We’ve invited mbaMission to share their Business School Essays Analyses as they’re released for the 2013-2014 application season. Here is their analysis for University of Virginia (Darden).

Darden has tweaked its single essay question ever so slightly, changing the second part of the prompt  from How did this experience change your perspective? to What did you learn about yourself? Although the phrasing is a little bit different, the spirit is largely the same. Because Darden offers you such little leeway in revealing the breadth of your experiences, we strongly advise you to make the most of your resume and short-answer responses within your application to ensure that the school learns as much as possible about you. In particular, you will need to rely on your resume to reveal important accomplishments, but you will have to be careful not to overstuff it. Do not mistake quantity for quality.

Our analysis of Darden’s sole question follows

Share your thought process as you encountered a challenging work situation or complex problem. What did you learn about yourself?  (500 words maximum)

Choosing a situation to discuss that required clear and measured consideration on your part is imperative, given that Darden asks explicitly for you to detail your thought process. Simply describing the nature of the situation and how it played out is not enough for this essay”you must reveal the process of contemplation that ultimately led you to action in your efforts to resolve the issue. Interestingly, you do not necessarily need to show that you achieved your desired results, and the type of challenge you describe is not of primary importance. The key to a successful essay here is not only showing that you invested an appropriate amount of thought for the problem or situation at hand, but also the progression and development of your thinking. The other crucial element of this essay is demonstrating that you learned from the experience”and specifically, learned something about yourself. So, claiming that you gained a new skill, for example, would not constitute an appropriate response. You will need to delve more deeply into how your understanding of yourself differed after the situation and clearly explain what the experience brought out in you that you had not known about yourself before.

For a thorough exploration of Darden’s academic program/merits, defining characteristics, crucial statistics, social life, academic environment and more, please check out the mbaMission Insider’s Guide to the Darden School of Business Administration.

We’ve invited mbaMission to share their Business School Essays Analyses as they’re released for the 2013-2014 application season. Here is their analysis for University of Pennsylvania (Wharton).

Wharton’s essay prompts for this application season may seem a bit perplexing. At first glance, the two questions seem rather similar. However, the first is basically a question about what you hope to get from your MBA experience at the school, and the second is mostly about what you can give to the Wharton program. With only 500 words for Essay 2 to give the school a sense of your personality and experiences, you will need to think especially carefully about what you want to say. At other schools, an interview will give you the opportunity to share these parts of your profile, but Wharton’s group interview will not be the place for you to talk about yourself, so this essay is your opportunity instead. Proceed thoughtfully

Essay 1: What do you aspire to achieve, personally and professionally, through the Wharton MBA? (500 words)

This essay prompt has the markings of the classic personal statement question, though it differs slightly in that it includes your personal aspirations in addition to your professional aspirations. With respect to your personal aspirations (note that the phrasing is through Wharton’s program), your goals can be anything from advancing your intellectual development while at the school to experiencing new cultures and personalities after graduating with your degree. The goal you claim is not as important as truly owning it and connecting it directly to what Wharton offers, revealing a very clear understanding of the school’s strengths and resources and of how you will use them. Avoid vague statements about how great the school is and focus on demonstrating a clear connection between your aspirations, what you need to achieve them and what Wharton in particular offers that will enable you to fulfill those needs.

Because Personal Statements are generally similar from one application to the next, we have produced the mbaMission Personal Statement Guide, which helps applicants write this style of essay for any school. We offer this guide to candidates free of charge. Please feel free to download your copy today.

For a thorough exploration of Wharton’s academic program/merits, defining characteristics, crucial statistics, social life, academic environment and more, please check out the mbaMission Insider’s Guide to the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

Essay 2: Academic engagement is an important element of the Wharton MBA experience. How do you see yourself contributing to our learning community? (500 words)

Here, Wharton gives you a chance to discuss how your past activities, professional experiences and, in some cases, even personal adventures could be harnessed for the benefit of others at the school. Consider identifying and exploring one or two specific instances in your life that were extraordinary or formative and allowed you to claim specific knowledge or expertise. Then connect them to specific elements of the school’s MBA program, revealing that you have a thorough understanding not only of the school itself but also of how your personal strengths could enhance the experience for your fellow students.

