LLM Deadlines are Slowly Being Released

For LLM applicants anxious to get their schedule updated with this year's deadlines, a few schools - New York University Law School, Harvard Law School, Georgetown Law and Berkeley Law have released their information.  

New York University offers a deadline of 12/17/2012 for international students.

Harvard Law School has a deadline of 12/1/2012, however applicants are strongly encouraged to apply by 11/15/2012. 

Georgetown Law has announced an Early Action deadline of 11/15/2012, and a Regular Action for foreign-trained attorneys of 2/15/2013. 

Berkeley Law has announced that their deadline is 12/15/2012. 

As for other schools, including Columbia Law School, Chicago Law and Stanford Law School, as of this blog posting deadlines hadn't been released.  Be sure to keep checking each program's official admissions pages to get the most accurate and up to date information, rather than relying on other sites such as LSAC.org.  Over the next two weeks or so most schools will probably have released their deadlines.

John Couke

john.couke@gmail.com

Texas McCombs MBA Deadlines and Essays for 2012-13 Admissions Season

The Texas McCombs Full-Time MBA program has released their deadlines and essay prompts for those aiming to enter their MBA program in the fall of 2013. Here are the deadlines:

Round 1:
Deadline - 10/16/2012
Decision - 12/14/2012

Round 2:
Deadline - 12/4/2012

Decision - 2/15/2013

Round 3*:
Deadline - 1/23/2013

Decision - 3/29/2013

Round 4:

Deadline - 3/26/2013

Decision - 5/10/2013

* Final deadline for international applicants

Here are their application essays.

Required Essays:

1. Describe how your professional and personal experiences have led you to pursue an MBA at this time. Please share with us your short and long term goals and why the Texas MBA at McCombs is the program best positioned to help you achieve them. (Limit: 800 words)

2. At the University of Texas at Austin, our motto is “What starts here changes the world.” Here at McCombs, we are looking for students who share this vision. We believe that the MBA experience is a transformative one and that our students are able to have a positive impact, not only on their own lives, but also in their workplaces, their local communities, their professional industries and/or the world generally.

a) In your life to date, please tell us about an instance when you felt that you had the most positive impact and why you believe it to be significant? (Limit: 200 words)

b) How do you intend to positively impact the MBA community while you are an MBA student at McCombs? (Limit: 200 words)

c) After graduation from business school, what kind of positive impact would you like to have? (Limit: 200 words)

Optional Essay:

Please provide any additional information to the admissions committee that you believe is important and/or will address any areas of concern that will be beneficial to the committee in considering your application. (For example, if your standardized test scores are low or if you have not had coursework in core business subjects (i.e. calculus, microeconomics, statistics, financial accounting), please tell us how you plan to prepare yourself for the quantitative rigor of the MBA curriculum.) (Limit: 200 words)

As always, do confirm all information directly at the school's admissions pages.

John Couke
john.couke@gmail.com

London Business School Deadlines for 2012-13 Application Season

London Business School has published on its admissions website deadlines for those applying for the MBA program that will begin in the fall of 2013. Here are those deadlines:

Round 1:
Deadline - 10/4/2012
Interview Decision sent on 11/2/2012
Admission Decision sent on 12/13/2012


Round 2:

Deadline - 1/3/2013
Interview Decision sent on 2/8/2013
Admission Decision sent on 3/28/2013

Round 3:

Deadline - 2/28/2013
Interview Decision sent on 4/9/2013
Admission Decision sent on 5/16/2013

Round 4:

Deadline - 4/17/2013
Interview Decision sent on 5/29/2013
Admission Decision sent on 6/28/2013

Do confirm all information directly at the LBS admissions site.

John Couke

john.couke@gmail.com

Should I Bring my Resume to the MBA Tour?

The short answer is you might need it, so it doesn't hurt to have copies available. 

However, having copies of your resume in your bag does not give you permission to hand them out freely to anyone near you at the event.  Instead, when you talk with a representative of a program, it is much better to exchange business cards and then have an intelligent discussion about how their program can help you to achieve your academic or career goals. 

