the values your family and personal background have taught you.  The critical component to fully answering the question is to also talk about how those values, norms and beliefs have instilled in you and appreciation, and perhaps propensity, for taking smart risks.  Again, the influence of your personal surroundings has injected a willingness to accept risk, and you have subsequently learned evaluate that risk from an objective point of view.

We know that for some who read this, it may seem like a stretch to talk about your mommy and then talk about how you love taking risk.  Of course it is not as simple as writing something like that.  Let\’s be fo\’ real, real and relatively sophisticated at the same time.  It would really flow (logicallly) like this (as an example):

1. This is what I learned from my parents.  This is the example they set for me.  These are the defined set of values I learned from them.
2. This is where I took their values and made them my own.  Here is a leadership example of that – a leadership example that incorporates elements of evaluating and taking smart risks to achieve a goal.  Here is (perhaps) another leadership example — maybe a more personal one or one that combines personal and professional elements.
3. These are the results (based on my personal and professional leadership accomplishments – and beliefs) that I hope to bring to your Chicago Booth program to the benefit of all involved — and through initiatives X, Y and Z.

The representative structure above is pretty much the same that applicants should have been using last year.  The only difference is that in prior years, Chicago Booth pointed out introducing the element of risk ( a theme central to the school), this year they point to the impetus (parents, culture, etc.) of what drives your risky (yet smart) leadership behavior.  This is why we say that a long line of consistent leadership characteristics always convinces a reader, rather than a recent one-hit, Johnny-come-lately applicant.  

Clear as mud?  The more things change, the more they stay the same.

If you are interested in becoming a client of Amerasia Consulting Group, please email mba@amerasiaconsulting.com for information on prices and services, or to request a free initial consultation.  

Reference: Chicago Booth Essay Questions: http://blogs.chicagobooth.edu/n/blogs/blog.aspx?nav=main&webtag=boothinsider&entry=30