MIT Sloan 2015-16 MBA Admission Essays Analysis

What follows is my analysis of the 2015-16 MIT Sloan essay topics.

The school's own instructions: We are interested in learning more about how you work, think, and act. In your response, please describe in detail what you thought, felt, said, and did. 

Essay 1: Tell us about a recent success you had: How did you accomplish this? Who else was involved? What hurdles did you encounter? What type of impact did this have? (500 words or fewer). 

This question seems to be a typical accomplishment story. However, you need to make sure that your accomplishment story contains the following things:

- the involvement of others

- at least one hurdle (challenge/difficulty/obstacle) faced along the way

- the resulting impact of this accomplishment on something and/or someone

- details about what you thought, felt, said and did

Note that the example can be personal or professional. In terms of selecting a topic, again the story you choose should contain all of these elements. In addition, to that, I’d also encourage you to consider choosing a story where your role was central, and one where the impact on a person or organisation is strong and clear. 

I’d also encourage you to choose a recent episode. In the past the instructions for MIT Sloan essays used to include the direction that you limit your story to one that has occurred within the past 3 years. This requirement is now gone, however I would encourage applicants to still consider a recent story. The reason for this is in the “thought, felt, said, did” details asked for.

The approach MIT takes to outlining their expectations of your essay is different from other schools. No other MBA program asks for the specifics about what you thought, felt, said and did within the context of a particular story. The reason why? I used to attend MIT information sessions, and whenever I did, I always heard that “we can evaluate your potential to contribute as a global leader based on the way you handled a recent episode”. In other words, by offering a detailed (and recent) example of how you dealt with others, how you communicated your ideas, how you reacted to difficulty, and how you managed to make an accomplishment, you are giving your reader a window into how you act, and act with others. They are then evaluating your potential to be successful in the future (and of course fit in well in their program) based on this.

Here’s some tips on organising that initial draft.

Begin by summarising the accomplishment. Not everyone will tell you to do this but I feel it is a good way to kick off your story. So offer a 1-sentence summary of the accomplishment and it’s impact. 

The next steps I would take is the organize your story use MIT’s own STAR model - advice they give / have given on how to tell a story (particularly for behavioral interview questions, but also for storytelling in general):

S - situation

T - task

A - action

R - result

This is a logical way to tell a story, and an easy way to organise your draft. After you have gone through these steps, add one more paragraph emphasising the learning or takeaway of this story for you. How did you develop from this experience? What did you learn? I think that a bit of reflection at the end of a story is a good thing, and shows your capability to grow from your experiences. 

Once you have finished these steps and have arrived at a first draft, read it. It doesn’t matter how long it is. I think that a first draft that is 800-1,200 words is perfectly acceptable. Cutting volume and achieving their word limitation will come later. As you read it, ensure that the details (what did you think, feel, say and do?) are coming through. The reader should be able to observe how you deal with situations and others through these details. 

Finishing this essay will involve making some tough choices about what contents need to stay and what can be cut. I’d encourage you to reach out and get help on this. A third party, objective perspective is crucial to a real understanding of just how successfully you are conveying what you intend to.

Optional: The Admissions Committee invites you to share anything else you would like us to know about you, in any format. 

An essay will likely be the most popular format, but don't let that stop you from trying something a bit more creative as long as it helps you to get across whatever message you are aiming for here.

In terms of that message, start by asking yourself if there are any weaknesses or other such things you feel may need to be explained here, such as a relatively low GPA across the undergraduate degree or during one year of university. If you do this, try to emphasize the positive. You could, for instance, describe what were doing at the time (a leadership role in an extra-curricular? working to pay off tuition? both?) and how the learning from the activity was relevant and important to you.

Other than that, look to your response to the essay above and anything you’ve already decided to put in this optional essay and ask yourself if you've offered a good balance between work and non-work examples. If you haven't, and for instance have emphasized professional experience, then consider introducing your extra-curricular activities here. MIT leans towards recent examples, and that's always good advice to follow, but the question here does offer a lot more freedom, so something from more than three years ago could be considered a topic as long as you detail the takeaway or impact or whatever makes the experience still relevant today.   