Your experiences need not be totally unique, but they must be conveyed in a way that paints them as specifically yours, and they need to be capable of being leveraged academically.  Note that the school’s question specifies a contribution to the learning community. However, this does not mean that you must have some sort of strictly academicknowledge. In fact, most essays written from that angle would end up being quite boring: I worked on discounted cash flows modeling, so I can help others with such models would be an almost sure loser. Unless you can claim a truly exceptional academic achievement that has direct application in class (My PhD in nanotechnology would advance discussions on the topic of emerging technologies), you would be better off delving into how you developed particular skills or traits and then explaining how they could be applied. For example, if you have experience managing flexible teams, you would be well equipped to facilitate discussions on your learning team and thereby add value in that capacity.

As you approach this essay, be sure to not simply tell the admissions committee how great you are at something. Instead, use a narrative to illustrate that you have certain applicable experiences, skills and/or qualities and fully understand their value to others.

We invite you to test your GMAT knowledge for a chance to win! Each week, we will post a new Challenge Problem for you to attempt. If you submit the correct answer, you will be entered into that week’s drawing for a free Manhattan GMAT Prep item. Tell your friends to get out their scrap paper and start solving!
Here is this week’s problem:

If PQ is a diameter of the circle above, and the lengths of AX, BX, PX, and QX are integers, what is the area of the circle?

(1) (AX)(BX) = 16
(2) QX > AB

Read more

Here are the free GMAT events we’re holding this week. All times are local unless otherwise specified.

7/8/13– Durham, NC- Free Trial Class– 6:30PM- 9:30PM

7/8/13– New York, NY- Free Trial Class– 6:30PM- 9:30PM

7/9/13– Bellaire, TX- Free Trial Class– 6:30PM- 9:30PM

7/9/13– Santa Monica, CA – Free Trial Class– 6:30PM- 9:30PM

7/9/13– Washington, DC- Free Trial Class– 6:30PM- 9:30PM

7/9/13– Salt Lake City, UT – Free Trial Class– 6:30PM- 9:30PM

7/10/13– Online – Free Trial Class- 8:00PM- 11:00PM (EDT)

7/11/13– Chicago, IL –MBA Admissions Myths Destroyed presented by mbaMission– 7:00PM-8:30PM

7/13/13– Chicago, IL- Free Trial Class– 10:30AM- 1:00PM
Read more

Catch up on some business school news and tips with a few of this week’s top stories:

Reneging on an MBA Job Offer? It May Cost You $20,000 (Bloomberg Businessweek)

As two MBA students from Georgia Tech learned recently, reneging on an internship offer can have consequences.

Wharton Drops Application Essay (Poets and Quants)

The University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School has cut the number of application essays in its 2013/2014 application to two, down from three in the previous application cycle.

B-Schools Get Serious About Writing (Bloomberg Businessweek)

Many students come to business school with writing skills that are lacking, and few MBA programs do much to improve them.

2+2 Program- A Change in Eligibility (Harvard Business School Admission Director’s Blog)

This week, Harvard Business School announced a change to their 2 + 2 Program, which is designed to give college students an opportunity to apply to HBS before entering the world of work.

Mission Admission: The MBA Resume, Part 3 (mbaMission)

Here are some great tips from our friends at mbaMission on ways to cut down and format your resume concisely.

Did we miss your favorite article from the week? Let us know what you have been reading in the comments below or tweet @ManhattanGMAT

Going for 90^th+ percentile on verbal? Chances are you’ve spent most of your Critical Reasoning study time focused on the major question types, and that is a good place to start. If you’re going for a very high verbal score, though, then you’ll also need to tackle the minor question types.

That’s what we’re going to do today; below is a GMATPrep CR problem. Give yourself about 2 minutes to do this problem.

In Asia, where palm trees are non-native, the trees’ flowers have traditionally been pollinated by hand, which has kept palm fruit productivity unnaturally low. When weevils known to be efficient pollinators of palm flowers were introduced into Asia in 1980, palm fruit productivity increased”by up to 50 percent in some areas”but then decreased sharply in 1984.

Which of the following statements, if true, would best explain the 1984 decrease in productivity?

(A) Prices for palm fruit fell between 1980 and 1984 following the rise in production and a concurrent fall in demand.

