Basically, the new Integrated Reasoning section will ask you to form conclusions and answer questions based on the analyses of various data – charts, spreadsheets, graphs, etc. For many business school applicants who are fairly quantitative to begin with, this may not be too daunting of a new challenge.

The test makers are in the midst of developing this new section and will be piloting their questions in future GMATs. If you are one of the lucky ones who gets one of these pilot sections, don’t worry; your performance here will not figure into your official score total and your schools will not see your performance. Apparently, you may even get paid to work on the pilot section.

What does this new version of the GMAT mean for you if business school is in your plans for 2012? You can either take the GMAT now or wait for the new test. Remember, your scores are valid for 5 years so even with the new GMAT in 2012, business schools will still accept the “old” GMAT as long as it is a test that you have taken within 5 years of your application.

http://mba.insead.edu/admissions/dates_deadlines.cfm

Deadlines for September 2011 Intake (Class of July 2012)

1st Round
Deadline: 29 September 2010
Interview Decision: 5 November 2010
Final Decision: 17 December 2010

2nd Round
Deadline: 1 December 2010
Interview Decision: 14 January 2011
Final Decision: 25 February 2011

3rd Round
Deadline: 9 March 2011
Interview Decision: 15 April 2011
Final Decision: 27 May 2011

Deadlines for January 2012 Intake (Class of December 2012)

1st Round
Deadline: 30 March 2011
Interview Decision: 13 May 2011
Final Decision: 24 June 2011

2nd Round
Deadline: 15 June 2011
Interview Decision: 22 July 2011
Final Decision: 2 September 2011

3rd Round
Deadline: 3 August 2011
Interview Decision: 9 September 2011
Final Decision: 14 October 2011

Please note the following:

“*To be included in a specific round, applications must be complete and submitted by midnight (23.59) Central European Time on the day of deadline.

Competition for each round is relatively equal, so there is generally little advantage to be gained by early application.  Whenever you apply, please make sure that you submit a complete and well-prepared application pack.”

INSEAD has two sets of essays – one that is related specifically to the details of your work, and the other more personal. I write my comments and tips below:

Job-related Essays

1. Please give a detailed description of your job, including nature of work, major responsibilities; and, where relevant, employees under your supervision, size of budget, number of clients/products and results achieved. (250 words)

These two job-related essays are straightforward and you need to just answer the questions directly, giving the admissions committee the information and facts they are looking for. This means that you do not need to tell any personal story related to your work here. Unemployed at the moment? Describe your most recent position. You can explain what you have been doing during your unemployment in the 2nd essay below, and/or in the optional essay.

2. Please give us a full description of your career since graduating from university. If you were to remain with your present employer, what would be your next step in terms of position? (250 words)

Describe your career progress since graduating from university. You’ll end up mentioning some of the same information that’s on your resume, but be sure you’re not simply cutting and pasting from your resume. Use this space to explain your career growth in a way that you can’t on your resume. Things to consider: Why did you choose the path that you did? Why were you promoted? What had you contributed overall? The admissions committee wants to understand, in a nutshell, how you got to where you are now.

Essays

1. Give a candid description of yourself, stressing the personal characteristics you feel to be your strengths and weaknesses and the main factors, which have influenced your development, giving examples when necessary. (400 words approx.)

This is a personal essay that requires you to reflect honestly on yourself. When discussing strengths and weaknesses, choose personal characteristics (as instructed) rather than skills or areas of expertise. Some people confuse the two and write about their intellectual or professional abilities. However, INSEAD wants to know about you as a person. And when choosing your weakness(es), be honest and prudent at the same time. INSEAD wants you to be self-aware enough to write about a real flaw, but you also don’t want to make them nervous by discussing a weakness that is serious enough to raise doubts about your desirability as a candidate. (Hint: Lack of confidence, a bad temper, and poor communication ability are examples that will put your application at great risk.)

Finally, you should support your essay with details of the experiences/people that have shaped you and show the reader how you have displayed those qualities in your adult life.

2. Describe what you believe to be your two most substantial accomplishments to date, explaining why you view them as such. (400 words approx.)

This is very straightforward. When choosing your examples, try and find ones that show different aspects of your experiences and abilities. Talk about what you did and what impact you had made.

3. Describe a situation taken from school, business, civil or military life, where you did not meet your personal objectives, and discuss briefly the effect. (250 words approx.)