Finally, some may use this optional essay as an opportunity to detail the specific reasons they feel MIT offers the best fit for them, given their past and their future. If this is the route you have chosen, read my article on demonstrating fit with an MBA program to ensure your examples are as concise as possible.

If you do go with an essay to answer this question it appears there is no word limit - so use 500 words (their limit on other essays) as your rough guideline maximum here, while noting that shorter may in fact be better. MIT optional essays used to be about 250 words - so obviously conciseness is valued. This is not a hard-and-fast rule - I’ve read great essays that were longer - but is certainly worth considering.

Closing Thoughts: Mind and Hand

In closing, let me remind readers of the MIT slogan "MInd and Hand". In doing so I am not proposing that this theme be digested and then pasted all over your essays, nor am I saying that "because MIT is looking for this kind of thing, you need to write about it no matter what your background is".  In fact I often propose the opposite - rather than writing what you think they're looking for you're always better off representing what makes you exceptional on its own terms. Having said this, the concept of Mind and Hand is the ability to bring practical application to learned things, and to me, this defines what it takes to be successful not only during the MBA, but also in applying the experience to challenges you'll face in the future. Read here for an interesting (if slightly older) take on this, and go here for a deeper reading on this topic.

John Couke

john.couke@gmail.com

2015-16 MBA Admissions Deadlines and Essays: Harvard, Stanford, Yale, MIT, Wharton and Columbia

Thinking of submitting an MBA application later this fall? Top schools are releasing their deadlines and essay prompts earlier than ever, and even though we are only in mid-May, there's a lot of information out there:

MBA admissions deadlines:

Harvard, Stanford, MIT Sloan, Wharton, Columbia J-term, Yale



MBA admissions essay questions:

Harvard, Stanford, MIT Sloan, Columbia

This year, Harvard's deadline is September 9th. Time to get started on that application!

John Couke
john.couke@gmail.com

2014-15 MBA Application Deadlines and Essay Topics

The past week has seen a LOT of releases of 2014-15 application deadlines, essay topics, and other interesting facts. Analysis will follow on this blog later in the spring and into the summer, but for now I wanted to get links out so you can start to reference this information.


Stanford:
application deadlines

essay topics
Stanford has reduced the number of essays they require in their application from 3 to 2. Their signature essay, "What matters most to you, and why?" remains. The link above goes to their admissions website, and it contains excellent advice from the GSB on how to approach the essays. Stanford shares useful advice on their own questions on their site and it is worth a read.

recommendation letter instructions
The peer recommender letter is now just an option as Stanford has dropped the number of required recommenders from 3 to 2.



Harvard:
essay topics and recommendation letter prompts
This link above is to an entry in the HBS "From the Admissions Director" blog, which I highly recommend to those aiming for or thinking of aiming for HBS. The entry also mentions the Round 1 deadline this year will be on 9/9/2014, one week earlier than last year's R1 deadline.)



Wharton:
application deadlines



Columbia:
application deadlines
essay topics
recommendation letters instructions



MIT:
application deadlines


I'll follow up with my analyses throughout the late spring and into the summer. But now is the time to start marking you calendars!

John Couke
john.couke@gmail.com

MIT Sloan MBA Admissions Essay Analysis 2013-14

What follows are my brief comments on this year's MIT Sloan essay topics.

The school's own instructions: We are interested in learning more about how you work, think, and act. For each essay, please provide a brief overview of the situation followed by a detailed description of your response. Please limit the experiences you discuss to those which have occurred in the past three years. In each of the essays, please describe in detail what you thought, felt, said, and did.

Essay 1: The mission of the MIT Sloan School of Management is to develop principled, innovative leaders who improve the world and generate ideas that advance management practice.  Discuss how you will contribute toward advancing the mission based on examples of past work and activities.   (500 words or fewer, limited to one page)

MIT has removed their cover letter this year, however in its place some remnants of what it asked for are now here, in essay 1. At first glance this question only seems to be asking for 2+ examples from your past. I think in reality it gives you the chance to address a slightly wider story, while also focusing in on those examples.

