Free Webinar Series: 5 Steps to Your Dream MBA
Are You Prepared for B-School Admissions?
Join Manhattan GMAT and two other leaders in the MBA admissions space— mbaMission and MBA Career Coaches
—for an invaluable series of free workshops to help you put together a successful MBA application, from your GMAT score to application essays to admissions interviews to post-acceptance internships. We hope you will join us for as many events in this series as you can. Please sign up for each sessions separately via the links below—space is limited.
Session 1: Assessing Your MBA Profile and GMAT vs. GRE
Tuesday, March 24, 2015 (7:30- 9:00 PM EDT) SIGN UP HERE
Session 2: Selecting Your Target MBA Program and How
to Study for the GMAT in Two Weeks
Tuesday, March 31, 2015 (7:30- 9:00 PM EDT) SIGN UP HERE
Session 3: Writing Standout B-School Admissions Essays
and Advanced GMAT: 700+ Level Sentence Correction
Tuesday, April 7, 2015 (7:30- 9:00 PM EDT) SIGN UP HERE
Session 4: Five Pre-MBA Steps to Landing Your Dream Internship and
Advanced GMAT: 700+ Level Quant Strategy
Tuesday, April 14, 2015 (7:30- 9:00 PM EDT) SIGN UP HERE
Session 5: Questions and Answers with MBA Admissions Officers
Tuesday, April 21, 2015 (7:30- 9:00 PM EDT) SIGN UP HERE
Ready for Round 2 Applications? Deadline Reminders for the Top 25 Business Schools
The round two deadlines for business schools are right around the corner, which means that we start hearing from students who are planning to apply during round two but are worried because they haven’t quite hit their target GMAT score. Sound like you? Use the chart below to check the deadlines for the top 25 business schools, and evaluate whether you have enough time to prep and retake the official exam.
Looking for some guidance to maximize your study time? Our upcoming December GMAT Boot Camps are designed to prep you in just two weeks. Be prepared for intensive in-class work paired with hours of one-on-one coaching that will get you ready for the exam quickly, without sacrificing content knowledge. There are still a few spots open in our December Boot Camps (New York City and Live Online). Check out the full schedule and see all that’s included!
| School | Round 2 Deadline |
| Harvard University | Monday, January 05, 2015 |
| Stanford University | Wednesday, January 07, 2015 |
| University of Pennsylvania (Wharton) | Sunday, January 05, 2014 |
| University of Chicago (Booth) | Tuesday, January 06, 2015 |
| Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Sloan) | Thursday, January 08, 2015 |
| Northwestern University (Kellogg) | Wednesday, January 07, 2015 |
| University of California–Berkeley (Haas) | Wednesday, January 07, 2015 |
| Columbia University | Final Application Deadline: April 09, 2015 |
| Dartmouth College (Tuck) | Tuesday, January 06, 2015 |
| New York University (Stern) | Saturday, November 15, 2014 |
| University of Michigan–Ann Arbor (Ross) | Saturday, March 14, 2014 |
| University of Virginia (Darden) | Wednesday, January 07, 2015 |
| Yale University | Thursday, January 08, 2015 |
| Duke University (Fuqua) | Monday, January 05, 2015 |
| University of Texas–Austin (McCombs) | Tuesday, January 06, 2015 |
| University of California–Los Angeles (Anderson) | Wednesday, January 07, 2015 |
| Cornell University (Johnson) | Wednesday, January 07, 2015 |
| Carnegie Mellon University (Tepper) | Sunday, January 04, 2015 |
| University of North Carolina–Chapel Hill (Kenan-Flager) | Friday, December 12, 2014 |
| Emory University (Goizueta) | Friday, November 14, 2014 |
| Indiana University–Bloomington (Kelley) | Sunday, March 01, 2015 |
| Washington University in St. Louis (Olin) | Saturday, November 15, 2014 |
| Georgetown University (McDonough) | Monday, January 05, 2015 |
| University of Notre Dame (Mendoza) | Monday, January 12, 2015 |
| University of Washington (Foster) | Saturday, November 15, 2014 |
Breaking Down B-School Admissions: A Four-Part Series
Are You Prepared for B-School Admissions?
Join Manhattan GMAT and three other leaders in the MBA admissions space—mbaMission, Poets & Quants, and MBA Career Coaches—for an invaluable series of free workshops to help you put together a successful MBA application—from your GMAT score to application essays to admissions interviews to post-acceptance internships.
We hope you’ll join us for as many events in this series as you can. Please sign up for each sessions separately via the links below—space is limited.