You are asked to talk about a time when you failed somehow, where you couldn’t achieve what you had hoped. This is a question about dealing with setback and learning from experience. They want to know what happened, how you dealt with it, and how you have grown from the experience.

4. Discuss your career goals. What skills do you expect to gain from studying at INSEAD and how will they contribute to your professional career? (500 words approx.)

In writing this essay be sure to address your short and long term goals, the areas you need to develop through an MBA program, and how INSEAD can help you in that endeavor. This is the essay where the admissions committee will confirm your professional focus and sincerity in attending their school. Are you realistic in terms of your career plan? Have you thought it through, perhaps even spoken to people in your target field? Have you researched well INSEAD’s offerings? How well you have done your homework will show clearly in this essay.

5. Please choose one of the following two essay topics:

The following two essays are used to get a sense of your cultural sensitivity. This is important to INSEAD as INSEAD focuses on global business and has an unusually diverse student body.

a) Have you ever experienced culture shock? What did it mean to you? (250 words approx.), or

This is a good option if you have experienced hardship adjusting to or accepting some aspects of another culture. While culture is not limited to geography (e.g., you could talk about culture shock in terms of a different work environment, gender, etc.), I would recommend writing about culture shock as it relates to other countries (Option B below gives us an idea of what INSEAD is looking for in this set of questions).

Culture shock is the uncomfortable set of feelings one experiences when encountering certain unfamiliar aspects of another culture. It could be confusion, surprise, anger, fear, etc. Think about a time when you had experienced something like this, and talk about what that experience was like. What was it, how did you react or deal with it, and how have you changed or grown as a result?

b) What would you say to a foreigner moving to your home country? (250 words approx.)

This is an option for those who have not had much experience interacting with other cultures, or who have not traveled or traveled much outside their home countries. In this case, what would you say to someone visiting your country? How would you describe your country? What advice would you give to him or her in terms of adjusting to or understanding your country? Being able to see your country from a foreigner’s point of view and thereby being able to anticipate what advice the foreigner might need shows cultural sensitivity.

6. Is there anything that you have not mentioned in the above essays that you would like the Admissions Committee to know? (200 words approx.) This essay is optional.

Use this essay to discuss any aspect of your candidacy that you haven’t yet had a chance to share with the admissions committee. If discussing another story, be sure it provides a perspective not offered by the other essays in the set. Otherwise, if you have a potential concern in your application (e.g., no current supervisor recommendation, poor or mediocre grades or test scores, employment gap(s)), please explain that here.

7. In case of reapplication, please use this page. Your essay should state any new aspects of professional, international, academic or personal development since your last application. We would also like you to explain your motivation for re-applying to INSEAD. This essay should not exceed 400 words.

This is a straightforward question asking reapplicants to update their applications. Since you were denied in the past, what efforts have you made to become a stronger candidate? Why do you still wish to attend INSEAD?

All deadlines are 5:00 p.m. EST.

From Wharton’s website:

Fall 2010 Essay Questions

The Admissions Committee is interested in getting to know you on both a professional and personal level. We encourage you to be introspective, candid, and succinct. Most importantly, we suggest you be yourself.

Required Question:

What are your professional objectives? (300 words)

This is a shortened version of their traditionally long goals essay question. In 300 words or fewer, you are to state your future career goals. You can go ahead and explain briefly why you wish to attend Wharton as well. My sense here is that they are more interested in finding out about you, and can make their own determination as to whether or not you are the right fit based on the three longer essays below.

Respond to 3 of the following 4 questions:

1. Student and alumni engagement has at times led to the creation of innovative classes. For example, through extraordinary efforts, a small group of current students partnered with faculty to create a timely course entitled, “Disaster Response: Haiti and Beyond,” empowering students to leverage the talented Wharton community to improve the lives of the Haiti earthquake victims. Similarly, Wharton students and alumni helped to create the “Innovation and the Indian Healthcare Industry” which took students to India where they studied the full range of healthcare issues in India. If you were able to create a Wharton course on any topic, what would it be? (700 words)

This is an essay in which you can demonstrate your creativity, awareness of current and pressing societal issues, professional skills and experiences, personal qualities, future vision and potential to contribute to the Wharton community and beyond. A strong and credible essay would include your vision for a relevant course rooted in your own experience and expertise. Let’s say that you’d like to create a course to address the topic of microfinance. (And, by the way, you are not restricted to writing about topics related to developing countries.) Why would you be the right person to develop this course? What experiences, skills and knowledge do you have that will enable you to do this? Why is this course important and why would it be relevant (or be of interest) to Wharton students? What would be your mission in the course? When writing this essay, make sure that you focus not just on the future and the hypothetical but also on your own strengths and expertise. Ultimately, this essay is a way for them to learn more about you as a candidate.