This question is asking for examples of your past work and non-work activities. Ensure that the examples you choose demonstrate your ability (and therefore potential) to innovate and generate ideas that have impacted those around you in a positive way. Space may be at a premium, however still take care to ensure your examples include detail related to what you thought, felt, said and did.

Notice how there is no mention of what your specific career goals are in the essay question. This is likely because MIT admissions pride themselves on their ability to see your potential to achieve great things in the future based on how you have approached and dealt with situations in the past. Make that the recent past - as MIT requests that your examples be from within the past three years. Despite this, I do recommend that clients at the very least mention the career direction they envision for themselves post-MBA, as well as why that is important or meaningful to them, in this essay. Doing so allows you to demonstrate the gap between those goals and your current skill set, in order for you to then show clearly your plan for your studies while at MIT. This is important, and is referred to in the question when you are asked "how you will contribute towards advancing the mission". 

In summary, after a brief introduction move into a quick assessment of your future plan and what you plan to get from MIT to get you there. Then, show through detailed recent examples (perhaps one work-related and one non-work related) that you have the initiative and principles to achieve these goals and add value while at MIT. Walking through these steps should - if you've brainstormed contents effectively - help you put together a strong initial draft towards this essay question.

Essay 2: Describe a time when you pushed yourself beyond your comfort zone. (500 words or fewer, limited to one page)

I mentioned "detailed examples" in my treatment of essay 1. Detail is important - and perhaps more important to MIT than to just about any other program. Note the instructions that proceed these essay questions: We are interested in learning more about how you work, think, and act. For each essay, please provide a brief overview of the situation followed by a detailed description of your response. Please limit the experiences you discuss to those which have occurred in the past three years. In each of the essays, please describe in detail what you thought, felt, said, and did.

The idea here is that MIT can evaluate your actions, thinking and methods from recent experiences to assess your potential to be successful in the future. In order to help your reader do this effectively, you need to ensure that your essays are sufficiently detailed and therefore revealing about how you think and how you react to different situations.

In this essay you need to describe a time when you dealt with a situation that may have been new to you, or "over your head" or beyond what was your typical level of responsibility within your organization (or equivalent if you are dealing with an extra-curricular activity). The idea that you pushed yourself most likely means that you made decisions that forced you into a situation as described above. 

To tell this story properly, you need to include each of the following elements: the initial situation and what was at stake for you and/or the organization, the decision(s) you made, and the result. The latter means the result on the project or situation involved, the company itself, and finally, the result on you - literally the impact this experience had on you and the takeaway(s) you gained from the experience. This is a lot of detail, but really all of it is necessary to give your story the level of context required. I've modeled this approach after the STAR storytelling approach. Read here for more on this highly logical method of storytelling.

Within these "high-level" details, however, you must focus in on the specifics of the push you gave yourself that moved you out of your comfort zone. This could have been a reaction to a particular decision made by someone else, the result of a quick brainstorming session done after a key meeting on a project, or as part of your preparation for leading a team on a certain day. Whatever the case make sure that when you detail the thoughts and words that went into your actions, you focus in on the moment in which they occurred. In other words, don't generalize about how you usually react to situations. Instead offer one clear episode and be specific. 

Optional: The Admissions Committee invites you to share anything else you would like us to know about you, in any format. 

An essay will likely be the most popular format, but don't let that stop you from trying something a bit more creative as long as it helps you to get across whatever message you are aiming for here.

In terms of that message, start by asking yourself if there are any weaknesses or other such things you feel may need to be explained here, such as a relatively low GPA from university or from one year of university. If you do this, try to emphasize the positive (i.e. for this example what you were doing at the time and how the learning from it was relevant and important to you). 

Other than that, look to your responses to the two essays above and ask yourself if you've offered a good balance between work and non-work examples. If you haven't, and for instance have emphasized professional experience, then consider introducing your extra-curricular activities here. MIT leans towards recent examples, and that's always good advice to follow, but the question here does offer a lot more freedom, so something from more than three years ago could be considered a topic as long as you detail the takeaway or impact or whatever makes the experience still relevant today.   