Session 1: Assessing Your MBA Profile,
GMAT 101: Sections, Question Types & Study Strategies
Monday, September 8 (8:00 – 10:00 PM EDT)
Click here to watch the recording
Session 2: Mastering the MBA Admissions Interview,
Conquering Two 800-Level GMAT Problems
Wednesday, September 10 (8:00 – 10:00 PM EDT)
Click here to watch the recording
Session 3: 9 Rules for Creating Standout B-School Essays,
Hitting 730: How to Get a Harvard-Level GMAT Score
Monday, September 15 (8:00 – 10:00 PM EDT)
Click here to watch the recording
Session 4: 7 Pre-MBA Steps to Your Dream Internship,
Survival Guide: 14 Days to Study for the GMAT
Wednesday, September 17 (8:00 – 10:00 PM EDT)
Sign up here.
mbaMission: Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Sloan) Essay Analysis, 2014–2015
We’ve invited mbaMission to share their Business School Essays Analyses as they’re released for the 2014-2015 application season. Here is their analysis for Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Sloan).
The MIT Sloan School of Management bucks conventionality this admissions season and has added to the word count for its application essays—moving from a maximum of 1,000 words to 1,250. The school’s first essay question remains the same as last year’s, but its second essay prompt presents an interesting challenge in that the admissions committee asks you to do exactly what it does not want you to do in reality: write your own recommendation letter. At least in this case, the school is allowing you to do so in the light of day. Thankfully, perhaps, Sloan has dropped its befuddling optional essay, which had invited applicants to share any additional information in any format. Candidates will be content to see clearer directives in the program’s essay questions. As always, our analysis follows…
Essay 1: The mission of the MIT Sloan School of Management is to develop principled, innovative leaders who improve the world and to generate ideas that advance management practice. Discuss how you will contribute toward advancing the mission based on examples from your past work and activities. (500 words or fewer)
Read more
mbaMission: Columbia Business School Essay Analysis, 2014–2015
We’ve invited mbaMission to share their Business School Essays Analyses as they’re released for the 2014-2015 application season. Here is their analysis for Columbia Business School.
For the second year in a row, Columbia Business School (CBS) has kicked off the MBA application season. During an online event with mbaMission, Manhattan Prep and Poets & Quants, CBS’s director of admissions, Christina Shelby, told the audience that the school has added urgency in releasing its questions, because it has to meet the needs of its January-entry (known as J-Term) applicants, whose application deadlines come much sooner (October 8, 2014, versus April 15, 2015). Whatever its rationale for the “early” application release, CBS is basically staying the course with its essay questions, though it has again reduced the allowable character count in its “Twitter-like” goal statement; from 200 characters two years ago, it was cut to 100 last year and now stands at a mere 75. Our analysis follows…
Short Answer Question: What is your immediate post-MBA professional goal? (75 characters maximum)
Read more
Planning for Round 1 MBA Applications (2014): Five Steps to Take Now!
(This is a guest post from our friends at mbaMission)
Round 1 MBA application deadlines are not until late September or early October, and although that may seem far away, those submission dates actually come around a lot sooner than you think. How can that be? Well, many candidates start working on their applications in May (which, by the way, is only two months from now!), when the schools start releasing their essay questions. However, the well-prepared applicant starts taking steps now (or even started long ago) to make sure that he/she has the strongest application possible when those deadlines arrive. You may not realize it, but you can take advantage of a variety of short-term wins that could help you improve your candidacy for next year. Let’s take a look at just a few of the steps you can take…
1. Visit Schools: Visiting schools is a smart move for you as a potential consumer of a $100K+ education (not including living expenses and lost salary during your two years of study). It is also a smart move for you as an applicant, because traveling to a school serves as a strong indicator that you truly do want to attend that target program. Sure, some schools’ admissions offices state that the class visit is not overly important (notably, Harvard Business School), but most programs appreciate the gesture, because it demonstrates your level of interest and shows that you are not just selecting the school on the basis of rankings—you have “kicked the tires” and decided to proceed.
Many applicants will not think about making a class visit until too late. Class visit programs typically wrap up in April/May and do not open up until after Round 1 applications are due. So, if you have not yet visited your target school, your time is running out, and this might prevent you from learning more about the program and making an important positive impression. Schedule a visit now!
2. Take a Class: Was your GPA an afterthought when you were in college? Did you bomb some tough math classes or management classes? Did you do really well academically but take no classes that indicate your management aptitude? Did the Quant side of the GMAT not go as planned for you? The admissions committee needs to know that you can manage a rigorous analytical curriculum, so you must provide them with evidence that you are capable of doing so. If you do not yet have that evidence, consider taking one—or preferably two—of the following classes: calculus, statistics, economics, finance or accounting. You should do everything you can to earn an A in the class(es) to demonstrate that you have the intellectual horsepower to succeed in your first year. Remember that applications are due in October and that you will need to spend significant time after work perfecting them—and this process starts in May! So, your best move is to find a class that starts soon. Begin looking for options now! (Note: You do not need to go to Harvard to take these classes. Any accredited university will do!)