2. 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? (600 words)

There is no right or wrong answer to this question, as some applicants will talk about a lost opportunity that they do not regret, while others may talk about having done things differently. Again, the admissions committee wants to get better insight into you as a person, and is more interested in understanding how you go about making decisions. The key question here is “What was the thought process behind your decision?” They are asking for an honest, reflective and thoughtful response. In business and especially in high level management, executives are asked to make significant decisions on a regular basis. Sometimes they must do so with limited time and limited information. Wharton wants to know how you go about making decisions. Are you thoughtful? Do you weigh carefully the different options available? What risks do you take? If you do regret a decision, what have you learned from it?

3. Describe a failure that you have experienced. What role did you play, and what did you learn about yourself? How did this experience help to create your definition of failure? (600 words)

This is a standard question with a slight challenge at the end. It is important for business schools to understand how you respond to failure. No person will go through a career without making mistakes, and here it is not the mistake that the admissions committee cares about but your follow up and lessons. They want to know if you have taken the time to reflect on what you did and, if so, what you had gained from it. They want to see honesty, maturity and growth. In choosing an appropriate topic, don’t be afraid to go with a fairly big failure. The important thing is telling them what you learned as a result.

As for your own definition of failure as a result of this experience, think about what failure means to you. How would you define it? Is it a terrible? Is it a reflection of your character, or something else? What does it tell you about yourself? Think about what “failure” means to you now that you have experienced it.

4. Discuss a time when you navigated a challenging experience in either a personal or professional relationship. (600 words) 

Wharton wants to know how you handle conflict and difficulty, since this is something that you will inevitably go through in your future career, and how successful you are at managing relationships will be key in determining how successful you will be in your work. The word to pay attention to here is “navigated.” Show the process, how you dealt with with this person and evolved the relationship. And though they say “personal” here, I would limit the use of personal topics – e.g., no discussion of romantic relationships or other relationships that involve issues not relevant to business school. 

I include the deadlines below. Please go to their site at http://www.gsb.stanford.edu/mba/admission/application_deadlines.html for further details.

Application Deadlines for Class of 2013
(Entering Fall 2011)

Application Round:  1
Submit your application by:  October 6, 2010*
We will notify you on:  December 15, 2010**
Your reply & deposit are due by:  TBD

Application Round:  2
Submit your application by:  January 6, 2010*
We will notify you on:  March 30, 2010**
Your reply & deposit are due by:  TBD

Application Round:  3
Submit your application by:  April 6, 2011*
We will notify you on:  May 18, 2011**
Your reply & deposit are due by:  TBD

* Applications are due by 5:00 PM, Pacific Time

** On the decision notification date, you will be offered admission, denied admission, or offered a place in the waitpool.

Essays for the Class of 2013

As an opportunity to present your distinctive qualities, your essays are an important part of your MBA application. You will be asked to submit your personal statements online with the balance of your application materials. Essays should be single-spaced. Please limit your response to the length indicated.

All applicants must submit answers to four essay questions. The first two questions are required of all applicants. The remaining two essays should be in response to your choice of the next four sub-questions.

Joint program applicants for the Harvard Medical School, Harvard School of Dental Medicine, Harvard Law School, and Harvard Kennedy School must provide an additional essay.

Essays:

• What are your three most substantial accomplishments and why do you view them as such? (600-word limit)

Analysis:

The classic HBS question. Accomplishments mean achievement and impact. In what ways have you stretched yourself, gone above and beyond, and made an impact on others? The examples you choose should represent you well, meaning, as much as possible, combine professional examples with an academic, community or personal example. However, your own combination will depend on your own experiences. Do not force a weak example simply to diversify your stories. Try to find a balance between quality and diversity.

• What have you learned from a mistake? (400-word limit)

Analysis:

HBS wants to know how self-aware you are and how willing you are to learn from your mistakes. That is the main point of this question, not how badly you have messed up. So be honest in the mistake you choose and don’t be afraid of showing a weakness. Describe what you did wrong, but show how you handled it and what you learned from it.