Finally, some may use this optional essay as an opportunity to detail the specific reasons they feel MIT offers the best fit for them, given their past and their future. If this is the route you have chosen, read my article on demonstrating fit with an MBA program to ensure your examples are as concise as possible.

If you do go with an essay to answer this question it appears there is no word limit - so use 500 words (their limit on other essays) as your absolute maximum here, while noting that shorter may in fact be better. MIT optional essays used to be about 250 words - so obviously conciseness is valued. 

Closing Thoughts

In closing, let me remind readers of the MIT slogan "MInd and Hand". In doing so I am not proposing that this theme be pasted all over your essays, nor am I saying that "because MIT is looking for this kind of thing, you need to write about it no matter what your background is".  In fact I often propose the opposite - rather than writing what you think they're looking for you're always better off representing what makes you exceptional on its own terms. Having said this, the concept of Mind and Hand is the ability to bring practical application to learned things, and to me, this defines what it takes to be successful not only during the MBA, but also in applying the experience to challenges you'll face in the future. Read here for an interesting (if slightly older) take on this, and go here for a deeper reading on this topic.

John Couke

john.couke@gmail.com

MIT Sloan Essays for 2013-14 MBA Admissions

MIT Sloan has released their essays prompts for those applying to enter their MBA program starting in the fall of 2014. Of particular note is the fact that they have eliminated their "cover letter" from the essay set.  Here are their prompts for this year along with the school's own instructions:

We are interested in learning more about how you work, think, and act. For each essay, please provide a brief overview of the situation followed by a detailed description of your response. Please limit the experiences you discuss to those which have occurred in the past three years.

In each of the essays, please describe in detail what you thought, felt, said, and did.

Essay 1: The mission of the MIT Sloan School of Management is to develop principled, innovative leaders who improve the world and generate ideas that advance management practice.  Discuss how you will contribute toward advancing the mission based on examples of past work and activities.   (500 words or fewer, limited to one page)

Essay 2: Describe a time when you pushed yourself beyond your comfort zone. (500 words or fewer, limited to one page)

Optional: The Admissions Committee invites you to share anything else you would like us to know about you, in any format. 

Please confirm all information directly at the MIT Sloan admissions website.

John Couke

john.couke@gmail.com

MIT Sloan MBA Admissions Deadlines for the 2013-14 Admissions Season

MIT has released their admissions deadlines for those aiming to enter their MBA program starting in the fall of 2014.


Round One - 

Deadline: 9/24/2013 (3pm ET)
Decision: 12/20/2013

Round Two - 

Deadline: 1/7/2014 (3pm ET)
Decision: 4/1/2014

Reapplicants can submit in either round.

For more information, and to confirm this information, please go directly to the MIT Sloan admissions pages.

John Couke
john.couke@gmail.com

1-year Full-time US-based MBA options (2013 update)

**7/2013 news**  The Cornell Johnson program is considering add a 1-year full-time option based in New York City. Read the Poets&Quants article here. 


While the 2-year full-time MBA remains the standard for a lot of applicants, more and more people are looking for viable 1-year full-time options for their MBA as they place a higher emphasis on the opportunity cost (i.e. foregone salary) of going to b-school. 

Europe has typically been the home of the 1-year MBA, with options such as INSEAD, IMD, Cambridge, Oxford, ESADE, IE, RSM, Cranfield, Warwick, the LBS Sloan Masters in Leadership and Strategy and many others attracting the majority of applications for 1-year programs. 

There are some options worth looking into in the USA as well, and they are increasing in popularity. Here is a starting point for those interested in researching 1-year US-based MBA options.  Many of these programs are designed to attract older applicants who have more focused interests and less need for career-changing educational experiences. So, I have divided the list into 1-year programs aimed towards more experienced applicants, and 1-year programs aimed towards applicants of the traditional MBA age.

for more experienced applicants:

MIT Sloan Fellows Program

working experience: 10-years is required to apply

class size: about 100

Stanford Sloan Master's Program

(technically an MS in Management rather than an MBA)

working experience: 8 years is required to apply, and the average is 12 years

class size: about 80

USC IBEAR

working experience: the average is 10 years

class size: about 55-60

for MBA-aged applicants:

One thing that is stressed with most of these 1-year programs below is that you need to have clearly defined academic and/or professional goals. 