(B) Imported trees are often more productive than native trees because the imported ones have left behind their pests and diseases in their native lands.

(C) Rapid increases in productivity tend to deplete trees of nutrients needed for the development of the fruit-producing female flowers.

(D) The weevil population in Asia remained at approximately the same level between 1980 and 1984.

(E) Prior to 1980 another species of insect pollinated the Asian palm trees, but not as efficiently as the species of weevil that was introduced in 1980.

(Note: if you aren’t yet familiar with the 4-step process for answering CR questions, take a look at this article.)

Step 1: Identify the Question

This question stem contains the classic clues for an Explain a Discrepancy question. These questions, like Strengthen and Weaken questions, typically include the words if true (or the equivalent). Further, the question literally asks what would explain something.

Step 2: Deconstruct the Argument

All right, this is a Discrepancy question. The argument won’t contain a conclusion. It’ll contain some facts, at least one of which is surprising in some way. It won’t fit with the rest of the information.

Here’s what I thought and wrote while I did the problem. Your own thought process won’t be exactly the same as mine and, of course, your notes will probably look quite different, since we all have our own ways of abbreviating things. (Note: ED = Explain Discrepancy)

Read more

We invite you to test your GMAT knowledge for a chance to win! Each week, we will post a new Challenge Problem for you to attempt. If you submit the correct answer, you will be entered into that week’s drawing for a free Manhattan GMAT Prep item. Tell your friends to get out their scrap paper and start solving!
Here is this week’s problem:

You have 1 minute (yes,  only one minute!) to do this problem. Further, don’t do any long-hand math (multiplication, etc.)”shortcuts exist for every single calculation. Find them!

In how many ways can a four-letter password be chosen, using the letters A, B, C, D, E, and/or F, such that at least one letter is repeated within the password?

Read more

Here are the free GMAT events we’re holding this week. All times are local unless otherwise specified.

7/1/13– Online – Assessing Your MBA Profile presented by mbamission– 4:00PM- 5:30PM (EDT)

7/2/13– Online – Assessing Your MBA Profile presented by mbamission– 9:00PM- 10:30PM (EDT)

7/2/13– Toronto, ON – Free Trial Class –  6:30PM- 9:30PM

7/7/13– London – Free Trial Class-  2:00PM-5:00PM

Looking for more free events? Check out our Free Events Listings Page.

Today’s Chart of the Week comes from our friends at mbaMission:

Although quantifying a school’s profile certainly does not tell you everything, it can sometimes be helpful in simplifying the many differences between the various MBA programs. Each week, we bring you a chart to help you decide which of the schools’ strengths speak to you.

With so many factors to consider when contemplating which business school is right for you, housing may present a hidden cost that can be easily overlooked when comparing programs. The cost differential between renting in a Midwestern college town and renting near Greenwich Village, for example, can be significant”up to almost $40,000 on a cumulative basis across two years. So how does each business school fare on the issues of affordable housing?

We spoke with students and examined market prices at a variety of top programs and identified economical one-bedroom apartments (after all, the sky is the limit in New York) in locations that are either popular among students or close to campus. Our list is thus an approximation of the lower end of monthly rental costs that one might encounter when attending each program. We then calculated the cumulative price differential between the cheapest housing option (at Michigan Ross) and all others, across two-year programs. As you will see in our chart, the savings can be significant!

Catch up on some business school news and tips with a few of this week’s top stories:

5 Tips for Writing a Concise B-School Admissions Essay (U.S. News Education)

Applicants who avoid flattery and learn to edit themselves can keep sentences tight, experts say.

Does Appearance Count in Grad School? (About.com Graduate School)

Being visible (in a positive way) is critical to being noticed and remembered, which are prerequisites for being offered opportunities.

Monday Morning Essay Tip: Consider Adding a Personal Dimension (mbaMission)

Looking for some admissions help? Our friends at mbaMission have a great tip when it comes to writing application essays.

Finding Your ˜Best Fit’ Business School (Bloomberg Businessweek)

As prospective students spend the summer evaluating business schools in search of that ever-elusive fit, it’s worth reviewing some general guidelines before embarking on the search.

Did we miss your favorite article from the week? Let us know what you have been reading in the comments below or tweet @ManhattanGMAT