Please respond to two of the following (400-word limit each):

1. What would you like the MBA Admissions Board to know about your undergraduate academic experience?

Analysis:

This is a question designed more for recent graduates who have fewer professional experiences to talk about. If you had a rich undergraduate life and you didn’t attend university too long ago, this may be a good option for you. I often get asked if it is okay to talk about non-academic experience. My answer is yes, as long as you are not talking only about your club and sports activities. That is, your answer needs to discuss your academic and intellectual work even if you want to talk about other activities as well. Questions to think about: What kind of a student were you? Were you intellectually curious? What kinds of intellectual pursuits did you have? If you were also active outside the classroom, talk about that too: leadership, community involvement, etc. Your experience as an undergraduate student will give the admissions board an idea of what kind of HBS student and leader you might be.

2.   What is your career vision and why is this choice meaningful to you?

Analysis:

This is more or less the standard goals essay, although many people ask me why HBS uses the expression “career vision” instead of “career goals” which is used by most other schools. HBS wants to know more than just the concrete things that you plan to do after graduation (e.g., become Director of Marketing); they want to know what your mission and career plan and path are (e.g., serve consumers in developing countries through a position as Director of Marketing). “Vision” is what you see for your future: what do you hope to do, what are the steps you will take to get there, what fundamental value, belief or desire is driving this career path for you? However, don’t get overly anxious about this essay question; if you write all your essays well, this goals essay should not be any different from the goals essays you write for other schools. The one difference between HBS’s goals essay and that of other schools, though, is that you don’t need to spend a lot of time convincing them why HBS is your top choice.

3. Tell us about a time in your professional experience when you were frustrated or disappointed.

Analysis:

This is a completely new question for this year. Through this essay the admissions committee wants to see how you deal with setback, when things don’t go your way. As usual, choose an episode and give enough context to explain what frustrated or disappointed you. Then focus on the main message, which is how you reacted and dealt with the situation. Please keep in mind that, if you choose to write this essay, you’d need to use a different story from the mistake essay above. The two topics sound similar but are different.

4. When you join the HBS Class of 2013, how will you introduce yourself to your new classmates?

Analysis:

Another brand new essay question. Keep in mind that this is a self-introduction to your future classmates. Reading between the lines, it means that it’s alright to cover some more personal topics here as well. What would you say to your new classmates – what would you like them to know about you? Cover the different areas of your background, values and personality but make sure you do more than simply regurgitate your resume. Let the reader get to know more about you as a person here.

Joint degree applicants:

• How do you expect the joint degree experience to benefit you on both a professional and a personal level? (400-word limit)

Analysis:

This is a straightforward question asking you to talk about why you need the joint degree/joint degree experience. They want to know how studying for both degrees will help you professionally and personally.

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Class of 2013 – Launching the Application Season

from HBS MBA Program

Below are the key dates for the upcoming application season:

Round 1
Application deadline – Friday, October 1, 2010 at 12:00 noon EST
Decision notification – Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Round 2
Application deadline – Tuesday, January 11, 2011 at 12:00 noon EST
Decision notification – Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Round 3
Application deadline – TBD
Decision notification – TBD

We are “TBD” on Round 3 – final dates will be determined in early July as we assess how much of an overlap we need with the 2+2 application timeline.

The application for the Class of 2013 will go live the week of June 21. To view the essay and recommender questions now, please visit the Written Application page on our website.

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For more information on HBS admissions, please visit their website at http://www.hbs.edu/mba/admissions

Stayed tuned this week, as I’ll post my analyses and tips for their essay questions. If you really can’t wait to see the analyses, you can check out my post from last season here: http://www.revecounseling.com/blog/?cat=12

A few of the questions have changed but the rest are the same.

It goes without saying for most people that reputation is the most important factor in deciding between schools. However, what to do if you’ve been accepted to a “lower-ranking” school where you know you will fit like a glove and a more prestigious school that you don’t feel fits you 100%? In an ideal world we’d go where we are happiest, and that is the common advice given to high school seniors when choosing their colleges. When graduate education becomes literally an investment in your future, though, you would be wise to consider the impact of the school’s reputation on your long-term career prospects. While your 2 year (or however long) experience at graduate school will be important, please also consider the next 30 or 40 years of your career. More prestigious schools may open more doors for you by virtue of their reputation alone. They may have more powerful connections with companies and alumni/ae which in turn would mean more opportunities for you in terms of internship and job interviews, professional connections, and other related resources.