1-year students also sometimes miss out on key 2-year student experience, such as the summer internship. For instance, at Kellogg, 1-year students spend their summer on campus. 

In addition, Goizueta notes here than the ideal candidate for the 1-year MBA has earned an undergraduate degree in business or economics or has strong quantitative background in majors such as engineering or mathematics.

Cornell Johnson Accelerated (1-year) MBA

According to this blog posting, this program is apparently normally for individuals who already hold an advanced degree. However, with a CPA or CFA, you're eligible for admission even if you don't have an advanced degree.

working experience: 4 years (median)

class size: 45 (here is a link to the class profile)

Northwestern Kellogg One-Year (1Y) Program

working experience: the current class ranges in age from 23 to 35

class size: 80-90 (they expect to double or triple this number, read more at a Poets&Quants article here)

Emory Goizueta 1-Year MBA Program

working experience: an average of 5+ years (compared to an average of 5 years for the 2-year program)

class size: 39

Babson One-Year MBA Program

working experience: average of 5 years (the same for the 2-year MBA)

class size: 78

Boston University 1-Year International MBA

More details on the program can be found here. The program starts with 3 months in China.

Thunderbird 1-Year MBA Option

class size: not given (the MBA GM program overall has 548 students, as per this source)

Hult International Business School 1-year MBA

Admissions information is available here.

More reading:

The Top MBA Programs if You're in a Hurry (WSJ.com)

U.S. Schools Increase One-Year Programs (ClearAdmit.com)

Have you Ever Considered an Accelerated MBA Program? (ClearAdmit.com)

If any readers would like to suggest other programs, email me!

John Couke
john.couke@gmail.com

MIT Sloan 2012-13 MBA Essay Analysis

This year there is less word count available for your MIT Sloan admissions essays.  They used to offer three 500-word essays in addition the cover letter but now they only offer two.  This is a trend that has ben occurring amongst several top US, and in this regard MIT is no exception.  The applicant to Sloan will need to be careful in choosing the right topics as well as the right details to get across who they are in the (always) short cover letter, as well as across this small(er) essay set.

What follows are some opinions and notes geared towards getting you started on your MIT Sloan essays.

Cover Letter:

Please prepare a cover letter (up to 500 words) seeking a place in the MIT Sloan MBA program. Your letter should describe your accomplishments, address any extenuating circumstances that may apply to your application, and conform to standard business correspondence. Your letter should be addressed to Mr. Rod Garcia, Senior Director of Admissions.

Analysis:

I have divided my analysis of the cover letter into three parts:

1) Contents

2) Design

3) Word Limitation

1) Contents

There is a lot to fit into 500 words here. It is ideal to touch upon each of the following things:

a) your accomplishments

The questions asks for accomplishments (plural) but due to space limitations it'll be hard to 

It'd be good to mention one specific accomplishment, and the impact you had on those around you. You may also choose to describe an additional accomplishment (note the question asks for more than one) and so for the sake of balance the second accomplishment may be a non-professional one. 

b) extenuating circumstances

It is never a good idea to dedicate a lot of space to blemishes in your application, especially in a cover letter introducing yourself to the head of admissions of the program! Ideally, addressing extenuating circumstances would involve detailing strengths - for instance if you had a term of poor grades as an undergraduate, you could emphasize the out-of-the-classroom learning you gained during that period, such as leadership skills developed by captaining the school debate team to victory in a competition. Different applicants will have different things to write about here, and some may have none at all.