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mbaMission: Stanford Graduate School of Business Essay Analysis, 2013-2014
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 Stanford Graduate School of Business.
The Stanford Graduate School of Business (GSB) is apparently content with its essay questions, because it has made no changes to them or to the allowed word count this season. Having made slight tweaks to its prompts in recent years, the GSB’s MBA admissions committee seems to have found an approach that elicits the information it wants.
With respect to word count, Stanford is unique in that it asks you to limit yourself to 1,600 words total but allows you to determine how you would like to distribute them among the various questions. Stanford does offer some guidance”recommending 750 words for Essay 1, 450 words for Essay 2 and 400 words for Essay 3”but you can take the school at its word (small pun intended!) and use a different distribution if you feel that you can better reveal yourself through, for example, a 650-word Essay 1 and 500-word Essay 3.
Stanford’s admissions committee offers some great advice on how to write its application essays here://www.gsb.stanford.edu/mba/admission/dir_essays-p.html. We feel that the committee’s most important guidance is the following:
Because we want to discover who you are, resist the urge to package yourself in order to come across in a way you think Stanford wants. Such attempts simply blur our understanding of who you are and what you can accomplish. We want to hear your genuine voice throughout the essays that you write and this is the time to think carefully about your values, your passions, your hopes and dreams.
In truth, this is good advice not just for Stanford’s essays, but for all business schools’ essays. Rather than trying to portray yourself as something in particular (which you may or may not in fact be), focus on showcasing who you actually are and give the admissions committee the information and picture of you it needs to make its decision. Stanford is not interested in classifying its applicants as certain types but in discovering individuals and what they have to offer. And now, on to the essays
Essay 1: What matters most to you, and why?
When candidates ask us, What should I write for what matters most to me?, we offer a pretty simple tip”start brainstorming for this essay by asking yourself that very question: What matters most to me? This might seem like obvious advice, of course, but many applicants get flustered by the question, often believing that an actual right answer exists that they must identify, and never pause to actually consider their sincere responses, which are typically the most compelling.
So, we advise that you brainstorm in depth and push yourself to explore the psychological and philosophical motivations behind your goals and achievements”behind who you are today. We cannot emphasize this enough: do not make a snap decision about the content of this essay. Once you have identified what you believe is an appropriate theme, discuss your idea(s) with those with whom you are closest and whose input you respect. Doing so can help validate deeply personal and authentic themes, leading to an essay that truly stands out.
Once you have fully examined your options and identified your main themes, do not simply provide a handful of supporting anecdotes”or worse, recycle the stories you used in a similar essay for another school. A strong essay response to this question will involve a true exploration of the themes you have chosen and reveal a thorough analysis of decisions, motives and successes/failures, with a constant emphasis on how you conduct yourself. If you are merely telling stories and trying to tie in your preconceived conclusions, you are most likely forcing a theme on your reader rather than analyzing your experiences, and this will be transparent to any experienced admissions reader. In short, be sure to fully consider and develop your most sincere answer(s), outline your essay accordingly and then infuse your writing with your personality, thoughts, feelings and experiences.
Read more
Patty’s Path to Wharton: Staying Sane While Waiting To Hear Back (Part 8 of 8)
This is part 8 of a series featuring b-school advice gleaned from one of Manhattan GMAT’s own. Until recently, Patty managed marketing and student services for our sister company, Manhattan LSAT. But she chose to return to business school and started at Wharton last fall. She has agreed to share her application experiences with us in a series called, “Patty’s Path to Wharton.” Read Part 7 here.
Today, we talk to Patty about the dreaded waiting period. The process was agonizing, because you have nothing else to do, she says.
Jeremy Shinewald Talks About the Admissions Process
Jeremy Shinewald, the founder and president of our partners over at mbaMission, was recently interviewed by the Wall Street Journal about the MBA application process. In this interview, he talks about the value of the application essay, what is so special about those top few schools, and why the GMAT is only one important part of the whole application process.
mbaMission offers free half hour consultations. You can sign up for one here.
mbaMission’s Exclusive Interview with University of Pennsylvania – Wharton Director of Admissions Ankur Kumar
This post appears in its entirety on the mbaMission blog.
Recently, mbaMission was fortunate enough to speak with Ankur Kumar, the new director of admissions at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. Here are some highlights from our conversation, followed by the full transcript below.
- During the upcoming admissions cycle, Wharton plans to pilot a group interview exercise, which could become a mandatory application component in the future.
- Students often see class profiles as a set of preferences, but they only reveal the industries that students came from immediately prior to business school; industry experience is much deeper than it may appear.
- Wharton is seeking quality experience, not a target age or number of years of work experience.
mbaMission: So my first question is, Wharton kind of caused a stir when it switched to behavioral interviews last year, and I was curious why the change was made and what Wharton was trying to learn that it maybe couldn’t learn from its previous process.
Read the rest of the interview here.