As you are making your decision, you should talk to the following people if you are undecided about a school’s reputation:

• Alumni/ae
• Headhunters
• Career center staff at your target schools
• Current students

To those related to the school: What companies come to recruit? What kind of support do students receive from the career office? How smooth is the recruitment process? What kinds of internships do students get? Where do graduates get placed? What percentage of graduating students obtain jobs by graduation? How do students do in your particular field of interest?

To headhunters: How are companies in your target industry and region faring? How are they hiring? What are their perceptions of graduates from your target schools? Have they hired individuals from your target schools in recent years?

I understand that some applicants need to weigh their own desires against other compelling factors like finances, location (if they need to be near family) and/or resources available to partners and families. I do encourage all applicants to look beyond the duration of the program and to consider graduate education an investment in the next 30-40 years of your career, and to make the most sound decision after considering all of this.

Congratulations to you on achieving this significant milestone in your career!

When people apply to schools, they typically expect one of two fates: acceptance or rejection. They pray for the best and fantasize all the good imageries associated with becoming a part of their dream school’s entering class. On the other hand, most realistic people also brace themselves for the worst, and try to prepare themselves emotionally for the potential disappointment.

And then the decision arrives – and you are told you are wait listed. The admissions committee tells you that they recognize your “strong achievements” and that they remain “sincerely interested” in your candidacy but they cannot offer you a seat just yet. What does this all mean, and what can you do?

First of all, what it means to be wait listed

As someone who has both experienced the torture of being wait listed and monitored wait lists at Harvard, I can tell you a lot from experience.

When an admissions committee puts an applicant on the wait list, this is what they are saying: “You are great. We like you. You have most or even all of the things that we are looking for in a candidate. However, we don’t have the space to take everyone that we like, and some applicants are a little stronger and/or fit our current needs more. At the same time, we don’t want to lose you. Now, we have made XXX number of offers, and not everyone is going to accept our offer. Therefore, if any spaces open up, we will consider you once again.”

If you’re an MBA applicant applying in an early round, this could also be translated into “We think you are great, but we also want to see what else is out there. So we will review your application again with the next round of applicants.” Try to think of this in a positive light; instead of being rejected, you’re instead given two (or more, if you get wait listed again) chances at admission in one season.

Secondly, how does the wait list work?

Common questions with regard to the wait list include:

• How many people are on the wait list?
• Is the wait list ranked?
• Is there any guarantee I will be offered a seat off the wait list?

The answers are typically 1) it depends on the school; 2) no; 3) no.

Let me talk about the latter two points.

Admissions committees will almost always tell you that the wait list is not ranked. However, in my experience, it would be lying to say that there aren’t some people closer to the top of the wait list than others. Quality is one criterion while other factors will be those beyond your control. Admissions offices at MBA programs admit to using the 3^rd round as a time to “round out” their classes and to look at balance in terms of diversity (e.g., Do they need more people from a particular racial group, geographic region, career field?). The wait list is another such time.

As for whether or not you will come off the wait list, and when, there really is no guarantee at all and the admissions officers are being completely honest with you when they say “I don’t know.” I once worked with a client who got off the wait list 2 weeks before school orientation started!

At the beginning of each season, admissions directors make their projected yields; that is, how many offers they need to make in order to yield their ideal class size. Let’s say that ABC University has 400 seats in its first year class. Traditionally, 55% of their admitted candidates take the offer, while the other 45% choose to attend another school. Thus, ABC University will admit 580 applicants in anticipation that 45% of those applicants will turn down their offers. If more than 45% of the admitted applicants choose to go somewhere else, that is the time that ABC University will go to their wait list.

Finally, what can you do?