Both a) and b) should be obvious elements of your essay, as both are mentioned in the question itself. However, if as the cover letter instructions note, you are to write a letter seeking a place in MIT's MBA program, then more could be included in this letter, such as why you are looking for an MBA, what you hope to achieve there, how it connects to your future, and why MIT is the best choice for you.  Let's break down this additional elements:

c) why you want an MBA

Why do you need a graduate business school education? What do you need to learn, and what kind of experiences do you hope to have during the program?

d) why MIT is the best place for you to get that MBA

Offer 2-3 clear examples that show MIT Sloan is the right place for you to spend the next two years.  Be specific!

e) what you will do with the MBA in the future

Offer some detail on your short/long term goals. Note that this does not need to be very long or overly detailed, but instead should simply show the direction you aim to go in and the kind of impact you wish to have on your organization, industry, or the world. If you were to ask an MIT admissions staff member, they might say they are not interested in your goals at all - and that they are more interested in evaluating your potential just by examining closely recent examples of how you make decisions and react to situations (hence their essay questions and specific instructions that they be well detailed, and also from episodes that have occurred recently). But, goals can serve well to tie an application together, and show strong connections between your background, MBA learning needs, and future potential as a leader, innovator or entrepreneur.

f) how you can contribute to your future classmates

One clear and specific example of what you have to offer to a particular course or extra-curricular to serve to finish your letter on a high point and show that you'll do more than just benefit from the experience at MIT Sloan.

2) Design

I have told people in the past that three things are important here, in order of difficulty from easiest to most challenging:

a) the Cover Letter should look like a letter.

A letter is addressed to someone, and is written to them as well. It is customary to put the recipient's address at the top, and to address the letter to them as well. You should also sign off (sincerely, with respect, etc.) and put your name at the bottom of the letter.

b) It is written to a person, so it should feel personal.

Don't simply cut and paste your goals essay from another school here. Instead, write a personal letter from you to Mr. Garcia. Did you have the chance to meet with him during a campus visit, for instance? If so, you could refer to a take-away or moment from that meeting somewhere in your letter.

c) it should be memorable.

Not all, but certainly many of the effective cover letters I have seen have a hook, or anecdote, or something that make them memorable and stand out from the rest. For some this is simply having a memorable accomplishment with a truly clear and impressive impact.  For others it is the strength of their background or the clarity of their vision and the directness of their reasons for studying at MIT. In some cases applicants have been able to start off their letter with a memorable episode or unique and unforgettable introduction of who they are and their personal passions. Whatever the case, you should strive for this in your own letter.  When you are done, it should feel like it came from you, and like it is introducing who you are and why you are passionate about spending two years contributing as an active student at MIT.

3) Word Limitation

Do not write a 3,000 word essay and then expect someone else to magically trim it into 500 words. Instead, you need to be very selective as to what to be included.  So make tough decisions (and/or get a second opinion) so that you are including in your cover letter only those contents that are most necessary, most appealing and most memorable about you. It is possible to touch upon multiple subjects in a short essay - you just need to be very direct and not wordy, and you need to be comfortable removing parts not completely essential to the theme you have established. 

Essays:

"We are interested in learning more about how you work, think, and act. For each essay, please provide a brief overview of the situation followed by a detailed description of your response. Please limit the experiences you discuss to those which have occurred in the past three years. In each of the essays, please describe in detail what you thought, felt, said, and did."

Essay 1: Please describe a time when you had to convince a person or a group of your idea. (500 words or fewer, limited to one page)

Analysis:

Describing in detail what you thought, felt, said and did means you'll likely be describing a conversation or specific meeting, rather than a process spanning three months. In other words, try to show through one concrete example how you employed an effective strategy to get someone (or a group of people) to believe in your idea. What was the idea, and why was it important? Why did you believe in it, and what were the obstacles revenging others from seeing it the same way you did? What was the result? Were you right? Be clear about the impact you had on our organization as the result of convincing others to accept your idea. Do not just state that your first approach failed so you repeated it again and again until others gave up and saw your way. Finally, do choose a recent (within 3 years) episode.

Essay 2: Please describe a time when you overcame a personal setback. (500 words or fewer, limited to one page)

Analysis:

A personal setback will be for many a non-work topic, although it is possible to have a personal setback that has implications for both your job as well as your life outside of your job. Consider the balance between work and non-work topics across your entire application as you consider what kind of a topic will work best here.  

The Merriam-Webster Learners Dictionary defines a setback as a problem that makes progress more difficult or success less likely. I like this definition, as it shows clearly the difference between a setback and a failure - where a milestone is not achieved, or a product not shipped. This is different - a setback hampers progress or otherwise is an issue or problem to be dealt with (hopefully) on the road to success.  