I get concerned sometimes when people mention how essential it is that they "hand out" their resume at the MBA Tour. It is easy to picture them avoiding a conversation, avoiding asking good questions, and therefore avoid saying something positive and memorable about themselves, all while they instead hide behind that piece of paper. I've seen it happen more than once before, and no matter how good the resume may appear, the impact is not as strong as inquiring about their school, and managing a quick and effective conversation.  Don't forget, there are other ways to continue the conversation.  Once business cards are exchanged, it is common to follow up a day or two after the event with a polite email, thanking them for their time, and even recalling the conversation or asking a further question if you feel it warranted.

So do bring copies of your resume in your bag, and have them ready in case anyone asks you for a copy of it.  But don't let the resume act as a replacement for a conversation.  

John Couke

john.couke@gmail.com

RSM Features Current Japanese Student Keiji Sawa

The Rotterdam School of Management recently featured current student Keiji Sawa from Japan on their MBA program website.  Read the full article here to learn more about how he chose RSM, and how he has benefitted from his experience there thus far.

John Couke
john.couke@gmail.com

Choosing an Admissions Counselor

These days, more than ever, you have a lot of choices when it comes to choosing an admissions counselor.  The criteria? There are a lot of things to consider, not the least of which include the location and/or flexibility of the counseling service, as well as the availability of the counselor him/herself.  A bigger thing to keep in mind is the feel you have when communicating with a potential counselor - is this someone I can work with? Will I respect what they have to say?  I think that clients, and often counselors themselves, are looking for a good sense of "fit" with each other, as the applications they are discussing together are of great importance.

However, beyond the flexibility of the scheduling, and beyond the comfort level you have with a prospective counselor, one thing stands above everything else.

Has your prospective counselor helped people gain admission to your top choice program(s) before? 

If they have, great. Ask questions. What years, and how many people? Ask them if there may be anything different about your situation (note: there will be).

If they haven't, then naturally you are accepting some degree of risk if you elect to work with them.  This, to me, is simple common sense. What have they done? If you are aiming for a top MBA and they have a lot of experience with top programs, then this could be alright. But what if they have little or no experience helping people get into MBA programs at all?  Maybe in such a case their selling points include transferable skills that they feel will help you with your application. This may work or it may not, and the risk you assume is based on the idea that they will be able to figure things out and adapt well to this new situation as you work on your applications.

If you can't ask them directly before working with them, because a) you don't know who they are, or b) they or someone else won't allow it, then why are you even considering them as an option in the first place? 

John Couke

john.couke@gmail.com

MIT Sloan Fellows Essays for the Entering Class of 2013 are Available

The MIT Sloan Fellows program's admissions essay topics for the current 2012-13 admissions season have been released.  Here they are: Required - Statement of Objectives:

What are your immediate and ultimate professional objectives for attending the program? Specifically, please indicate how your objectives fit with the purposes of the MIT Sloan Fellows Program in Innovation and Global Leadership and indicate what you would contribute to the Sloan Fellows community. (500 words or less, limited to one page)

Required - Essay 1:

Discuss a defining experience in your development as a leader. How did this experience demonstrate your strengths and weaknesses? (500 words or less, limited to one page)

Required - Essay 2:

Please tell us about a time when you had a difficult interaction with a person or group while working in a team environment. Describe in detail what you thought, felt, said, and did. (500 words or less, limited to one page)

Required - Please answer only ONE of the next two essays.

Essay 3:

Discuss a time when you made an unpopular decision. What did you learn
from the experience? Describe in detail what you thought, felt, said, and did.
(500 words or less, limited to one page)

OR

Essay 4:

Please give an example of a significant innovation (product or process) that you developed for your organization (500 words or less, limited to one page) Additional Information:

Please use this section to include any additional information that you believe
is important for the Program to have in evaluating your application, but that
you were unable to include because of the constraints of the online application.

Please do confirm this information directly in your MIT Sloan Fellows
application, available from the school's admissions website.

John Couke

john.couke@gmail.com