There are a number of things you can do if you are wait listed:

1. The most important thing you can do is follow the school’s instructions. I believe that the majority of schools welcome communication and updates from wait listed applicants. However, there are also some schools like Harvard Business School that firmly ask applicants to do nothing. It is imperative to follow the school’s instructions because 1) you want to show them that you can follow directions and 2) you do not want to annoy them at any cost.
2. If you are wait listed at a school that does welcome you to update your application, then you may submit a short note or essay that describes anything new and noteworthy that you would like to add to your application. This includes information about a promotion, new responsibilities, new awards, new coursework/grades, and stronger test scores. If you’ve since visited the campus, that is definitely worth mentioning as well.
3. Send another recommendation. Assuming your school does not tell you not to send in additional recommendations, you may consider adding another letter if you believe the new perspective will add value to your application. Related to this, you may also consider having an alum or current student send in a “push” letter for you, confirming your strengths as a candidate, your fit with the school, and your commitment to attending the school.
4. Stay in touch with the school. This point is critical. A major factor that influences a school’s decision to admit someone off the waitlist is his/her level of interest in the school. By the time the admissions committee gets to the wait list, they want to only take people who they know will come if made an offer. They are running out of time so they do not want to make offers to people who need time to decide. Therefore, if you are wait listed by a school that says it is okay to communicate with them, then stay in touch periodically (i.e., sending a quick note telling them you are still interested in remaining on the wait list). By this I mean perhaps once every 4-6 weeks perhaps (you’ll need to use your judgment) or at key decision times, like the two weeks preceding their next decision round (if this is an MBA program). It is equally important to not annoy the admissions staff; do not call or email every week or demand a meeting with the admissions staff or they will start worrying if you will be this anxious and high-maintenance once you are a student there.
5. Analyze your weaknesses. What in your application needed improvement? Could you retake the TOEFL, GMAT or GRE? Do your English skills need improvement? Were your achievements on the weak side? As much as possible, try to tackle these weaknesses and show the admissions committee that you have made improvements since you submitted the application. I sometimes work with clients who insist on writing short essays every month showing their passion for the school, but they do nothing to improve their test scores, which is the very reason they were put on the waitlist. You do not need to overly reassure the admissions committee of your strengths; you need to reassure them that you can overcome the weaknesses (if any) that made them hesitate to admit you in the first place.
6. Continue on with your plans, and your life. Do not put your life on hold for the school that wait lists you. Statistically speaking, your chances of getting admitted off any wait list is small (and the more competitive the school, the smaller the chances). The safest thing to do is to continue with your plans to attend one of the schools to which you have been admitted. If you do get an offer from the school where you are wait listed, then at that point you can change your plans. It is a torturous position to place an applicant, but the best protection for yourself is to move forward with your plans.
7. Release your spot if you are no longer interested in waiting. Many candidates prefer not to wait, and begin to lose interest over time. In this case, as a courtesy, let the school know you are no longer interested. This frees up the wait list so that someone else who really wants to attend can have a better chance of getting in.

Does this sound familiar?

“As a consultant, I’ve been focusing on strategizing solutions and advising clients in order to help them meet their management goals.”

If you’re a consultant it should definitely sound familiar, because it is your job description! It’s your job description whether you’re at McKinsey, BCG, or Bain & Company (etc.) and whether you’re in New York, Mumbai or Buenos Aires (etc.). In fact, that description may sound familiar even if you’re not in consulting. Take out “consultant” and substitute your career and the sentence could still make perfect sense. It is similar to a cashier saying, “I am a cashier and I focus on helping customers check their items out of the store.” Admissions committees know what consultants (and investment bankers and salespeople…) do. But what can you tell them about what you have done, about what you have contributed?

Avoid the generic sentence that tells the admissions committee nothing about you. Your goal, with each sentence that you write, is to give the admissions committee an additional morsel of information or insight about who you are as a person – what you have done, what you hope to learn, what you value. If two or three sentences go by and the reader still doesn’t know anything further about you, then you are not effectively using the space given in the essay.

Another place where I see similar genericness is in the “Why XYZ School” section of the goals essay. Here is an example:

“Your global leadership program will teach me all the fundamentals about leading in global settings, exposing me to various ideas and perspectives about leadership in international business.”

It is like saying,

“Your cake baking class will allow me to learn about all the various aspects of how to bake a cake, turning batter into a cake through the method of baking.” 

Instead of re-describing to the admissions committee what their resources are all about, explain how they will allow you to get the specific knowledge, skills and experiences you are looking for. Why, specifically, do you want to study international leadership? Are you hoping to work in the international division of a company after your degree? Do you currently lack international experience, or are you hoping to build upon what you already have? What specific knowledge – market entry, human resource management, strategy, etc. – do you need in order to achieve your goals? 