Be clear about the situation - was this losing three volunteers from your team before a key event you were organizing? Perhaps you set up a company and were struggling to gain enough customers. Whatever the case, show that you reflected, learned, and reacted positively to the situation. Perhaps you changed approach or reworked your methods as a result of this situation. Maybe this was a reflective process where you could grow as an individual by learning how to overcome a weakness. Be clear about what action you took to turn the situation around, and also be clear about the ultimate result. Why was it important to you, and those around you as well?

Supplemental essay: The Admissions Committee invites you to share anything else you would like us or your future classmates to know about you. This may be in written or multimedia format. Please do not use Flash Media Player, and include a URL where it can be accessed online. Written essays should be 300 words or fewer.

Analysis:

I have divided my analysis into two parts, content and format.

Content:

When deciding what to write here, again consider balance across your entire application.  It is best to not use this space to repeat a message that is already clearly laid out elsewhere in your application. Instead, you could use this space to explain why you are passionate about something you have dedicated your non-working time to, or to emphasize additional ways in which you could be a contributing student to your future classmates at Sloan. 

Format:

While most people will probably submit an essay, this doesn't mean that you have to or should. The instructions allow for a range of response types - so carefully consider which may be best for you, depending on what you aim to show with this essay. Aim to have a strong impact, and at the same time don't be afraid to be creative in how you choose to design your message. Finally, I'd strongly encourage you to show your final work to others, and get feedback from them, just to ensure the message you are aiming to give is coming across effectively.

John Couke

john.couke@gmail.com

MIT Sloan Releases 2012-13 Application Deadlines and Essays

MIT Sloan has announced their deadlines and essay prompts for students applying to the 2-year full-time MBA program starting in the fall of 2013.

Deadlines:

Round 1:

Deadline - 10/24/2012

Decision - 1/29/2013

Round 2:

Deadline - 12/27/2012

Decision - 4/2/2013

Application are due by 3pm ET on each deadline date.

Please review all information directly at the school's website. 

Note as well that a) as usual MIT Sloan only offers R1 and R2 deadlines, and b) this year they have pushed up the R2 deadline from the normal early January cluster to just 2 days after Christmas.

Essays:

MIT has in the past required a cover letter and 3 essays. This year, as several programs have also done, they have lessened the amount of writing and now only the cover letter and 2 essays are required.

The following instructions and questions are taken directly from the MIT Sloan admissions instructions page.  

Cover Letter:

Please prepare a cover letter (up to 500 words) seeking a place in the MIT Sloan MBA program. Your letter should describe your accomplishments, address any extenuating circumstances that may apply to your application, and conform to standard business correspondence. Your letter should be addressed to Mr. Rod Garcia, Senior Director of Admissions.

Essays:

"We are interested in learning more about how you work, think, and act. For each essay, please provide a brief overview of the situation followed by a detailed description of your response. Please limit the experiences you discuss to those which have occurred in the past three years. In each of the essays, please describe in detail what you thought, felt, said, and did."

Essay 1: Please describe a time when you had to convince a person or a group of your idea. (500 words or fewer, limited to one page)

Essay 2: Please describe a time when you overcame a personal setback. (500 words or fewer, limited to one page)

In addition, the application itself offers a supplemental essay:

The Admissions Committee invites you to share anything else you would like us or your future classmates to know about you. This may be in written or multimedia format. Please do not use Flash Media Player, and include a URL where it can be accessed online. Written essays should be 300 words or fewer.

As always, do confirm all information directly with the program via their official admissions pages.

John Couke

john.couke@gmail.com

New MIT Sloan Fellows Japanese Website

There is a new online resource for Japanese applicants to the popular MIT Sloan Fellows program.  It contains profile information on the 13 current Japanese students in the program, and also details their experience navigating the admissions process, from scheduling to recommendation letters, the essays and interview preparation.  

Currently only the 2012 graduating class is featured, but it appears other years may be added in the future. 

Visit the site here.

John Couke

john.couke@gmail.com