If you find that any of your text can be written by any other applicant, then you know you are being too general. With each essay you have limited space in which to tell your story; make sure you are telling yours, not that of 500 other applicants.

from: http://www.kellogg.northwestern.edu/Programs/FullTimeMBA/Applying/Deadlines.aspx

And here are the essay questions for MBA applicants (I did not include the joint MBA/JD questions here) with my comments. The instructions below are from the on-line application:

~ ~ ~ ~

When uploading your essay, please include at least a one-inch top margin on each page, and re-state the question at the beginning of the essay.

MBA Program applicants
1. Briefly assess your career progress to date. Elaborate on your future career plans and your motivation for pursuing a graduate degree at Kellogg. (600 word limit)

The standard goals question. Be sure to start your essay with a discussion of how, professionally, you went from Point A to Point B (etc.) to where you are today. Be clear about what you want to do post-MBA (short and long term) and how Kellogg fits into your overall plans.

MBA and MMM Program applicants
2. Describe your key leadership experiences and evaluate what leadership areas you hope to develop through your MBA experience. (600 word limit)

Please make sure you notice that Kellogg is asking for a description of your key leadership experiences plural and please use your best judgment as to how many you wish to write about. Given the word limit, I generally recommend writing about two key experiences which provide different insights into your strengths (e.g., one professional example and one sports or community example; one “thought” leadership episode and one “people” leadership episode). Lastly, don’t forget to conclude the essay with a thoughtful assessment of what other aspect(s) of leadership you’d like to strengthen and develop at Kellogg.

MBA and MMM Program applicants
Assume you are evaluating your application from the perspective of a student member of the Kellogg Admissions Committee. Why would your peers select you to become a member of the Kellogg community? (600 word limit)

This is a different version of a former classic Kellogg essay question in which applicants were asked to evaluate their own applications from the point of view of an admissions officer. This time, you are asked to evaluate your application from the perspective of a student admissions committee member. What’s the difference? In my experience sitting on admissions committees, while faculty dwelled on things like GPAs and test scores, the student members cared much more about what it would be like to actually study and socialize with these prospective students. So, as you write this essay, think about the qualities that your future classmates would care about. (On the flip side, if you were a Kellogg student, what kind of fellow classmate would you want to have?) Consider the contributions you could make, whether abstract or concrete, that would be appreciated by the student body. Are you team-oriented? Do you have unique things to share? What makes you a good fit?

All program applicants
Complete one of the following three questions or statements. (400 word limit)
Re-applicants have the option to answer a question from this grouping, but this is not required.

These short essays are used to round out your application. See what you have covered so far in the essays above, and find the essay below that would best provide that final perspective on your candidacy.

a) Describe a time when you had to make an unpopular decision.

Answering this question provides you an opportunity to show your strength of character, your strong will, your leadership. Making a decision that is not supported by many takes courage, confidence and self-awareness. If you choose this question, be sure you also describe the thinking and reasoning behind your decision.

b) People may be surprised to learn that …

This is an open-ended question that allows you to talk about anything not immediately apparent in your application. Don’t take this question too literally – even if all your friends know that you skydive, the admissions committee won’t, so do use this essay to talk about something “interesting” about yourself. As you make your choice, though, remember that it isn’t necessarily what you write about that’s important, but how you write it. Use your topic as a way to show the reader something more about who you are – e.g., your values, your personal qualities, etc.

c) I wish the admissions committee had asked me …

And finally, this is the most open-ended question of the three options, just in case neither A nor B gives you the freedom to talk about what you want to. Again, consider what you have talked about in your essays so far and write about something that balances out the rest of the essays. Make sure that whatever you choose to write about provides deeper insight into who you are as a person.

Re-applicants Only (required essay)
Since your previous application, what steps have you taken to strengthen your candidacy? (400 word limit)

Admissions committees don’t want to see the exact same application from last year, but would like to see that you have been serious enough about your MBA studies to take steps to improve your candidacy. Perhaps you took on a significant project at work or further worked on a skill that you wanted to develop. If your test scores weren’t impressive last time, perhaps you retook the GMAT and/or TOEFL and did better. Or maybe last time you simply weren’t 100% focused in terms of career goal and your target schools, and over the last several months you’ve talked to people in the field and done more research on Kellogg. Explain to the committee how you have tried to improve yourself since your last application.

Additional Information

If needed, use this section to briefly describe any extenuating circumstances (e.g. unexplained gaps in work experience, choice of recommenders, inconsistent or questionable academic performance, etc.)